Building the
Macedonian
Empire
Philip Builds Macedonia’s Power

Peloponnesian War weakened
Greek city-states

Philip II of Macedonia wanted to
take control of Greece and then
Persia

Macedonia had tough climate of
mountains and a cold
temperatures

Lived in mountain villages instead
of city-states

Macedonians viewed themselves
as close to Greeks (but the Greeks
viewed them as barbaric
foreigners)
Philip’s Army

359 BCE Philip became leader of
Macedonia

Built a professional army from peasants

Organized troops into phalanxes

Had a strategy to using the phalanxes to
pave way for cavalry strikes through
enemy lines
Conquest of Greece

Some early warnings of
Macedonia’s power went
unheeded

338 BCE Athens and Thebes joined
forces against Philip but it was too
late

Macedonians defeated the
Greeks at battle of Chaeronea,
which ended Greek freedom and
independence

336 BCE Philip killed at his
daughter’s wedding and his son,
Alexander took the throne
Alexander the Great Takes Care of
Greece and Defeats Persia

Even though he was only 20 when
he ascended the throne, he was
well-trained and ready to lead
(remember he had been taught by
Aristotle)

When Thebes tried to rebel he
crushed it, thwarting future rebellions

334 BCE went to attack Persia

Victorious at Granicus

Darius III reacted by building a larger
army to face the Macedonians near
Issus but Alexander surprised him
and beat him

This victory gave Alexander control
of Anatolia
Alexander in Egypt

Darius tried to negotiate peace
settlement but it was rejected

332 he marched into Egypt, where
he was welcomed as a liberator

Alexander was crowned pharaoh
and founded the city of
Alexandria
Conquering Persia

Alexander then moved again at
Persia

They met at Gaugamela (near
Nineveh)

Alexander won again- and again
Darius III fled (he was later found
dead in a province south of the
Caspian Sea)

This allowed the Macedonians to
march unopposed through Persia
and captured Babylon, Susa, and
Persepolis (giving the
Macedonians great wealth)

A fire destroyed Persepolis
Alexander in India

327 BCE crossed into the Indus
River Valley

Powerful Indian army blocked his
path. He eventually won but
morale was low because it was
such a difficult fight

Alexander agreed to go back
home

He couldn’t govern in the end
because he died of illness one
year after returning
Alexander’s Legacy


After his death, the empire was
split among his three strongest
generals

Antigonus became king o
Macedonia and took control of
the Greek city-states

Ptolemy seized Egypt, took the title
of Pharaoh, and established a new
dynasty

Seleucus took the old Persian
Empire, which became known as
the Seleucid empire
His empire managed to blend
Greek, Egyptian, and Eastern
customs
Crash Course Video

Crash Course Video on Alexander
the Great