What Makes a Good Leader?

Political Leadership in Classical
China
Central authority for a vast territory

Political Leadership in
Classical China
Single legal code for empire
Power of the bureaucracy
Respect for authority (Confucian belief system)
What did the state provide?

Political Leadership in
Gupta India

Political Leadership in
Gupta India
Regionalism
Uniform law code
Social order based on strict social structure (religion, military, taxation)
What did the state provide?

Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)
Diversity of political forms
Democracy, aristocratic assemblies, republic, empire…
What did the state provide?

Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)

Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)

Political Leadership in
Mediterranean Societies (Greece, Rome and
Persia)

So what gave these Empires
Legitimacy?

Great Individuals
What makes someone great?

Alexander the Great- The
Basics
356 BCE- 323 BCE
Macedonian
Son of Philip II
Taught by Aristotle
Tolerant of non-Greeks
Military genius
Believed he was descended from the gods

Alexander the Great- Debates over his Character
Charismatic, visionary OR cruel and unstable megalomaniac?
Curious dreamer OR Paranoid alcoholic?
Cold blooded imperialist OR Benign Multiculturalist?
Brilliant warrior and strategist OR Hellenic cultural ambassador?
OR all of the above?

Motivation
Pursuit of Glory
Attain divinity and surpass heroes of myth
Belief in his own invincibility (guided by omens)
Pan-hellenic invasion of Persian empire to rid world of tyranny and oppression (revenge of Persian invasion of Greece150 years earlier)
Personal longing to see the ocean that was believed to encircle Europe and Asia at the edge of the earth.

As a Military Commander
Used strategy to compensate for fewer numbers.
He never asked anyone to do something he would not do himself.
He led his men into battle every time.
Was almost fatally wounded many times.
Refused to drink water if all soldiers could not.

Alexander on the Battlefield

Alexander’s Conquests
Throne following his father’s assassination
Expanded Macedonian borders north to Danube and west to Adriatic
Used Thebes as an example and Athens and other
Greek cities followed
Moved west towards Persia through Asia Minor
(Turkey)
Tyre (Lebanon), Egypt, Babylon, Persepolis, Persia,
Bactria (Afghanistan), Samarkand (Uzbek.)
In five years, he expanded his empire east by 2500 miles.

Alexander’s Conquests

Leadership Wears Thin
Adoption of Persian dress by Alexander
Married Persian dancer named Roxanne
Arranged (forced) marriages of Greeks and
Persians to reconcile the two cultures.
Forced to turn back before India but took the long (unknown) way home via water losing many soldiers.

Alexander the Great-
Accomplishments
Expanded Macedonia – created an empire that covered over two million square miles.
Founded 70 cities- many on trade routes thus increasing east-west trade. Alexandria in
Egypt (library)
Established a new coinage for trade.
Diffusion of Hellenic customs over much of the Mediterranean and Asia.

Alexander the Great-
Accomplishments
Created a cultural and economic common market open to trade, social and cultural exchange with Greek as the lingua franca.
Attempted ethnic fusion through marriage and adoption of Persian culture at home.
Adapted and created new military techniques: phalanx and use of cavalry.
Improved knowledge of geography and natural history.

Accomplishments

Alexander the Great- Legacy
Macedonian imperial domination facilitated cultural hegemony of Greece.
Spread of Hellenism: architecture, food, science, dress…
Alexander originated the concept of
"one world" without racial or territorial delineation.

Alexander the Great- Legacy
Inspired Caesar, Cleopatra,
Louis XIV, Napoleon
He is remembered in legend having been both feared and worshipped from Iceland to
China.
The Byzantines made him a
Saint and the
Mohammedans included him in the Koran. The 13 th century Malian oral history of
Sundiata refers to him.

Conclusions
Classical empires compared:
Leadership in Classical societies:
Was Alexander a great leader for the times?