Importance of Philip II in the Success of His Son - Research Paper Example

After the death of Philip, his son Alexander took over as his successor. He executed the plans of his father to invade Asia. During the tenure of Alexander, the Macedonian empire was extended in the west, including Asia Minor, Egypt, Central Asia and India (Present Kashmir and India) in the east. He was just thirty-three years old at the time of his death; he was worshiped by his followers like a God because of his bravery, comradeship and man management. He had already planned invasion in Arabia, having which he had created a long lasting, unparalleled and undefeatable empire.

This brought him the title of Alexander the Great. Alexander had a very short tenure of emperorship, but yet it was very successful and full of victories. What could have been the role of Philip towards success of Alexander? Would there have been a successful Alexander the Great without having Philip as his predecessor? One thing is very clear: all historical figures are the merchandise of their predecessors. Philip was always proud of Alexander for his bravery, courageousness and his victories right at the outset of his military life.

Alexander remained in school of Aristotle for three years and returned at the age of 16. Upon his return, he came to know about second marriage of his father and birth of step brother, who in his thoughts threatened his position as heir of the throne. Alexander was closer to his mother, whom he thought as a deprived lady due to the second marriage of his father. This increased distances and rivalry within the family and gave rise to conflicts / quarrels between father and son. The differences between them aggravated to an extent that Alexander was banished from Macedonia for quite a long time.

Later on, both reconciled, but the distances in between remained ever increasing. Even though Alexander was one of the most popular, successful, brilliant and brave king / general that existed in any period of history, without the on-going efforts of Philip in the fields of politics and military, Alexander could have never been as thriving and successful. Philip had opened many avenues to conquer for Alexander. The seed which was sown by Philip in form of collation with Balkan people was harvested by Alexander the Great as subsequent victories with full administrative support by the Balkans (Cole and Coffin 2).

Philip was always very concerned about the success of his son. He arranged for his good education and military training. He sent him to Aristotle for three years and then on return, handed him over to military trainers for war preparedness and learning of tactics. Despite the fact that Alexander distanced from him since his second marriage, Philip always remained forthcoming, approachable and friendly to his son. Alexander was always given the feeling of parental pride and honor by his father.

His bravery and valor were always valued by Philip. Though Alexander used to remain away on campaigns for long durations, the approach of Philip towards Alexander was characterized by care and guidance of a truly caring father. Unluckily, this relation of trust and love was not reciprocated by Alexander. He loved his father but in comparison, he was closer to his mother. But after the second marriage of Philip, he did everything in his capacity to remain away from his father but at the same time, he inherited skills of tactician and commander from his father.

Alexander learned a lot