The Washington times., 1920-05-02
TODAY


the wealthy Romans.
In 331 b. C. the battle Of Arbela
is third In the fifteen decisive bat
ties. At Arbela. Alexander the
Great, invading Persia. after beat
ing the Persisns on the lssus.
made himself ruler of the world,
as Darius had been. Darius died
in flight. Alexander was polite
to his widow and children.
Alexander fought as desperately
and as recklessly as Charles the
Twelfth of Sweden. Except for
good fortune added to great genius
he might have ended as Charles
the Twelfth did. Napoleon said:
Alexander deserves the glory
which he has enjoyed for SO many
centuries, and among all nations;
but what il he had been beaten at
Arbela, having the Euphrates. the
Tigris and the deserts in the rear,
without any strong places OF
refuge, nine hundred leagues from
Macedonia"
Alexander's victory was due TO
the fact that every man in his
little army was his man. They
had been spoken to by him, every
one had been told there was no
reason for being frightened by the
elephants of the Persians, or their
war chariots with sharp scythe
blades fastened to the wheels.
The Persian King had forty
thousand fighting horsemen, fight
ing elephants with fighting men on
their backs, two hundred chariots
with knives on the wheels. Alex
ander took care Of them all,
marched into Babylon and became
ruler Of the world.
Whether that really changed the
worlds history Is doubtful. The
Greeks had won at Marathon with
their spears. Alexander the Mace
donian won with pixies twenty-fou
feet long. He made his men fight
something as boys fight on the
football field, in flying wedges.
1t was at Arbela that Alexander
declined to attack the Persians in
the night, making his famous re-
mark: "Ou klepto ten niken." /
WIl not steal the victory.
The most remarkable part of
Alexander's generalship in this
fight was his ability to protect his
fanks, keeping his army from be
) ing enveloped, as it might easily
have been, by the overwhelming
hosts of the Persians.
The battle of the Metaurus in B.
C. 2O7 is number four, and is well
chosen by Greasy, for it is Of ut
most importance to every human
being living in Europe and Amer
ica now.
In POT B. C. the waters Of little
river that falls into the Adriatic
were red with the blood Of the
armies that Hannibal's brother was
bringing from the Pyrenees, the
Rhone and the Alps, to enable
Carthage to conquer and possess
Rome and the Italian peninsula.
The greatest of all generals that
ever lived, perhaps, was Hannibal.
If his brother could have brought
those troops to him, this might
be a different world.
Michelet, the great French his
torian, says that battle of the Me-
taurus was "strife on the event
of which depended the fate OF two
races of mankind, whether the
dominion of the world should be-
long to the Indo-Germanic or to
the Semitic family Of nations"
If the Carthaginians, offshoot OF
the Phoenicians, greatest, most
courageous navigators Of the
world, had conquered Italy. they
would have made a different Eu-
rope.
Battle five celebrates the VIC
tory in the year A. d. 9 OF Armin-
ius, the German leader, over the
Roman legions led by Varus.
That did not change the worlds
history, but fastened the process
that brought Germanic tribes from
the northeast down into Italy,
France, Spain. giving knowledge
and culture of the older civiliza-
ton to the receptive, powerful
minds of the earth.
Arminius, the German, had no
personal hatred of the Romans; he
had been made a citizen, knew the
Roman language and civilization,
had served in the Roman armies.
But he objected to the Romans
making slaves of young Germans,
using some as servants, working
others to death in mines, employ
ing the courage of others fighting
wild beasts in the arena to amuse
the Roman crowd. Arminius' VIC
tory freed German soil from the
Roman invader, and inflicted on
Roman prestige wound from
which it never recovered.
Battle number six saw the de-