<< Previous

THE NEXT BIG THING

I was never content with what I had. My father knew this and saw me as a threat. When I had secured the city-states, I sought Persia. When Persia was secured, I sought India, defeating King Porus in 326 BC at the river Hydaspes.

So why did my journey end there, in India? Why did I not continue onto to the next big thing?

Some of my soldiers refused to venture further East. Many wanted to go home, but which soldier doesn’t want that? Was the threat of mutiny what drove me back? No. After all, it was my adoption of Persian ways and not my desire to pursue further expansion that alienated some of my men, like Cleitus. Tragically, I killed Cleitus in a moment of drunken confusion.

Regardless, by now, there were always more soldiers available. I had hired Persians to join me into India, I could surely hire Indians to join me abroad.

The weather was always a factor, but had we waited a few months, the monsoon season would have subsisted and weather would have permitted an Eastern migration.

Economic Determinism

I returned because, pragmatically speaking, I realized that the incremental cost of expansion was greater than the potential gain.

No war is purely altruistic; all wars need to justify their cost. I did not believe that expansion beyond India would prove to be cost effective. I had seized so much wealth in Persia that no other destination would come close to overcoming the cost in human, financial and chronological terms.

I had been clear with the Greeks and the reason to go to war: to destroy the Persian Empire and explore Greek Civilization. For it was Persia that had the gold; it was Persia that had destroyed Athens a hundred and fifty years ago. I had seized the treasures; I had avenged Xerxes’ path of destruction.

Spin Doctors

My generals finally convinced me to withdraw from the eastern frontier. They felt that we needed to concentrate and focus our power in Babylon, which was the capital of our empire. So we consolidated our troops there.

Where to next boys?

In hindsight, this was not to be my cup of tea. Heroes like Achilles and myself do not exactly become administrators now do they? We’re not bureaucrats. We’re heroes. Heroes hunt, kill some and conquer others and introduce them to civilization.

Western front?

I had never been a bureaucrat and never played local politics. I was not to start now.

Undeterred, I began to look for a new frontier. By 323 BC, I was setting my sights to the west, specifically, Italy and Sicily. Suffice to say that this plot began to ring alarm bells with my people in Babylon.

They were tired of fighting. I wanted to ride my horse and fight some more. But I could not.

Tragedy Strikes, Twice

On the road, my companion Haephaestion died in 324 BC. The ensuing year, in 323 BC, it was my horse Bucephalas who was taking away from me.

It was unfair. Here I had conquered so much and had everything before me, but I had lost two of the dearest things to me.

I turned increasingly to alcohol.

Continue >>