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Hello everyone!

2:55

Welcome to the History of Persia.

2:58

I'm Trevor Culley and this is

3:01

episode 105. The

3:04

Life and Death of Philip

3:06

II.

3:08

Last time we covered the early

3:10

years of King Darius III. Artaxerxes

3:14

IV was murdered by Begois the Elder.

3:16

Begois the Elder was murdered by Darius

3:18

III.

3:20

Rebels in Mesopotamia, Egypt,

3:22

and probably elsewhere had to be defeated.

3:25

A Macedonian invasion led by

3:28

the general Parmenion was easily

3:30

dispatched when the Macedonian king

3:33

Philip II was also assassinated.

3:37

Today

3:38

we step away from the Persians for a minute

3:40

to talk about their western neighbors.

3:44

It has been a long time

3:46

since I did an episode that was just

3:48

about events in Greece.

3:51

Last time we did this was just before

3:53

Xerxes' invasion to get everyone

3:55

up to speed on who Athens

3:58

and Sparta were. Well

4:00

now we need to do the same for Macedon.

4:04

They've been a player in our story ever since

4:06

they were briefly conquered by Darius the Great

4:09

and their king, Alexander I,

4:11

served Xerxes

4:13

before the Persians were chased out of Europe.

4:16

But they've never really been a main

4:18

character in the same way as

4:20

Athens and Sparta have been for the last

4:23

few years.

4:25

This is still a history of Persia,

4:27

so I'm not going to go into nearly

4:29

as much detail as I could for explaining

4:32

Macedonian history. And

4:34

if you really want it, basically everything

4:37

of note has been at least mentioned

4:39

at some point in previous episodes.

4:43

Via GNC just draws narratives

4:45

together like that. Macedon

4:48

emerged as a tiny kingdom on

4:50

the Thermaic Gulf at the edge of northern

4:53

Greece sometime during the Greek

4:55

Dark Age as the Bronze Age transitioned

4:58

to iron. According

5:00

to their own histories, the kings of

5:02

Macedon were descended from the hero

5:04

god Heracles, also

5:07

known today by his Roman name Hercules

5:10

by way of a Peloponnesian noble

5:13

named Argias. This

5:15

ties into the myth of the Heraclidae,

5:18

sons of Heracles, who stormed

5:20

through Greece and conquered the Peloponnese, giving

5:23

rise to the Doric dialect and states

5:26

like Sparta in the mythic past.

5:29

Thus the ruling family for all of Macedon's

5:32

recorded history up to the current

5:34

point in our narrative is

5:36

called the Argead Dynasty after

5:39

that mythical Argeas. Conveniently,

5:43

well-documented Macedonian history

5:45

begins with the arrival of Persian armies

5:48

sent by Darius the Great to force

5:50

King Amentus I and his son

5:53

Alexander into submission. Alexander

5:56

I served Darius and Xerxes as

5:59

high park in the Middle East.

5:59

the years leading up to their invasions

6:02

of Greece, and slipped free

6:04

from Persian control as the Delian

6:06

League purged Persian influence from

6:08

the European coast. However,

6:11

Alexander I and his successors

6:14

leveraged their position after Persian

6:16

rule to conquer neighboring

6:18

Thracian tribes and expand their

6:20

territory,

6:22

including the initial conquest of the

6:24

city of Pella,

6:25

which became the new Macedonian capital.

6:29

From there they had ups and downs

6:31

and got involved in Greek and Thracian wars

6:33

on and off over the next century or so,

6:36

just like everyone else in the region.

6:38

Through all of it, they remained an important

6:41

but not exactly powerful regional

6:43

state,

6:44

primarily benefiting from access to

6:47

massive gold mines. Their

6:50

language hovered right at the edge of

6:52

a very distinct dialect of Greek,

6:55

and a closely related separate

6:57

language,

6:58

and their monarchy and war-prone culture

7:01

made them pariahs to the rest of the Greek

7:03

world. They were Hellenistic,

7:06

but not exactly Hellenic,

7:09

in the eyes of their southern neighbors. This

7:12

fraught relationship between Macedon

7:14

and Greece can be seen in the events

7:17

where we first encountered the future

7:19

Philip II on this show.

