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The Battle of Hydaspes: Alexander’s Culminating Point: 326 BCE

Received: 25 December 2021     Accepted: 18 January 2022     Published: 28 January 2022
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Abstract

Thesis Statement: Alexander the Great’s grand strategy of world conquest and leaders who followed his example such as the Arabs of the seventh and eighth centuries, Napoleon I, and Adolf Hitler, could never achieve world conquest. The reason is that every offensive military operation ultimately reaches a culminating point. This principle applies to the leaders of modern countries today. Methodology: Historiography and conceptual analysis of the writings of ancient and modern scholars and historians. Results: Alexander’s desire for world conquest caused him to continually move from one victory to another without creating a new moral and political community coextensive with his conquests and capable to lending stability to a new empire. Conclusion and Implications: Alexander, and other previous or current leaders bent on world conquest can never achieve this goal because every offensive military campaign reaches a culminating point beyond which continued operations risk overextension, counterattack, and defeat.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11
Page(s) 1-4
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

World Conquest, Culminating Point, Offensive Military Operations

References
[1] Beaton, Roderick. 2021. The Greeks. New York: Basic Books: 172-176.
[2] Beaton, Roderick. 2021. The Greeks. New York: Basic Books: 181-216.
[3] Polybius, 1979. The Histories. trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Penguin: 1. 2.
[4] Plutarch, 2004. Plutarch’s Lives “The Life of Alexander the Great.” Trans. John Dryden. New York: Random House: 1-12.
[5] Everitt, Anthony. 2019. Alexander the Great. New York: Random House: 3-4, 23-24.
[6] Freeman, Philip. 2011. Alexander the Great. New York: Simon & Schuster: 2-3, 17-19.
[7] Beaton, Roderick. 2021. The Greeks. New York: Basic Books: 81.
[8] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: I. II. 3-6.
[9] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 17. 17.
[10] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 3. 8-15.
[11] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 17. 56.
[12] Plutarch, 2004. Plutarch’s Lives “The Life of Alexander the Great.” Trans. John Dryden. New York: Random House: 32-33.
[13] Curtius, Quintus, 1946. The History of Alexander. Trans. John C. Rolfe. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press: 5. 3 (16-4).
[14] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 17. 2-72.
[15] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 2-5, 4. 75, 5. 26. 2. Arrian mentions Sicily, 7. 1. 2.
[16] Plutarch, 2004. Plutarch’s Lives “The Life of Alexander the Great.” Trans. John Dryden. New York: Random House: 68. 1.
[17] Curtius, Quintus, 1946. The History of Alexander. Trans. John C. Rolfe. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press: 10. 1. 17-19.
[18] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 18.4.4. Diodorus also mentions Sicily.
[19] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 4. 22. 3-5.
[20] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 17.87.1. Diodorus reports that when Alexander was in Taxila, he brought his army back up to strength.
[21] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 5. 14-15.
[22] Polybius, 1979. The Histories. trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Penguin: 15. 12.
[23] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 17. 88. 1.
[24] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 5. 18 (4)-19.
[25] Curtius, Quintus, 1946. The History of Alexander. Trans. John C. Rolfe. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press: 8. 13-14.
[26] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 87-89 (3).
[27] Plutarch, 2004. Plutarch’s Lives “The Life of Alexander the Great.” Trans. John Dryden. New York: Random House: 60-62 (1).
[28] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 5. 19. 1-3.
[29] During the Monsoon Season from October to early December.
[30] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 5. 27. 7-9, 5. 28. 1-5.
[31] Livy, 1982. History of Rome. Trans. Betty Radice. New York: Penguin Books: 9. 19. 9.
[32] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 6. 10. 1-2.
[33] Plutarch, 2004. Plutarch’s Lives “The Life of Alexander the Great.” Trans. John Dryden. New York: Random House: 62.
[34] Davies, Roy W. 1997. Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. Philadelphia, PA.: F. A. Davis, 972, 1988.
[35] Arrian, 2012. The Campaigns of Alexander. Trans. Pamela Mensch. New York: Anchor Books: 2. 12. 1; 3. 30. 11; 4. 23. 3; 7. 26. 1-3.
[36] Siculus, Diodorus, 2019. Phillip II, Alexander the Great, and the Successors. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 17. 117. 4.
[37] Suetonius, Gaius. 1989 The Twelve Caesars, “Augustus,” Trans. Robert Graves. New York: Penguin Books: 18. 2.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Valentine Belfiglio. (2022). The Battle of Hydaspes: Alexander’s Culminating Point: 326 BCE. Social Sciences, 11(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11

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    ACS Style

    Valentine Belfiglio. The Battle of Hydaspes: Alexander’s Culminating Point: 326 BCE. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(1), 1-4. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11

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    AMA Style

    Valentine Belfiglio. The Battle of Hydaspes: Alexander’s Culminating Point: 326 BCE. Soc Sci. 2022;11(1):1-4. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11,
      author = {Valentine Belfiglio},
      title = {The Battle of Hydaspes: Alexander’s Culminating Point: 326 BCE},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {11},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-4},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221101.11},
      abstract = {Thesis Statement: Alexander the Great’s grand strategy of world conquest and leaders who followed his example such as the Arabs of the seventh and eighth centuries, Napoleon I, and Adolf Hitler, could never achieve world conquest. The reason is that every offensive military operation ultimately reaches a culminating point. This principle applies to the leaders of modern countries today. Methodology: Historiography and conceptual analysis of the writings of ancient and modern scholars and historians. Results: Alexander’s desire for world conquest caused him to continually move from one victory to another without creating a new moral and political community coextensive with his conquests and capable to lending stability to a new empire. Conclusion and Implications: Alexander, and other previous or current leaders bent on world conquest can never achieve this goal because every offensive military campaign reaches a culminating point beyond which continued operations risk overextension, counterattack, and defeat.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    T1  - The Battle of Hydaspes: Alexander’s Culminating Point: 326 BCE
    AU  - Valentine Belfiglio
    Y1  - 2022/01/28
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11
    T2  - Social Sciences
    JF  - Social Sciences
    JO  - Social Sciences
    SP  - 1
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221101.11
    AB  - Thesis Statement: Alexander the Great’s grand strategy of world conquest and leaders who followed his example such as the Arabs of the seventh and eighth centuries, Napoleon I, and Adolf Hitler, could never achieve world conquest. The reason is that every offensive military operation ultimately reaches a culminating point. This principle applies to the leaders of modern countries today. Methodology: Historiography and conceptual analysis of the writings of ancient and modern scholars and historians. Results: Alexander’s desire for world conquest caused him to continually move from one victory to another without creating a new moral and political community coextensive with his conquests and capable to lending stability to a new empire. Conclusion and Implications: Alexander, and other previous or current leaders bent on world conquest can never achieve this goal because every offensive military campaign reaches a culminating point beyond which continued operations risk overextension, counterattack, and defeat.
    VL  - 11
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Social Sciences and Historical Studies, Texas Woman’s University, City of Denton, the United States

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