As a future officer in the Navy or Marine Corps, it is important to be objective in your decision making. Alexander the Great is thought to be one of the greatest tacticians and generals of his time, but even he had faults. I believe that it is important to study history because analyzing how great leaders like Alexander the Great rose and fell from power is essential to becoming a great leader. History has proven time and time again that some aspects like politics or war will repeat over and over again. By studying history, I can avoid mistakes that great leaders made in the past. When learning about how Alexander the Great rose to power, I learned a few things. I learned from Alexander the Great that a great leader should be mindful of his or her action, a great leader will listen to their subordinates and take into account what they feel, and lastly a good leader must make objective decisions.
When conquering Persia he wanted to persuade the Persian people to recognize him as their ruler. To aide in that effort, he adopted some of their traditions, one of which is called proskynesis. This is a position where the subordinate gets on their hands and knees and bows to their leader. By adopting this Persian tradition, the Persian people gained trust in Alexander, but that came at a price. Alexander’s generals, did not like the idea of bowing to their leader. The lesson that can be learned from this situation is that an exceptional leader does not try to satisfy everyone’s needs. Alexander the Great was too hung up on how the Persian people viewed him, that he sacrificed his men’s loyalty so that the Persian people would respect him as a leader. Also, he fell in love with a Persian woman. “And then there was the matter of Roxane. His actions were motivated by passion…’ (Plutarch, Alexander 47.7-.8). Falling in love with a member of the enemy team is terrible. His subordinates lost faith in him because he failed to recognize how his actions affected his leadership. Directly following that event, Alexander the Great made a poor decision in order to one up his rival leaders. He marched his army through the Godrosian Desert. He chose this route was that he wanted to do better than Cyrus and the legendary Queen Semiamis. In the end, he is responsible for many of his men’s death due to dehydration.
Alexander also spend most of his time with villagers, and not his men. This gave off the impression that Alexander only cared about the Persian villagers instead of his own men. This is the seed that can be planted in a person’s brain. This seed is called mistrust, and by forcing his own men to change their traditions to accommodate to another person’s is almost insulting. A good leader would listen to his subordinates and adjust or justify for his actions. If a leader does not do that, then he or she will lose the trust of their men.
Alexander the Great is an amazing tactician and general, but he lacked the ability to understand how his actions affected how his subordinates viewed him, and his arrogance are mistakes that I hope to not make in the future as a Naval or Marine Corps officer.
~556 Words
Vincent Potente
The West in the Pre-Modern World 
I appreciate the analysis of Alexander the Great’s conquests and his decision making process. It was very in depth and reflected an impressive understanding of his rise to power and subsequent campaigns across Europe and Asia. While there are numerous lessons to be learned from Alexander the Great and his failures as a leader, you narrowed down three distinct lessons to be learned, which was smart to do. One thing he did not do very well was take into consideration the opinions and needs of those beneath him, which was a cause for his downfall. This is undoubtedly an important piece of advice for all leaders, including officers in the fleet. In order to gain the support and complete trust of your subordinates, you must demonstrate your care and consideration for them. The importance of being competent at your job is also crucial to us in the fleet and something that Alexander excelled at. This was a good area to focus on and I’m glad this is where your paper went. Your last lesson to be learned from Alexander the Great was another important piece of advice, which was to be as objective as possible when making decisions. This area could have been expanded upon a bit more, which I would have liked. This is closely tied with being concerned for your people, but the examples from Alexander’s conquests could have been explicitly tied with this lesson. Overall, this was enlightening and made several important points.
Cameron Douglas
246 Words
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