Subtitle (100)
0:12Order, order! Who do we have
on the stand today?
0:15Alexander... the Great, eh?
Well, what’s so great about him?
0:20Your honor, the better question is,
what's not great about him?
0:23He was the King of Macedon
0:25and considered a living demigod
by Egyptians and Greeks alike.
0:30He conquered Persia when it was one
of Earth's largest empires.
0:34And he was a thoughtful
student of Aristotle,
0:37creative enough to untie the impossibly
tight Gordian knot
0:42by cutting it in half.
0:44The Gordian knot is a myth—
0:46just like the countless other stories
invented to enhance Alexander’s legend!
0:51Calling him “great” just plays
into this propaganda
0:54and glorifies his ruthless
military ambitions,
0:58such as his unprovoked invasion of Persia.
1:01Alexander invaded Persia to free Greeks!
1:04A century before his time,
1:06Persia had sacked Athens and conquered
countless Greek lands.
1:10So after Alexander’s father Philip
expanded Macedonian control
1:15he planned a final campaign to liberate
those still under Persian rule.
1:20“Liberate” is a generous word—
1:22those Greeks were just going
from one despot to another!
1:26Not that they ever even
experienced Philip's leadership,
1:29since Alexander had his father
assassinated to take power for himself.
1:34Objection, Your Honor.
1:35We don’t know for sure who killed Philip.
1:38Some evidence suggests he was murdered
by a humiliated ex-lover.
1:42Oh, please— that “disgruntled lover”
story is ridiculous.
1:46Before his death, Philip had taken a new
Macedonian wife to father a new heir.
1:52So it’s far more likely Alexander had
his father murdered to take the throne
1:57and reap the glory from
Philip's planned campaign.
2:01That's one messy family.
2:02Regardless of Philip's fate,
2:04Alexander was hardly
riding his father's coattails.
2:08His tactical brilliance was essential
for defeating Persia.
2:12For example, at the Battle of Issus,
2:15he strategically positioned
his troops along the riverbank,
2:18forcing his enemies onto a narrow plain
that disrupted their formation,
2:23limited their maneuverability,
and neutralized their numerical advantage.
2:28So what if he was a military genius?
2:31His power-hungry conquering spree
left a wake of widespread death and ruin.
2:37Actually, his conquests were
neither bloody nor destructive!
2:40The Persian governor of Egypt
surrendered without a fight.
2:44And after most victories, he usually
expanded existing infrastructure.
2:49Not in Persepolis! He raised
the Persian capital to the ground!
2:54He only did that to maintain
Greek support—
2:57razing Persepolis was considered payback
for what Persia did to Athens.
3:01Besides, Persepolis was the only city he
destroyed in over a decade of campaigning.
3:07Typically, Alexander founded cities.
3:10And befitting his massive ego,
he named over 20 of them after himself.
3:15That’s a lot of Alexandrias.
3:17And it’s a huge part of why his legacy
seems so impressive when,
3:21in reality, he only conquered one empire.
3:24He just thought he'd conquered the world
3:26because he had such a narrow
conception of it.
3:29He didn’t even know India existed
until he stumbled upon it.
3:33And when he tried his hand
at conquest there,
3:36his soldiers rebelled
and forced him to turn back.
3:39It’s true his men mutinied
after being pushed too far,
3:42but Alexander and his forces
had a deep respect for each other.
3:46He fought alongside them in battle,
led cavalry charges,
3:50and never asked them to do
anything he wouldn't do himself.
3:54Part of his greatness was his ability
to cultivate talented individuals.
3:59If only he paid similar attention
to all his subjects.
4:02His attempts at cultural assimilation
led to resentment and rebellion
4:07from Greeks, Persians, and Macedonians.
4:10And he left Macedon in the hands
of a regent for almost his entire reign.
4:16That regent was well regarded.
4:18And in his defense, Alexander’s
diverse subjects all expected their king
4:22to behave in very different ways.
4:25The Macedonians
saw him as a hereditary king
4:28who needed public support
to remain in power,
4:31so they expected him
to respect their wishes.
4:33Since the Greeks
refused to be ruled by a king,
4:36they thought he should behave
as a first among equals.
4:39And the Egyptians and Persians
believed he should act
4:42as a semi-divine absolute monarch!
4:45It was an impossible balancing act.
4:48And since he died suddenly of an
unidentified illness at just 32 years old,
4:53he simply didn't live long enough
for us to judge his governing abilities.
4:58I'll be the judge of what we can judge.
5:00Of course, Your Honor.
5:01I just think failing to plan
for his own death
5:04tells how uninvested he was in ruling.
5:08On his deathbed, he declared his empire
should go “to the strongest,”
5:12setting the stage for decades
of destructive power struggles.
5:17Now you're buying into the legends.
5:19Those final words were likely fabricated
to suggest Alexander's approval
5:24for the conflicts that followed.
5:26But you can hardly judge a man by those
5:28who invoke his name to justify
their own ambitions.
5:32If we want to talk about legacy,
5:34let’s give him credit for ushering
in the Hellenistic Age,
5:38where Greek cultural influence
spread across Europe and Asia.
5:42Like it or not, Alexander
fundamentally transformed the world.
5:47But it’s hard to judge anyone clearly when
they cast a shadow this, well, great.
5:53Whether he was a ruthless conqueror
or an embattled leader,
5:56Alexander the Great is undeniably
a legend.
6:00But trying to separate fact from fiction
is all part of putting history on trial.
