Transcript Alexander the Great 356 - 323 BC

Do the times make a man
great, or does the man make
his times great?
Did Alexander the Great create
history or was he just carried on
by the tide of events which were
already occurring?
Alexander…
• Assumed the throne at age twenty
• Marched for eleven years over 22,000 miles
and never lost a battle against the strongest
foes of his time
• United an area of over 22 million square miles
• Setup a common system of currency
• Established many new colonies and cities
• Used conquered people in his government
• Saw no differentiation between Greeks and
barbarians
• Brought scientists on expeditions
• Made Greek the language for government,
learning, and commerce Expanded Greek
culture from the polis to the whole known
world
• Set the stage for the eventual rise of Rome
and of Christianity
• Greece ruled the near east politically for
three hundred years and culturally for one
thousand
• It is said, “Had he not died young, he might
have politically united the world.”
But…
• Greece was already undergoing population
pressures and a rising standard of living
• Greek culture had already been expanding
• The Persian empire had already been steadily
weakening
• His father, Phillip, had already created the
phalanx and started building an empire
• Little had been done to organize his empire; no
permanent institutions were created to govern it
• Absolute monarchs ruled after he died, and the
unity Alexander had created politically fell apart
Alexander the Great
356 - 323 BC
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Does the Man Make His
Times or Do the Times Make
the Man?
World
1870
• Machines made of steel
• Electricity replaced steam
• New forms of transportation & communication
-trains, telephones
The globe shrank; European affairs became
world affairs
World War I
1914 - 1918
• Began after assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of
Austria
• Serbia blamed -war spread quickly because of
alliances
• Nationalism -to prove self, especially in Germany
• Nine million soldiers died: machine guns, poison gas,
tanks, subs, airplanes
• Germany defeated in 1918 -Treaty was harsh: It took
German land away; limited number of soldiers and
weapons; pay huge amount of money as war debt
• All lost: Young men died who could have provided
leadership in the time between the two wars
• Led to rise of Adolf Hitler
Germany
1920 - 1930
• Germany had problems: money inflated; no money
to repair war damages; jobs hard to find
• Many blamed World War I treaty
• Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, fought in WWI,
began Nazi Party in 1920, led a rebellion but was
put in jail, wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
• Hitler was a powerful speaker
• Claimed Germany was the super race
• Promised to rebuild country
• Hitler became chancellor in 1933
• Secret Police (SS)
• Hitler believed Germany’s problems
were caused by Jewish people
• Army took Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Poland in 1938 and 1939
• War declared in 1939
• Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan
• Allies Powers: Great Britain, France,
and most other countries
• Jews forced into concentration camps
where six million die
1941
• Soviet Union enters war against
Germany. United States enters war
when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii
• Germany wins battles in beginning, but
the large amount of soldiers sent by
U.S. and allied bombing begins to turn
toward Allies
1945
• April -Hitler kills himself, Germany surrenders,
Japan surrenders August, 1945 after atomic
bombs dropped
The Question is…
Did the times he lived in allow Hitler to
rise to power, or did the charisma and
personality of Hitler make the times?
So…
Did Alexander the Great make history,
or did the time period in which he lived
allow him to become great?