Why did King Alexander the Great fight in a war against Persia?

Question

I thought Alex liked the Persians!!!

Answer 1

whuff! You don't ask simple questions, do you! Well, _really_ shortened version, his Dad wanted to unite the Greeks (under his own rule, naturally), and the best way he figured to do that was to convince them that the old expansionist Persian enemy could be fought off if they all banded together (under him, naturally). It was working fine, more or less, until he made what turned out to be the fatal mistake of taking up with a cute young honey and dropping his wife. After his assasination, everybody around the Macedonians figured it was easy pickings time (and that included the Persians) and moved in on the Macedonian/Greek turf. Young Alex managed to stabilize the situation and then figured he might as well pick up where his Dad had left off - the best defense being a darned good offense (and Alex was about the most offensive guy around, militarily speaking). Things just kept going well, and so he just kept on going - (a) it was hard to stop before he was done, without risking everything falling apart, and (b) he had an insatiable curiosity about distant lands and the Great Unknown. He was sort of like the earliest Star Trek voyage...

Answer 2

Who told you that, monica ?
About the first question, Alex wanted to conquest the known world ( the old idea of world dominance, you know ).
He had to stop in India because the army refused to follow him farther