2°) Alexander getting to the throne of Macedon
In 340 BC, Philip attacked Byzantium, leaving Alexander in Macedon to rule the country for a short time: it was the first time that Alexander would rule a country.
In 339 BC, Philip married his fifth wife: Cleopatra Eurydice. Alexander was not happy about this decision. After a fight against his father at the wedding, he left Macedon.
Soon after the incident, Alexander came back to Macedon, and a year later, in 338 BC, he was fighting with his father in the giant Battle of Chaeronea. The Battle of Chaeronea was Philip’s biggest victory in his entire life: the battle opposed the Macedonians (22 000 men and 3 000 men on horse) against the city of Thebes and the city of Athens (35 000 men). Alexander was the commander of the left part of the army and was attacking the Thebans while Philip had the other part of the army and was attacking the Athenians. Macedon won and Athens and Thebes were colonized.
When Alexander was 20, Philip was assassinated. A guard plunged a spear into his chest. Some say it was a conspiracy orchestrated by Olympias.
And this way, Alexander inherited a kingdom.
3°) Alexander conquers the world
Inheriting a kingdom from his father didn't really please Alexander. He wanted to be a hero, and a hero doesn’t get every thing given to him. Alexander wanted to get started conquering Middle-East and Asia.
He got his first opportunity almost immediately. Some of the Greek city-states saw the ascension of the 20 year old Alexander as a chance to regain their independence from the Macedonians. Alexander took care of the little rebellion, to set an example, he completely razed the city of Thebes in 335 B.C., killing most of the population, including women and children, and making slaves of those few left alive. After that the Greeks were happily behind Alexander. Now, he could focus his attention on expanding the empire.
He began pushing east, against the old enemy Persia, which his father defeated.
After winning a battle for the city of Gordium, Alexander solved the famously Gordian Knot. He sliced through the knot with his sword rather than undoing it. A legend said that who ever would solve the puzzle would rule on Asia.
Alexander rapidly moved on to destroy the city of Tyre, fought and won through Palestine, Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan ... and conquered Egypt or, "liberated" Egypt from the Persians. After lots of bloody battle, the Persian Empire and most of the known world had been conquered by Alexander and his Macedonian army.
Alexander founded 70 cities in the lands he had conquered and ordered them named as he whished. Most famous, of course, is Alexandria in Egypt. In India, when his favourite horse died, he ordered a city to be built named Bucephala.
In 11 years, from 335 B.C. to 324 B.C., Alexander and his army battled their way across 22,000 miles.
4°)The beginning of the end
The beginning of the end started for Alexander when his best friend Hephaestion died of a fever. Hephaestion had been his close companion since they were teenagers. Hephaestion's death demoralized Alexander.
In the same year as Hephaestion's death, 324 B.C., Alexander's generals convinced him to leave from the action at the eastern frontier to secure his power back in Babylon, the capital of the empire. This is not what Alexander wanted. He wanted to be a hero. He didn’t want to sit on a throne, administering the business of an empire. He wanted to be on his horse, sword in hand, conquering new lands.
Alexander spent the next year in Babylon, without his favourite horse, without his best friend, and without the action and glory of battle.
Alexander would drink a lot. One night he was drunk and caught a fever. After twelve painful days he died in Babylon at the age of 33.