Weekly 4:

Does Power Corrupt? How or How Not? Why or Why Not? Do you think Alexander was corrupted? And who influenced whom the most: Did Persia become more Greek or did Alexander becoming more Persian?

Power can definitely corrupt, in my opinion. Some leaders gain so much power at such a young age, or they gain so much more power and wealth that they had ever imagined that they get “wrapped up” in all of their power, and they lose touch of what if really important in life. Sometimes, if a leader has too much power and are getting a little too cocky and conceded, all of their power will just blow up in his face. People will rebel, people will try to kill him, people will hate him because he has become too into having total power. One day, a leader thinks that he has total power and control over a huge land, and the next day, his own people are trying to kill him. In this sense, power definitely does corrupt. A lot of people have seen something like this in Alexander the Great.

Power corrupts because of many reasons. Power can degrade when rulers become vicious and start creating bad rules that their followers do not agree with. When their followers do not agree with what the leader is saying or enforcing, they can easily speak about how they are feeling and make other people feel the same way. They could create a large “gang” to riot against their leader and try to even kill the leader sometimes. Some leaders are better than others. Some can make sure that their followers won’t revolt by being a good leader in both wars and around the empire, making everyone happy, being friendly, and making good laws that mostly everyone agrees with. When followers agree with laws and like the leader as a person, they would be much less likely to be attacked. Having the love, respect, and help of your followers can lead to a much more successful army and empire. Having a better and happier empire, which most of the time leads to the leader having the power without it ever corrupting. In order to not have power corrupt, you have to be a good leader, fighter, and friend to all of the people in his empire.

Alexander the Great was titled to be one of the best leaders of all time. He conquered all of Asia, and had control over what was known in the ancient times as the whole entire world. Even though Alexander killed thousands of people during his conquest, he still managed to be a great leader in leading the Macedonian Empire to total power over the world back then. His empire stretched from the Ionian Sea, west of Greece, to the Himalaya Mountains bordering India and China. When Alexander’s father died, he inherited his father’s very powerful and experienced army and empire. After Alexander took control over the world back then, he became very cocky and hostile. If one person said something to or about Alexander that he did not agree with, he would have very severe consequences against them. Alexander was a very violent person, who led to a lot of his own followers to turn against him and hate him. Some people planned to kill Alexander, but they were burned at the stake before they were ever even close to killing Alexander. A lot of his followers and citizens of his empire respected him because he took over their empire and properties. But once they conquered them, they moved on to conquer the next empire or property; the people were still free to live their lives before Alexander even came. Alexander even learned a little bit about their own cultures and changed who he was a somewhat. I feel like Alexander’s power was never corrupted. Some people hated him, and wanted him dead, but he was able to conquer over all of the “haters” of his empire. He was a great fighter and leader in war, who was never able to be corrupted from his power. He had total control over his people in a violent sense. If anyone from his empire even thought about hurting or killing, Alexander’s body guards will find out about it and kill you. This is why I feel like his power was never corrupted. To the day that he dies, he had full power over his whole entire empire.

In a way, Persia became more Greek; but also, Alexander became more into the Persian ways and cultures. Persia obviously had to change a little bit because when Alexander took over Persia, the Greek empire’s government officials came into the empire and made sure that Greek laws were being enforced to most of the areas. They stuck with most of the laws, but they let the new citizens stick with their old cultures and ways of life. Persia had to agree to follow the rules of the Greek empire, but they still had the freedom to live, for the most part, the way that they lived before they had been conquered by Alexander and the Macedonian empire. Therefore, they are ways that Persia was changed and became more Greek, but the lifestyle of the people stayed about the same. I think the Persian ways changed Alexander much more than how Alexander changed Persia. Alexander began to learn about the Persian cultures and gods, and he really liked it. He even decided that once he died, he wanted to be considered a Persian god rather than a Greek god. He changed some of his wardrobe to what the Persian people wore during battles, including different animal skin and colors. Alexander became much more of a dictator kind of leader after he took control over Persia. He was up for much more opinions and different ways of battle before he conquered Persia; but after he took control, he was very selfish and took control over everything. No one could have their own opinion on anything, and if they did voice out and Alexander didn’t like what they said, he would execute them.

In many ways, power can corrupt. Leaders can be forced out of their own empire by the decisions and rebelling of their people. In order to be a good successful leader, like Alexander for the most part, you have to have good fighting and have good rules that aren’t so absurd that the leader’s followers would rebel and plan to kill their leader. A leader must always be thinking ahead and helping out his empire in both expansion and civilization. If you are a smart leader, expand your empire by conquering land, and you have good rules that the people agree with and follow, your power as a leader will never corrupt.