CHAPTER V THE EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT Alexander, the heir of Philip, was only twenty when his father was killed. The accession of so young a ruler might easily l. Alexander nave ^ t0 a com pl ete overturn of the Macedonian the Great, power. The anti-Macedonians attempted to use 336-323. the opportunity. The promptitude of Alexander's action, however, averted the immediate danger. He secured his own recognition as his father's successor in the captaincy of the Greek forces. The great expedition to Asia was delayed by disturbances beyond the Macedonian border in Thrace, and Alexander's absence there again offered opportunity for revolt against the new ascendency. Again the swiftness of the young king's movements crushed the insurrection. Alexander must have prepared his plan of operations with extreme thoroughness. Two years after his accession he had Alexander crossed over into Asia Minor with an army of invades some 35,000 men to conquer an empire which Persia. extended from the mountains of Central Asia on the east to Egypt on the west. The character of the Persian Empire had not changed. It was not unlike that of the Moguls in India when the British Conquest began, though the authority of the Great King was much greater than that of the later Moguls. The empire was divided into provinces ruled over by governors called Satraps. Enormous armies could be collected, but their discipline was of a very loose kind; the march of the 10,000 Greeks had shown how small a force acting under discipline could defy the attacks of the Asiatic levies. 62
