Who is better: Alexander the Great or his father Phillip?

[Anonymous]

Alexander the Great is undoubtedly the most famous general and king of half the world. But I always felt sorry for his father. Philip was made a king when Macedonia was being torn apart by its enemies. Before Philip the Macedonians were not too famous for their fighting abilities. So, he made a country out of a bunch of tribes, created one of the largest standing armies, beat all his enemies, got resources for his impressive empire. He prepared everything for the march to the East. For me it is obvious, that Phillip would have done better than his son in the war against the Persian Empire. Just remember the first battles of Alexander against the Persians – they are heroic, but mindless. Even famous suicidal courage of Alexander made his empire unstable and gave hopes to his numerous enemies – they were sure that such risking person wouldn’t live long.<br>
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Regards,<br>
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warrior11<br>
<img src="http://www.chathome.com.ua/smile/182.gif" style="border:0;"/><br>
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[Robert Vermaat]

I'm all for Philip as well. Though officially no Greek,but a Macedonian of course, Philip laid all the grounwork, conquered the Greek city states and constructed that wonderful army, which gave Alexander the chance to conquer the known world.<br>
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Of course, Alexander was a military genius but he was also as mad as a door.<br>
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Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert <p></p><i></i>

[John Maddox Roberts]

Philip may have been the better king and general, but Alexander was sure better-looking. Consider Philip: one-eyed with a squint in the other, walking with a bad limp, no beauty even in the eyes of his supporters and loathed by his queen. Then there's Alexander: Golden-locked, boyishly handsome, looking like an underwear model. Dumb as a brick, of course, but carrying it all off with tremendous panache. A bit height-challenged, but so is Tom Cruise. Come on, now, which of these two is going to get his very own Hollywood movie, the true test of greatness? <p></p><i></i>

[Robert Vermaat]

Just shows you the Hollywood attitude.. But Tom Cruise only plays in movies, there is none yet about him!<br>
Oh, you were talking about Philip... <br>
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Valete,<br>
Valerius/Robert <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I do believe they are tremendous generals, leaders and politicians. Then we can look and see where some of their influences are from. Thebes. Particularly Epamandios (pardon the spelling) His reformation of the phalanx has a direct impact of the Macedonian phalanax. Truly remarkable.<br>
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- Jack <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

But he was not that lucky. He took the risk and had to pay for it unlike Alexander. Maybe he was not that good-looking and gods didn't care for him much. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I don't think Alexander would have had anything like the impact on history that he did without the instrument forged by his father.<br>
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[Anonymous]

Alexander is greater commander than Phillip.<br>
Alexander battled against the most different armies which had the various weapon and ways of conducting war.<br>
Phillip was the traditional commander. Alexander had wider military outlook.<br>
Alexander has died young. He has not had time to make the greatest campaigns!<br>
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Regards<br>
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[Anonymous]

Since we never got to see Philip fight the Persians I don't think we can really know. Philip fought Greeks, who were also heavy infantry. The Persians were never a match for either Greek hoplites or Macedonian <em>pezetairoi</em>. Also, much of Alexander's success was directly attributable to people like Parmenio, one of Philip's old generals. Without him holding the left flank at Gaugamela, that could well have been the end of Alexander. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Hello<br>
I think, that in this battle Alexander had the basic leading role. Parmenio defended the left flank. Alexander has passed through the enemy. Alexander should make the decision. ÃÂÂ