7:22

Back in episode 89 we

7:24

encountered Macedon in the context

7:26

of the brief dominance of Thebes

7:29

over the rest of Greece.

7:31

The Thebans intervened in their northern

7:33

kingdom

7:34

during a period of significant unrest.

7:38

Philip's eldest brother, King Alexander

7:41

II, was killed in 368 BCE. A

7:46

regency was put in place for their middle

7:48

brother, Perdicus III, and the 14 year old Philip

7:52

found himself taken back to Thebes

7:55

as a political hostage. There

7:58

he got to see one of the greatest states

8:00

of Ancient Greece at its height, and

8:03

its military and more importantly

8:06

its military's differences from the rest

8:08

of the region that drove Thebes

8:10

to the pinnacle of Greek power.

8:14

Philip's guardian in this period

8:16

was Pomenes, commander

8:18

of the Theban Sacred Band, their

8:20

elite army of 150 homoromantic

8:24

couples. His personal

8:26

tutor, theoretically preparing him

8:28

to become a competent Theban ally

8:30

in Macedon, was Epimonidos,

8:33

the greatest Theban commander and

8:35

political leader of the day. Philip's

8:38

time in Thebes was actually

8:40

brief, just three years before

8:43

Perdicus III overthrew his regent

8:45

and summoned Philip back from Thebes.

8:49

However, historians put a lot

8:51

of value on those three years,

8:54

as they should.

8:56

There is a lot of development between the ages

8:58

of 14 and 17. It

9:01

would be more surprising if Philip's experiences

9:04

in that time didn't alter his worldview.

9:07

His time in Thebes left gears

9:10

turning in young Philip's head for years

9:12

to come, thinking of ways

9:14

to improve upon his own people's

9:17

military. That military

9:19

was locked in an on and off forever

9:22

war against the Illyrians.

9:25

It's less about a specific grievance

9:28

and more just two countries ruled

9:30

by warlord kings sitting next to

9:32

one another. Illyria encompassed

9:35

most of modern Albania and the

9:37

Adriatic coast of the former Yugoslavia.

9:41

The Illyrians were more culturally

9:43

distinct from their neighbors than Macedon,

9:45

though without much of a written record,

9:48

we don't know much about them.

9:51

In 359 BCE, King

9:53

Perdicus III of Macedon went to

9:55

war with one of the numerous Illyrian

9:57

tribes and was killed in battle. Fortunately,

10:01

he had the sense to appoint Philip regent

10:04

for the infant prince Amentas

10:06

before leaving. When

10:08

news reached Macedon that Perdicus

10:10

was dead, Philip looked around and

10:13

must have thought something along the lines of,

10:16

well, if I'm gonna be regent

10:18

for most of the next 20 years, I

10:20

might as well just be king, right?

10:22

Sorry kid.

10:24

To his credit, the newly crowned King

10:27

Philip II didn't smother

10:29

his infant nephew in the cradle. Amentas

10:32

got to grow up as a prince of Macedon,

10:34

but no longer in line for the throne.

10:38

Given that he had no memories of anything

10:40

else, Amentas doesn't seem to have resented

10:42

his uncle on this. This

10:45

is all stuff I've talked about in

10:48

brief already. But

10:50

from there, Philip took the Macedonian

10:53

army and led them to Illyria, where

10:56

they absolutely slaughtered their opponents,

10:59

even though Philip was already married

11:01

to an Illyrian princess. However,

11:04

with a victory under his belt, Philip II

11:07

set to work completely restructuring

11:09

the Macedonian army.

