Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[Ghostmojo]

... Pays to keep in mind also that Philip did not have a “pacified” Greece during his forays northeast. Whilst Alexander might have had to deal with his succession he had a recently annihilated Greece facilitating his adventure northwards. Philip was much engaged in politics and warfare attempting to but Greek heads into some sort of compliance. If anything is clear about Alex’s old man it is this: he wanted Greece behind him – by political as much as military methods or belted and cowed if necessary which, in the end it was. Clearly he wanted Macedonia to be part of Greece – the part that mattered of course; the ruler – but, at heart, Greek as did Macedonian monarchs before him who had not the means to achieve it. Alexander saw it rather differently: at Thebes he demonstrated that Greece was now Macedonian; a subject for her king to rule and do not forget it ...

Which is a very interesting point and perhaps deserving of a thread all to itself.

That the Makedonians (for the most part) were Greek is generally uncontested by the majority of modern historians - language, religion, customs, culture, artwork - all attest to this. As far as I can determine, they were a branch of the Dorians (or the latter were a branch of the Makedones), and they spoke a rougher version of North West Greek and had much in common with neighbouring Epeiros. Of course their (expanding) territory also embraced non-Greek peoples like Thrakians; Illyrians; Paeonians etc. (as did Epeiros' lands) and other migratory Greeks. It is a particularly 'ancient' (as opposed to the more modern pan-Hellenic all embracing) strand of Greek mentality that had them denying each other their basic common Greekness. The cultural aloofness of for example Athenians, who even sought to deny these northern peasants any Greek nationality, is perhaps more a testament to the inate snobbery (and self-belief in the superiority) of Ionians who in many ways considered themselves to be your original indigenous Greeks. Therefore others were by definition less Greek than themselves.

There is a discussion to be developed (perhaps elsewhere) that revolves aorund how various Greek powers arose and fell. Makedon was clearly the most powerful and lasting and its grasp extended the furthest. Whether this would have happened without Philip and then Alexander is highly unlikely. However, it was merely one of a number of Greek states or territories who achieved a forced hegemony over the other Hellenes. Perhaps the earliest had been Sparta with her 'Peloponnesian League' to be followed by Athen's maritime empire and then in defeat herself once again by Sparta's hopeless attempts at trans-Aegean empire. In quick succession we have the brief dominance of Thebes before the arrival of Makedon herself. Also very brief attempts at hegemony were made by Thessaly and later Epeiros. In most cases key individuals were always at play, rather than any great desire of the popular masses. It is also interesting that somehow the various four main Greek groups had periods of hegemony as well (via their key cities or states) with Dorians (Sparta/Makedon?/Eperios?); Ionians (Athens); Aioilans (Thebes/Thessaly/Epeiros?); Achaians (later Achaia) all having a crack at dominating the others.