controlling lands

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Anyone know the ways Alexander the Great controlled the lands he conquered?

Thanks a million. =D

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2004

Answers

Generally, after a place had surrendered to Alexander, he'd choose a local ruler to put in charge. Who this was would depend on a number of factors.

For example, if the local ruler had come over to Alexander's side voluntarily and contributed troops, money or supplies, that person would almost always be left in charge in their own domain - whether it was a city, kingdom or satrapy. If the next-door neighbor of Alexander's new ally fought Alexander, that voluntary ally would probably be rewarded with the next-door neighbor's lands, too, after Alexander had conquered them.

When he moved on Alexander would always leave a Macedonian lieutenant behind to mind the store and keep an eye on his local allies. If he suspected trouble, or the place was especially valuable or strategic, he'd leave a garrison of Macedonian troops in a stronghold, usually in the main city.

In addition, in a few places that had proved especially vexing, time- consuming and expensive to conquer, Alexander would not only leave troops behind, but reinforce his authority by some very harsh, punitive actions designed to weaken any rebellion that might arise when his main army left - since he expected that the area would revolt as soon as it reasonably could and only violent repression would prevent this happening.

Mainly, Alexander wanted to leave as much of the existing government in place as he possibly could - keeping the same laws, judges, minor officials, tax-collectors, minor chieftans or whatnot. This was not only the cheapest and easiest solution, but was the least disruptive to the economy of the conquered lands. Less disruption meant more taxes (tribute) he could extract and a happier population less likely to revolt.

His biggest problem was getting the Persian aristocracy to play along at this game. They kept smiling to his face and revolting as soon as they thought they could. Then he'd have to kill the rebelling aristocrat and find a new one to act as his puppet. It got old. The non-Persians he conquered were much more cooperative, except in Afghanistan.

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2004


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