Alexander The Cruel

pls don mind a few historical fallacies. Jus concentrate on the essence..

Some trivia to start off : Who was the great European emperor who conquered most of the known world to make a name for himself as one of the Greatest of all time? Well, for most of us who do know our History, the answer is Alexander the Great.

Question number 2 : Who was the European ruler who conquered most of Europe and tried to subjugate England? Hitler , of course, you tell me….

Well , lets do a small analysis on these two characters. Alexander starts off from home at the age of 20 (?), conquers Egypt, Persia, and a lot of other smaller European states in a tireless expedition spanning about a decade. He is ruthless in his conquests . He brings down great empires and shatters civilizations. He razes great monuments to the ground. And by the time he was 31, he had almost seen everything in warfare. A great achievement indeed. Yes, his next conquest was supposed to be the land beyond the River Sindhu. Fortunately for the people on the Gangetic plains this was not to be.

Hitler, on the other hand, brings about World War II, with his unwanted aggression. He bombs his neighbors into submission. He tries to attack the icy Russian country. He blasts Poland and Austria. He tries to pound England by raining bombs on the English cities. Ah! How dare he! How can he get away with that? History will never forgive him. The unrelenting English brand him a dictator.

No person likes to be called an ‘Hitler’. It’s an insult beyond comprehension. It’s a different issue that our very own Subhash Chandra Bose, at one point in time sought the dictator’s help in overthrowing the British. Hitler’s crimes against humanity are too many and too gargantuan. He has no chance at redemption.

That done lets go back to the other character central to our discussion and analyze his great deeds. Alexander, while known as a great general, was also a merciless conqueror who was both cruel and autocratic. There are supposed to be places in Persia (Iran, now) where mothers still threaten their unruly kids “Don’t go out in the dark; Alexander’s men will get you”. And forget not, he intended to attack India too. Why don’t we brand HIM a dictator? Why is not Macedonia unashamed to have produced such a cruel warmonger? And frankly, if we decide to call him a dictator, do our opinions really count? Who gives a thought?

And in the same breath, let me pose the counter-question. Why not call Hitler a great? Hitler the Great!! Indeed , sounds original and seems rebellious thinking too.

But we dare not take this rather impishly naughty turn for fear of being labeled a racist.

Let’s get to the root of the matter. The British taught us history. We learnt from them the ‘fact’ that there was an Aryan invasion. They taught us that Indus valley civilization was tossed out by the Aryans. We ‘learnt’ a lot from them. So, we have also inherited their views on Hitler. Hitler attacked our ex-Masters. He deserves to be called a dictator. And since Alexander did not bother to look at an insignificant isle, he represents Europe’s superiority over Asia, and is hence an all-time great. There rests the matter. There are no revaluations in History.