Tristan Hughes

He'd taken, he'd won lots of wars.

People had submitted.

They'd said, we'll be your ally with your subject.

But very often you then face rebellions.

You have to create a regime that works.

You have to create, consolidate your power and set things up.

Alexander hasn't really done that.

He's just kept on going.

And he's kept on going because the war has been there all the time.

And there's been the threat of Darius.

The Persian Empire is so big, recovering, coming back to hit you and lead you.

And it comes back to that first thing.

From the time when Alexander landed in Asia, he only needed to lose once, and that would be it.

In any sort of major encounter, he has to win and keep on winning, and he has to keep on going.

But you've absorbed all of this.

Now, you have the advantage to some extent that this had been the Achaemenid Persian Empire for several centuries.

So it's

You're still operating as a unit.

There is an administration there.

Very often you've tried to take over as much as you can.