Expropriating Peoples

Abstract

During his campaign to expand the northern Greek state of Macedon, Alexander the Great was quite often not fought off as a conquering commander and his mighty military, but greeted and welcomed by those regions that he would soon overtake. This was, in part, a result of being given the option to either be conquered in battle by the overwhelming power of his military or avoid the devastation of war by simply agreeing to be annexed by the Greek state. Avoiding war was not the only motivator, however, and many regions actually went as far as to request to be “conquered” because of the incentives, or positive motivators, associated with becoming a part of Macedon.