Power is very important and influential in today’s society. The same can also be said for the past as many leaders in the ancient world rose in society and gained power during their early years of rule. There were probably more “powerful” leaders in the ancient world than in the world today because laws back then allowed different leaders to rise up and gain power. Power also shifts a lot since new leaders gain power after old ones either die or eventually lose power. Most leaders know how to use their power efficiently so they do not go mad with power but once and a while, a leader will gain power but use it for the wrong reasons or use it for themselves. When this happens with a leader, they begin to corrupt their power and begin to become very selfish. They lose concern for their own people and lose the sense of what is the right thing to do. This can really affect and hurt the countries with corrupted leaders because the leader is putting their country into a bad situation but they do not care at all. Corrupted leaders also do things for personal gain and the actions taken usually go against the laws of the government. This is why power can definitely be corrupt with specific leaders.
Power can corrupt in a multitude of ways. One way is that leaders corrupt their power for a personal gain or an achievement they want to accomplish. For example, Alexander the Great put his army into dangerous situations and killed thousands of innocent people just so he could accomplish his goal of conquest. Corrupted leaders use their power for themselves instead of using it for the people and this is what makes them somewhat hated by the people around them. Another way that power corrupts is when a leader does something extraordinary and then thinks they can do anything they want. These leaders are on a “roll” and would do anything just to feel like they are on top of the world. Alexander the Great did this because when he won the Battle at Issus against the Persians, he thought he could do anything so he ended up getting many of the soldiers in his army killed just to feel better about himself. A final way that power corrupts is that leaders are sometimes forced into corruption. Leaders become desperate because they cannot provide for their people and they try to make risky moves that they think people will not notice. The actions end up hurting their country and they use their powers for the wrong reasons. These are just some of the reasons how power corrupts with leaders.
The reason why power corrupts completely depends on the leader. Every corrupt leader has a reason why he or she made their power corrupt. One of the main reasons why power is corrupt is that leaders want more and more power. Once a leader rises up and takes control of the government, they decide that they want power and want to take control of the people. Leaders also do great things and feel like they could do more, so they start to abuse their power. Alexander the Great was definitely corrupted in numerous ways. First of all, he lacked knowledge of the people and did not try to listen to the people since he wanted to do things his own way. At the beginning of his journey, he was not corrupt because he was doing the right things and was actually listening to his people since they wanted him to get revenge on Persia. After he defeated Persia in the Battle of Issus, he was considered a great leader and Macedonia was in great shape. They finally got revenge on Persia, so everyone thought Alexander would come back home. But he decided to keep on his journey, and that is when he started to become corrupt.
After Alexander defeated Persia, he should have gone back to Macedonia and rule from there. Instead, he marched down through present-day Syria and into Egypt. He got into conflicts on the way and many of the soldiers in his large army died because of his decision making. He was fighting for the wrong reasons and there was no point in fighting. He put his army into terrible situations and was starting to get too much power. By the time he entered the Persian Empire, he had a lot of power and he felt so strong that he wanted to attack Persia for the second time. This move was not necessary at all but because he had so much power, he thought he could do anything he wanted just to conquer the Persian Empire. He was becoming such a selfish leader who wanted personal gain and was starting not to care about his army that he had relied on for so long. Even though he defeated Persia again in the Battle of Gaugamela, many people started to develop a deep hatred of all the things he did. He was so concerned about his goal of conquest that he did not care about the people he once led in Macedonia. This is why Alexander corrupted all of his power just to conquer his goal of conquest.
Alexander the Great became more Persian because he had finally conquered the Persian Empire after so many years. He was actually honored by the people in Persia as their king and really started to take control of the Persian Empire. He started to understand the Persian elements and their own culture so he is now adapting to the life as a Persian king. But the Persian Empire quickly fell after the death of Darius so the Macedonian Empire was now the world’s largest empire at the time. Even though this happened, Alexander was still influenced by the Persians and even wore some elements of Persian dress. Persia also became more Greece because Persia was now part of the Macedonian Empire along with Greece and many of the Greek cultures were now adopted in Persia. Alexander brought many Greek customs with him to Persia so this is why Persia became more Greek. Alexander’s life shows that corrupting power can change major events in history, especially in Greece and the Persian Empire.
I would like to see you organize this in such a way that you could get into much more detail about the specific events you mention.
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