11:11

He drew inspiration

11:12

from the likes of Epimonidos's

11:16

tactics and Efricrates' innovative

11:19

equipment during the Corinthian War to

11:21

build a unique military force

11:24

in northern Greece. Up

11:26

to this point, the Macedonians had

11:29

used pretty typical Greek armies

11:31

for the 4th century BCE, with

11:34

a slight emphasis on cavalry

11:36

that their prominent southern neighbors just

11:39

couldn't have because the northern terrain

11:41

was more suited to horses. They

11:44

were also probably early adopters

11:46

of light infantry peltasts, just

11:49

because they were closer to Thrace, where

11:51

that fighting style originated. This

11:54

is one of the few times in history where

11:56

seemingly minute differences in

11:58

military technology and organization

12:01

are actually massive historical

12:03

changes

12:04

all at once.

12:06

At this point, the standard Greek hoplite

12:09

kit, or panoply, was already

12:12

pretty stripped down from its

12:14

archaic archetype, as

12:17

it had existed around the time of the

12:19

Persian invasions. The

12:21

classical ideal was a phalanx

12:24

of citizen warriors with large hoplon

12:27

shields and bronze armor composed

12:30

of a helmet, breastplate, greaves

12:32

on the legs, and bracers on the arms. There's

12:35

actually a strong possibility that

12:38

this version of the panoply never existed

12:41

for anyone but the wealthiest warleaders

12:43

at the same time as the formal hoplite

12:46

battle formation. By

12:48

the time we start getting good sources

12:51

on this stuff, the majority

12:53

of art and literary descriptions

12:55

tend to only depict partial kits.

12:59

The bracers, in particular, seemed

13:01

to be relics of an earlier stage of

13:03

warfare, when the arms were more exposed

13:05

than they would be fighting in a tight formation

13:08

with massive shields. Likewise,

13:11

by the mid-5th century we stopped seeing

13:13

greaves because that same formation

13:16

really limited the risk to a soldier's

13:18

legs. As iron

13:21

became more common, we can assume the

13:23

slightly weaker but significantly cheaper

13:25

metal replaced bronze in most cases,

13:28

and by the end of the 5th century the

13:30

metal breastplate was largely

13:32

supplanted by Linothorax, a

13:35

sort of gambeson made by layering

13:38

sheets of tightly woven linen

13:40

and loose fibers like animal hairs

13:42

or grass in between. You'd

13:44

be surprised how good that design

13:47

is at stopping penetrating attacks,

13:49

especially when properly made, it's

13:52

almost impervious to sword and knife

13:54

cuts. This was

13:57

all in service to a cheaper model

13:59

which allowed more men to serve as hoplites,

14:01

but over time even the rich adopted

14:04

the more fashionable, lighter, and more

14:06

maneuverable gear. In

14:09

any case, they were typically armed

14:11

with a 6 foot or 2 meter spear

14:13

called a doru and a sword

14:15

as their sidearm. During

14:17

the Corinthian War, the Athenian general

14:20

Ephikrates tried to

14:22

encourage a new model taking inspiration

14:25

from Thracian Peltasts and Egyptian

14:27

Pykemen to abandon the

14:29

hoplon in favor of a smaller Peltast

14:32

shield, which provided more

14:34

maneuverability to wield longer Egyptian

14:37

Pykes. This seems

14:39

to have been adopted by Athenian

14:41

marines and possibly some

14:43

components of the Theban army, but

14:46

not widely overall. No

14:49

sense in beating around the bush, Philip's

14:51

reforms are just too famous to avoid.

14:55

Philip ordered his armies to adopt

14:57

a very Ephikratean model.

15:00

The armor was already pretty bare bones,

15:04

so it stayed more or less the same,

15:06

Linothorax on the torso, metal

15:08

helmet on the head. However,

15:11

the hoplon shield was abandoned

15:13

en masse in favor of the Peltast,

15:16

now affixed with a leather strap to

15:19

sling the shield over one shoulder,

15:21

leaving both hands free until

15:24

the Peltast was needed for defense.

15:27

This extra free hand was important

15:30

because the doru was replaced by

15:32

a new weapon,

15:34

the Sarissa.

15:36

These gargantuan Pykes were so

15:38

long that they had to be carried in two

15:40

separate pieces, attached

15:42

with a screw in the middle just before

15:44

battle. The early designs

15:47

under Philip doubled the length of the

15:49

doru, making them 12 feet or 4 meters

15:52

long, and later Sarissai

15:55

reached as long as 20 feet or 6 meters.

15:59

obviously unwieldy in any

16:02

context other than a well-structured

16:04

phalanx, where soldiers simply had

16:06

to raise lower and thrust. But

16:09

that was more than enough. Think

16:11

about how phalanx warfare worked.

16:15

Whether Greek, Egyptian, Phoenician,

16:17

Babylonian, or anyone else, the

16:19

standard infantry spear up to

16:21

this point ran between 6 and 8

16:24

feet long. The two

16:27

sides would charge or march up to one

16:29

another and attempt to stab and

16:31

intimidate their opponents from as far away

16:33

as safely possible. Not

16:35

that this always worked, but it was the

16:38

safer approach. Well now,

16:40

Macedon's army was a bristling wall

16:43

of 12-foot pikes, which required more

16:45

practice and training, but allowed

16:47

Macedonian phalangites to strike

16:49

from twice as far away as their

16:52

enemies. They could realistically

16:54

wipe out the first two or three rows

16:57

of enemy troops before even being

16:59

in harm's way.

17:01

The peltast shield also allowed

17:03

them to be somewhat more maneuverable,

17:06

though still limited by the sheer size

17:08

of their weapons.

17:10

Still, without the interlocking shields

17:12

of a traditional hoplite formation, the

17:15

Macedonians could simply raise

17:17

their weapons to point skyward and

17:19

turn on the spot without much fear of running

17:21

into one another. This

17:24

new class of warrior was termed Pezhatyroy

17:27

by Philip, meaning the foot

17:29

companions. Despite

17:31

the game-changing nature of the Pezhatyroy,

17:35

Macedon's elite core actually

17:37

remained closer in style to

17:40

the traditional hoplite.

17:42

These were Philip's hippaspists,

17:45

or shield bearers, who

17:48

seemed to have been the formal bodyguard

17:50

unit of the Macedonian king, similar

17:53

in role to the Persian immortals. They

17:57

were Macedon's shock troops,

17:59

equipped with a in the traditional hoplite fashion

18:02

both for the prestige and because

18:04

they were more likely to be the ones sent

18:07

into close quarters fighting where the short

18:09

spears and larger shields still

18:11

presented an advantage. Macedon

18:14

also represents one of the earliest

18:17

powers to experiment with heavy and

18:19

light cavalry as well as shock

18:21

cavalry charges. We

18:24

saw the earliest expressions of this in

18:26

the Battle of K'naksa where Cyrus the

18:28

Younger's and Artaxerxes II's personal

18:31

guards were armored and prepared

18:33

to charge in on horseback for

18:35

a melee. This stands

18:38

in contrast to the very lightly armored

18:40

and missile weapon focused horsemen

18:42

of the Persian invasions or

18:45

Megabysus's rebellion in Syria.

18:48

The core of the Macedonian cavalry

18:51

were the Heteroi, or companions,

18:54

who were occasionally armed with javelins

18:57

like the Persians, but more often

18:59

with the Zeiston, a

19:01

sort of early lance with

19:03

blades affixed to either end of

19:06

a 10 foot or 3.5 meter shaft. The

19:10

Heteroi were armor similar

19:12

to their infantry counterparts and

19:14

thus were less fully armored than the

19:16

Persian equivalent, but

19:18

they did become the first intentional

19:21

cavalry unit formed for the purpose

19:24

of charging directly into

19:27

an enemy infantry formation rather

19:29

than wearing them down with missile

19:31

fire. Interestingly

19:34

though, the exact schema of light

19:36

vs heavy cavalry was still

19:38

being ironed out. The

19:40

Poldremoi, literally those

19:43

who ride ahead, were Phillips

19:45

lightly armored and more maneuverable scouts,

19:49

but they were equipped with an even longer

19:51

pike, closer in length to the

19:54

Sarissa than the Zeiston. In

19:57

addition to scouts, they acted as

19:59

true shots.

