Alexander The Great's Empire

After Alexander the Great conquered Persia, he was immensely delighted, however, he still felt that his kingdom could be expanded even more. He wanted to extend it all the way to the Hydaspes River, perhaps further. Then, he wanted to enlarge his kingdom towards the west, perhaps uniting all of the Mediterranean! However, before he got a chance to conquer India, something very interesting happened. One day, the great palace at Persepolis was burned! We can not be sure how this event came about, but there are about three reasons that we think could’ve happened. One, Alexander and his friends became drunk and accidentally burned the place. Two, Alexander and his friends burned the palace purposely in order to show the Persians that Athens was better than Persepolis. Or three,  Alexander and his friends burned the palace to get back at the Persians for trying to destroy Athens. After this startling event, Alexander and his army tramped across many miles to get to India, along the way he conquered tribes, made peace, and dealt with many other problems. When Alexander finally reached India, he confused the Indian king by spreading out his army along the banks of the river. When he did cross, the bowmen shot at the Indian’s fierce elephants angering them to the point of destroying anything in their way, friend or foe. The Indian king gave in after a few hours leaving Alexander ruler of India, too. This crucial battle extended Alexander’s kingdom all the way from Pella, in Greece, to the Hydaspes River, in India. However, Alexander’s army was tired. They had not seen their family for a full eight years and were ready to return home. They certainly did not want to go to the west of Greece and try and conquer the rest of the Mediterranean. For a few days Alexander sulked but eventually, he was forced to give in to his army’s wishes and return back to Greece. The Great Expansion was over. Alexander’s empire stretched over miles of land, at least half of the known world. He had truly worked hard and earned power and respect over many nations. Sadly, Alexander would not be able to live long enough to really enjoy this power, and died after the short reign of thirteen years.