When he died at the age of 32, Alexander had conquered the entire known world. He never lost a battle and won literally everything. That is why, to many, he is the greatest leader and military strategist of all time - ALL time. His greatest victory, which is detailed in this television program, came when he was just 26 years old. He defeated an army five times bigger and better manned this his.
One quick question before going into a little more of this TV program: why wasn't history this interesting when I was a kid in school? It was boring, back then. This is fascinating stuff. Of course, one big reason is how it's presented. Put it on TV with actors, experts describing what happened in simple terms, and use interesting computer graphics and - voila! - history is alive and fun to learn. I learned more about ancient Greece and Persia in this one-hour TV program than in years of schooling.
I learned about his battle of Guagamela, which was the turning point "in the fate of the world" at that time. I learned about Alexander's famous parents; what the Gordian Knot was all about; what a phalanx formation is exactly and how Alexander outsmarted Darius of Persia to win against big odds.
I saw some amazing weaponry of the day, how Alexander was light years ahead of others in strategy and guts (he led every charge)....and a lot more. The only thing they never mentioned was his death. How did he die? I looked it up and it's not known but the general consensus is that he died after a second bout of malaria. Some think he was poisoned. We'll probably never know.
Anyway, this was excellent and recommended viewing. History can be fun, educational and at the same time interesting, thanks to programs like this. I am sorry to hear they only made three episodes in this TV series, but I plan to see the other two: one on Napoleon and the other on the Battle Of The Bulge.
One quick question before going into a little more of this TV program: why wasn't history this interesting when I was a kid in school? It was boring, back then. This is fascinating stuff. Of course, one big reason is how it's presented. Put it on TV with actors, experts describing what happened in simple terms, and use interesting computer graphics and - voila! - history is alive and fun to learn. I learned more about ancient Greece and Persia in this one-hour TV program than in years of schooling.
I learned about his battle of Guagamela, which was the turning point "in the fate of the world" at that time. I learned about Alexander's famous parents; what the Gordian Knot was all about; what a phalanx formation is exactly and how Alexander outsmarted Darius of Persia to win against big odds.
I saw some amazing weaponry of the day, how Alexander was light years ahead of others in strategy and guts (he led every charge)....and a lot more. The only thing they never mentioned was his death. How did he die? I looked it up and it's not known but the general consensus is that he died after a second bout of malaria. Some think he was poisoned. We'll probably never know.
Anyway, this was excellent and recommended viewing. History can be fun, educational and at the same time interesting, thanks to programs like this. I am sorry to hear they only made three episodes in this TV series, but I plan to see the other two: one on Napoleon and the other on the Battle Of The Bulge.