Explain this statement: “Culture often follows the sword.”?

Question

Why is Alexander the Great associated with this statement?

Thank You! :o)

Answer 1

Alexander the Great was a great conqueror. He conquered as far East as the Indus Valley in India. Wherever he travelled he brought Greek culture. The Greeks at the time had a highly advanced culture and were very learned in art, architecture, mathematics, science, warfare, poetry, and philosophy. They also had highly structured and colorful religious systems. They believed in a sound mind and a sound body. They were industious, inventive, and highly competitive. They greatly influenced each area that they conquered. They brought their rich culture with them, built modern cities and brought a freshness and vitality to the lands that they conquered. This is what I believe is meant by "Culture often follows the sword." The different cultures of the world were in many ways isolated from one another. The result of inter-cultural societal wars was a sharing and an exchange of ideas, methods, philosophies, and cultural richness.

Answer 2

Whenever there's a war, the winning side usually imposes their culture on the one that gets beaten. Alexander conquered a good deal of area known at his time, so his was the culture that prevailed.

Also, "culture" can be used to mean the arts, and after a war (in peacetime) if people aren't fighting each other, there's more opportunity for the people to spend their time pursuing music, art, dance, theater, etc.

Answer 3

I don't know about the Alexander connection, but that phrase itself is a statement regarding the effects of conquest on culture. Once a region or culture has been conquered there is a huge influence exerted on them by they conqueror. So the culture of the area changes, sometimes dramatically.