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    Alexander the Great: Tactician or Eagle?
    Alexander the Great: Tactician or Eagle?
    Alexander the Great: Tactician or Eagle?
    Ebook39 pages37 minutes

    Alexander the Great: Tactician or Eagle?

    By John J. Donnangelo

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    About this ebook

    Was Alexander the Great a Tactician or an Eagle? In addition to being skilled in the tactics of planning and coordinating military forces in battle, he also possessed the keen vision of an eagle by “seeing” what his adversaries might be planning and then to counterattack. Was he a military genius or a lucky adolescent?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn J. Donnangelo
    Release dateApr 25, 2011
    ISBN9781458139252
    Alexander the Great: Tactician or Eagle?
    Author

    John J. Donnangelo

    Retired after serving 28 years on active military duty. Still retired but now writing and "computing."

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      Book preview

      Alexander the Great - John J. Donnangelo

      INTRODUCTION

      What – not who but what - was this young man we know as Alexander the Great? Was he a Tactician or an Eagle? Since his death in 323 BC, a vast amount of commentary has been written about Alexander the Great, the King of Macedonia. The earliest writers were his own Companions, the noble men who had served as the generals in his army. Unfortunately their written words have been lost, but they were followed by notable Greek writers such as Curtius, Plutarch, and Justin, most of whom lived within decades of Alexander’s death. Roman era writers such as Arrian, Cicero, and Horace, to name a few, have chronicled his life as well, comparing him to Julius Caesar, who lived some 170 years after Alexander’s death. Later writers have compared Napoleon Bonaparte and General David D. Eisenhower, both of whom lived some 2000 years later, to Alexander the Great.

      Also known as Alexander III, King of Macedon, he was one of the most successful Ancient Greek military commanders in history, … whose conquests did more than we can estimate to spread Greek culture and civilization.(13) While Alexander’s father, Phillip, had had some extraordinary achievements of his own, within five years of Phillip’s death Alexander had surpassed his father by overthrowing the two hundred year old Persian Empire and becoming the richest man in the world, and for some, being worshipped as a god. By the end of his life he was the ruler of some two million square miles. To this day scholars, historians, biographers, numismatists, poets, playwrights, and fiction writers are among those who have tried to chronicle his life and deeds but since …historians can read a man’s documents but never read his mind, there are innumerable perceptions of the man and his life.(1)

      There probably is only one country that could be the birthplace of the Alexander story, and that country is Egypt. Hundreds of years before Alexander came to Egypt the influence, civilization, and language of the Egyptians had found their way to Macedon. Upon his arrival in Egypt, Alexander found the people, at least those living in the delta of the Nile River, unwilling to meet him in battle. In fact, they welcomed him as one who could help them against their bitter foes, the Persians.

      What follows is not intended to be a chronology of his life, for innumerable writers have already done that. In the subsequent pages we will consider two possibilities as to what Alexander the Great was, recognizing the fact that it is only this author’s perception. These pages are intended only to suggest whether Alexander was a tactician or an eagle; the analysis will mostly ignore the background of whom, what, when, and where, and focus on why and how.

      * * * * *

      THE EARLY YEARS

      Starting at age fifteen Alexander was tutored by the great philosopher, Aristotle, who remained with him for eight years, first as tutor and later as mentor. The master was worthy of his pupil and the pupil of his master.(5) Alexander was a fast learner with an insatiable desire to

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