War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. host, James Early. And Alexander wept, seen as he had no more worlds to conquer.

That's a quote from Hans Gruber in Diehard,

which is a very convoluted paraphrase from Plutarch's essay collection, Moralia.

Without getting into the accuracy of the sourcing, there's plenty of truth in that

unattributed quote for Mr. Gruber. Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC in Babylon

marked the end of the most consequential military campaign in antiquity. He left behind an

empire that stretched from Greece to India, planting the seeds for the Silk Road, and made Greek

an international language across Eurasia all in 13 short years. He became and remained the biggest

celebrity in the ancient world, was probably only replaced by Jesus a few centuries into the

Christian era. But what if he hadn't died as a young man?

What if he had lived years or decades more? How much more influence could he have had?

We have clues about Alexander's plans for the future, and they mostly come from Greek chroniclers

like Diodorus and Aryan, writing centuries after his death. They include conquering the Mediterranean

coast all the way to the pillars of Hercules, building a tune for his father, Philip.

It would have been as large as the Great Pyramid of Giza,

and transplanting populations from Greece to Persia and vice versa,

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