Classical and Hellenistic Greece: RISE OF MACEDONIA

Answer: - QUARRELS AMONG THE POLEIS MADE THEM VULNERABLE TO MACEDONIAN EXPANSION.- THE MACEDONIANS WERE A GREEK PEOPLE WHO WERE CONSIDERED SEMI-BARBARIC BY THEIR SOUTHERN GREEK NEIGHBORS.- BETWEEN 357 B.C. AND 336 B.C., PHILIP II OF MACEDONIA LAUNCHED SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE POLEIS TO THE SOUTH. HE GATHERED THE MORE IMPORTANT POLEIS, EXCEPT SPARTA, INTO THE LEAGUE OF CORINTH WHICH RECOGNIZED PHILIP AS THEIR LEADER.- BEFORE PHILIP COULD BEGIN HIS PERSIAN CAMPAIGNS, HE WAS MURDERED IN 336 B.C.- PHILIP'S SON, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, NOW BECAME HEAD OF THE EMPIRE CREATED BY HIS FATHER.- HE WAS 20 YEARS OLD AT THIS TIME.- ALEXANDER, DURING HIS REIGN, CREATED THE LARGEST EMPIRE THE ANCIENT WORLD HAD KNOWN, AND HE WAS RESPONSIBLE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE FOR THE DIFFUSION OF GREEK CULTURE.- HE DROVE THE PERSIANS FROM THE COAST OF ASIA MINOR, AND OUT OF EGYPT. AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE PERSIANS AT GAUGAMELA, HE OCCUPIED THE PERSIAN CAPITAL OF PERSEPOLIS AND ASSUMED THE TITLE OF KING OF PERSIA.- HE CONTINUED EAST WHERE HE CROSSED THE INDUS RIVER INTO INDIA.- IN 326 B.C., HIS TROOPS THREATENED TO MUTINY, SO HE BEGAN HIS MARCH BACK WEST.- IN 324 B.C., THE ARMY REACHED BABYLON AND HIS ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE A NEW ARMY ENDED WHEN HE DIED OF FEVER IN 323 B.C. AT THE AGE OF 32.- HE PROVIDED FOR NO SUCCESSOR AND HIS EMPIRE WAS DIVIDED BY THREE OF HIS HIGHEST RANKING GENERALS.- BY 30 B.C., ALL OF THE SUCCESSOR STATES HAD FALLEN TO ROME.ALEXANDER'S ACHIEVEMENTS:- HELLENISTIC CULTURE WAS DISSEMINATED BOTH EAST AND WEST.- ROADS WERE BUILT TO INCREASE TRADE IN HIS LARGE EMPIRE.- MORE THAN 70 CITIES WERE FOUNDED INCLUDING THE COSMOPOLITAN CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT WHICH WAS POPULATED WITH GREEKS AND BECAME THE HELLENISTIC CENTER OF CULTURE.- GAVE RISE TO A GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE.