The Failure of Persia

[abm]

I just saw this new book on the OUP website:George Cawkwell, The Greek Wars. The Failure of PersiaIt's very relevant to the question how Alexander was able to defeat the Persian empire, a hotly debated question on this forum:"Persia, he concludes, was destroyed by Macedonian military might but moral decline had no part in it; the Macedonians who had subjected Greece were too good an army, but their victory was not easy."entire description on: http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-814871-2 regards,abm

[marcus]

Thanks, Alexander - that sounds very interesting. Oh dear ... more books to buy! :-)ATBMarcus

[Kit]

And they don't get any cheaper!Kit.

[marcus]

Very true!

[nick]

I saw this one in the bookshop: if you live in the euro-zone you'll pay 109 euro's for it (and I don't think its more than 200-odd pages or so).nick

[Laura Cazemier]

"Persia, he concludes, was destroyed by Macedonian military might but moral decline had no part in it"Did someone really believe that moral decline was important?Laura

[marcus]

I'm not sure about "moral" decline; but it has been posited for quite some time that Persia was, in fact, not the powerful empire that it seemed; and that a number of significant issues (rapid turnover of rulers, revolts in various parts of the empire) had weakened the empire.Some people have used this theory to suggest that Alexander wasn't as 'great' as tradition holds ... more moderate people have acknowledged that Al's achievement was none the worse for Persia's decline; and others have refused to countenance any such thought that Persia was weak.All the bestMarcus

[abm]

Hi Laura,"moral decline" was seen as one of the main problems of the Persians by many ancient authors (both Greek and Roman), comparing their own courage, manliness etc. with the eastern 'luxuria', effiminacy etc. This has been dealt with recently also by Briant, Darius dans l'ombre d'Alexandre, Paris 2003.regards,abm

[amyntoros]

I have little knowledge of the affairs of Persia, but I thought the chapter in Machiavelli's The Prince could be an interesting contribution to this topic. It isn't about how the Macedonians were able to defeat the Persians, but about how they managed to hold on to Persia even after Alexander's death. Interesting theory based on his description of the kingdom - rout the army and then destroy the family of the prince and you will have no problem holding the empire. Machiavelli doesn't allow for one thing though: Alexander didn't exterminate the rest of (the males in) Darius family, as far as I know. Didn't he even take a brother into his service?Still, it makes more sense to me than accusing the Persians of moral decline. But then again, what do I really know? Here's the link:http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince04.htmBest regards,Amyntoros