The End of the 4 Great Conquerors

Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar. Genghis Khan. Napoleon Bonaparte. The End of the Four Great Conquerors. Imagine a man who wept because conquering two million square miles was not enough for him. The glory hunter, Alexander the Great, cared only for one thing. Conquering the world. He threw his army into battle without fear for defeat, as if he was immortal. And why wouldn't he think that? The man was on a victory spree for ten years. His men were tired and wanted to return home so they could enjoy the luxuries they had won. But their king cared for no riches. He didn't even care much for ruling. Only conquering. It was all going well for him until he hit a wall in India. Alexander lost many men while fighting Porus, his most challenging battle. He was reportedly wounded himself while his horse died in battle. He kept pushing his men but across the river was another vast Indian army refreshed and ready while his men tired and weak. They begged Alexander to call it a day, call it a campaign, or call it an empire, but return home. And for once Mr. Won't Listen to Anybody was forced to comply. This was the beginning of the end for him. Infamous for his drinking habit, he went overboard one night and fell seriously ill. His opportunist generals quickly gathered to see their king and asked, who shall his vast empire belong to after his death? Alexander replied, to the strongest. This triggered a war between his generals which lasted for almost 50 years. The Macedonian empire was broken up into pieces before it even was a thing. But anyways, it was never about Macedonia in the first place. For Alexander, it was only about Alexander. He got paralyzed and was pronounced dead by physicians. Greek historians write Alexander's body didn't decompose for six days after his death, which proves that the warrior king was indeed a god. However, they failed to realize he wasn't dead to begin with. Modern day scientists believe Alexander suffered from a neurological disorder which had put him in a coma. It is very possible that Alexander heard the plots of his men before he was buried alive. Next we have the fanboy of Alexander, Gaius Julius Caesar. While Alexander wept because he had no more worlds to conquer, Caesar is reported to have burst into tears while he was reading the exploits of Alexander. He said to his men, when he was of my age he had conquered Darius, but up to now nothing has been accomplished by me. As his ideal was Alexander, he turned out just like him, self-obsessed and narcissistic. Once he had gained significant power as a general and statesman, he undermined the Roman republican system and declared himself dictator perpetuo, dictator in perpetuity. He wasn't shy about it either as he is reported to have said, if you must break the law, do it to seize power, in all other cases observe it. Senators in Rome feared Caesar wanted to establish monarchy, which would completely erode away their authority. On March 15th, 44 BC, a group of 60 senators assassinated Caesar at the meeting of the senate. Collectively, the group stabbed him 23 times to show how much they all loved him. The last thing Caesar saw was his own adopted son and trusted ally Marcus Brutus present among the assailants. This takes us to the medieval era. While it was mainly famous for the crusaders, they got overshadowed by Genghis Khan, who emerged as the beast of the east. He managed to conquer twice as much land as Alexander and was determined to bring the whole world under one sword. But unlike Alexander or Caesar, he did not see himself as god or a messiah. He knew he was a tyrant and boasted openly about it in these words, the greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters. There are several accounts of his death. Rashid-ul-Din writes he fell victim to the bubonic plague, while Marco Polo, the famous Italian traveler, writes that he was shot on horseback and succumbed to his wounds a few days later. Another report says he was castrated fatally by a princess of the Western Shia Empire, whom he had kept forcibly as a concubine. The reason why his death is not well documented as other conquerors is because it was meant to be a secret. Before dying, Khan instructed his family and followers to keep his death a secret as it occurred at the worst possible time. The Mongols were at the vital stage of their 20-year long desired conquest of the Western Shia Empire. That conquest was more important for the dying Genghis Khan than his own grand funeral. Even his corpse brought death. Khan's followers slaughtered everyone on the route where his funeral procession was carried to keep it a secret. Fast-forwarding five centuries perhaps the greatest conqueror to live was Napoleon Bonaparte. The transition from swords and spears to artillery had taken place, and Napoleon was an undisputed genius in this art of war. Although he became emperor in the name of defending revolutionary France, one can see his ambitions carried him far beyond. His personality was probably even more bizarre than the rest of the great conquerors. Caesar considered himself to be the only messiah to his people, Alexander thought himself to be a god, Genghis was a tyrant step-overlord, while Napoleon considered himself an artist of war. He is reported to have said, I love power, but it is as an artist that I love it. To him the battlefield was a painting, and he was an artist drawing it. His power of concentration was enormous, as was his memory for detail and facts. Once on a campaign in 1805, one of his subordinates could not locate his division. While his aides searched through maps and papers, the emperor informed the officer of his unit's present location, where he would be for the next three nights, the status and resume of the unit's strength as well as the subordinate's military record. This out of an army with seven corps, a total of 200,000 men, with all the units on the move. It was all pictured in his head. He sweeped victories throughout parts of Europe and the Mediterranean region with his forces moving as swiftly as the wind, only louder. However, the stakes got higher and higher, the death toll mounted and the battles became even more blood-soaked. Eventually he was defeated at Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and was captured by the British forces. He was not sentenced to death since the British did not want him to die as a martyr. Instead they house-arrested him with a few of his followers in a rotten bungalow. He lived the rest of his life in constant denial of his circumstances. When he held a dinner party, men were expected to wear military dress and women appeared in evening gowns and gems. He wanted to feel like he was still ruling. Years of isolation and loneliness took a toll on him and he finally died on the 5th of May 1821, making his last confession, France, the army, head of the army, Josephine. He basically expressed everything dear to him, his country, his military career and his wife Josephine. This was the end of the great four conquerors, someone among them died due to sudden illness, another was killed and betrayed by his own men. An arrow took the better of Genghis Khan while the artist died in captivity. Although the four great conquerors left this world in different circumstances, they had but one thing in common, they all died desiring for more.