19:59

troops,

20:01

charging the enemy at full force in

20:03

a sort of single-use hard strike

20:05

before retreating, merging the traditional

20:08

Persian missile tactics with the Macedonian

20:11

Hetairoys equipment. Then

20:14

of course there were still light infantry

20:17

and missile infantry, almost

20:19

in a more Persian style than Greek,

20:21

compared to the Peltasts, who often

20:23

acted as support troops. As

20:26

Philip conquered, he incorporated

20:28

the typical hoplite and cavalry tactics

20:31

of his subjugated foes, but

20:34

the Macedonians were working along

20:36

this newly formed Macedonian

20:39

phalanx centered army.

20:42

And we will get into what he did with

20:44

that army right after this short

20:46

break.

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21:50

With his kingdom settled and his

21:52

military reforms underway,

21:54

Philip began taking advantage

21:56

of the ongoing conflicts in the northern

21:59

Aegean.

22:00

Specifically, the Thracian Civil

22:02

War and the Athenian Social

22:04

War that were both playing out in 358

22:06

and 357.

22:10

We discussed this in Episode 96.

22:14

Philip exploited these conflicts to

22:17

capture much of Western Thrace,

22:19

including the gold and silver mines

22:21

of Amphipolis, with false promises

22:24

to Athens. When

22:26

Athens tried to support a Macedonian

22:29

rival for power to get

22:31

Amphipolis back, Philip simply

22:33

withdrew his troops from the city

22:35

and declared it autonomous,

22:38

leaving a loyal government in place

22:40

but gutting the Athenian claims about

22:42

breaking the king's peace and occupying

22:45

an Athenian ally. Domestic

22:48

resistance to Philip within Macedon

22:50

all but collapsed. 357 also

22:54

saw Philip conclude an alliance with

22:56

his fellow northern Greek kingdom

22:58

of Epirus, marrying

23:01

a princess from that kingdom who went

23:03

by many names in her life but

23:05

is best known for the epithet she

23:08

took the next year following

23:10

Philip's triumph in the Olympic Games

23:13

when his chosen racehorse and jockey

23:15

finished first. This

23:18

woman was known far and wide

23:21

as Olympias,

23:22

a strong-willed witch queen

23:25

known for practicing strange

23:27

rural rites involving snakes

23:30

and odd goddesses, which

23:32

sounds suspiciously like a

23:34

variation of Ishtar.

23:37

The royal family of Epirus

23:39

also claimed descent from the ancient

23:42

Greek hero Achilles of Iliad

23:44

fame. Thus, when

23:46

Olympias gave birth to a son

23:49

shortly after the Olympic victory,

23:51

she made a point to impress on

23:53

that boy that he was descended from

23:55

her own ancestor,

23:57

but also his father's heroic

23:59

ancestor.

23:59

Heracles.

24:02

She may also have dropped hints

24:04

that she had not actually slept with

24:07

Philip at all, but rather Zeus, king

24:09

of the Greek gods in disguise.

24:13

Making the newborn prince Alexander,

24:16

son of Zeus, maybe? And

24:18

descendant of both Heracles and

24:21

Achilles, two of the most famous

24:23

heroes of all Greece. It

24:26

must have been exhausting

24:29

to be a Macedonian soldier in

24:31

these early years under Philip. Their

24:34

kingdom was still small, but they were

24:36

marching all over the place. In

24:39

just two years they conquered swaths

24:41

of Thrace, Illyria, and

24:43

Thessaly.

24:45

All under the guise of assisting their

24:47

allies and installing supposedly

24:49

independent leaders who all

24:52

understood that they had to be loyal

24:54

to Philip and Macedon above all

24:56

else. If they failed

24:58

to uphold that requirement, well, wouldn't

25:01

you know, Philip would suddenly have

25:04

new oppressed allies in their cities

25:06

that needed his help.

25:08

So Philip II spent most of the

25:10

350s consolidating his rule in

25:12

the Chalchidoches and the Thracian

25:15

coast, where the Chalchidochean

25:17

League was able to put up organized

25:20

resistance and Athenian support

25:22

came as often as the Athenians

25:24

could afford,

25:26

attempting to break Philip's hold on

25:29

almost all of their traditional trading

25:31

partners in the north.

