Alexander was one of those exceptional people who completely turn the tide of history. When he died he was still only 33, but by then he had made the ancient Greek empire into the biggest empire the world had ever seen, stretching right across Asia to India.

His full title was Alexander III of Macedon, Macedon being a region of northern Greece.

Alexander was born in 356 BC at Pella, the capital of Macedon. At this time Macedon was the strongest power in Greece, stronger than either Athens or Sparta. Many people say it was the first real nation in European history. In other parts of Greece, the small city-states were still refusing to give up some of their independence and untie into a single country. They were also always fighting each other.

Alexander was taught by the famous Greek teacher and thinker Aristotle. Through Aristotle he learned many subjects, but his main interest was in battle tactics.

Philip II was Alexander’s father. He was a strong leader and brought all of Greece under his control except for Sparta. He also wanted to conquer neighbouring Persia which had conquered Greek lands in what is now Turkey. But in 336 BC, Philip was murdered and Alexander then came to the throne.

Alexander set out to follow his father's bold plan and invade Persia. Alexander assembled about 30,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 cavalry. Quite uniquely, Alexander sent historians, mapmakers, geographers and botanists to collect information and specimens which were then sent back to Aristotle.

As soon as he moved into Turkey, the Persian army lined up to do battle with him and Alexander won a battle against an army four times the size of his own. At first Alexander’s intention was to ‘free’ all of the cities that had been captured by the Persians, but then he started to seek an even bigger empire.

As he moved inland, Alexander and his army were faced by another, and far bigger Persian army led by King Darius III. They fought at a place called Issus in October 333 BC. Again Alexander’s battle tactics were better than the Persians and the Persian army fled.

In 332 BC Alexander’s army reached Egypt, which had also been in Persian hands. They called him their pharaoh, or king. At the delta of the Nile he founded a new city and named it after himself. This is Alexandria.

Alexander left Egypt in the spring of 331 BC and fought Darius for the last time. After the battle he was proclaimed king of Asia.

His men now wanted to return home, but Alexander wanted to press on to the eastern limit of the world, which he thought was close to the Indus River (now Pakistan). So he moved east, a journey which took three years and in 327 BC he reached India. By now Alexander’s army had marched 18,000 kilometres, but now they simply refused to go farther, and Alexander had to turn back, but it was a hard journey over desert land and many died of hunger and thirst.

In 324 BC Alexander went to Babylon, but by now he was exhausted and he got a fever from which he did not recover. He died at Babylon on June 13, 323 BC and his body was encased in gold leaf and taken to a tomb in his beloved Alexandria, Egypt.