25:33

There was no luck. One

25:36

by one the Greek colonies of Thrace

25:38

and their indigenous neighbors fell to

25:40

Macedon.

25:42

Through it all,

25:43

Philip slowly built up

25:45

a Macedonian navy and

25:48

improved upon his people's siege

25:50

tactics. Only

25:53

the city of Methonae managed

25:55

to hold out in the end. In

25:57

the course of that siege, an arrow

26:00

caught Philip II himself in the

26:02

face, damaging his right eye,

26:04

which eventually had to be removed

26:07

from his head altogether.

26:09

However, even Methoneg

26:11

was only spared because

26:13

Philip got a much more enticing

26:16

invitation

26:17

to a party down south.

26:20

In 356 BC, conflict erupted in

26:22

Northern

26:24

Greece, in a rare intersection

26:27

of ancient Greek religious law and

26:29

brutal riau politique. One

26:32

year earlier, the city of Phocas

26:34

had sent farmers into an uncultivated

26:37

plain just outside their formal

26:39

territorial boundaries.

26:42

Under most circumstances, this wouldn't

26:44

really be a problem.

26:47

Uncultivated land was normally

26:49

free game in antiquity. At

26:52

most, it would cause some arguing between

26:54

the governments over which one

26:56

of them was going to collect taxes

26:59

on the newly settled land.

27:01

However, this was no ordinary

27:04

tract. This was the

27:06

Kirhayen Plain,

27:08

part of the territory of Delphi,

27:11

the most sacred city in

27:14

Greece and home to the great oracle

27:16

of the god Apollo, which

27:18

has popped in and out of our dealings with Greece

27:21

ever since we met them in Episode VI.

27:25

By tradition, the Kirhayen Plain

27:27

was uncultivated under orders

27:29

of the city's patron deity. So

27:32

when Phocas broached this traditional

27:35

boundary, they found themselves

27:37

in trouble with the Amphictyonic League.

27:41

Unlike most Greek leagues, this

27:43

was not a regional defensive pact,

27:46

at least not in the same way as

27:48

usual. It was the

27:50

Panhellenic Council that governed

27:53

Delphi to ensure a modicum

27:55

of neutrality from the oracle toward

27:57

all Greeks.

27:59

representatives from all around Greece

28:02

came in and out of prominence in this

28:04

league over time, and

28:06

it was typically a

28:07

pretty bureaucratic thing. The

28:10

Amphictyonic League only had to

28:12

exercise its military authority

28:14

twice before, once

28:17

in the mid 6th century and again

28:19

in the mid 5th. The

28:21

former was an isolated conflict

28:24

over cultivation of

28:25

the Kirhayen plain,

28:27

which saw the destruction of the eponymous

28:30

city of Kirhay. The

28:32

latter was part of the prelude

28:35

to the Peloponnesian War and

28:37

saw focus try and fail to

28:40

seize control over Delphi itself.

28:43

Go figure, an unused tract

28:45

of fertile land in a relatively weak

28:48

but ambitious neighbor tend to

28:50

cause problems. In 357

28:53

the Amphictyonic Council just followed

28:56

standard procedure and told focus

28:58

they had crossed a line and needed

29:01

to pay a financial penalty

29:03

for their blasphemy.

29:06

No harm, no foul, just pay

29:08

some restitution and get out of here.

29:11

The thing is,

29:12

Thebes had a majority of the

29:15

seats on the Amphictyonic Council

29:17

at the time and in addition

29:19

to finding focus, they

29:22

used this as an opportunity to

29:25

also find Sparta for

29:27

their occupation of Thebes 25 years

29:30

earlier before the Corinthian War. The

29:33

Phocean Fine was excessive

29:35

compared to their transgression and the

29:38

Spartan Fine was entirely

29:41

uncalled for and dubious under

29:43

the league's charter. On

29:46

top of that, the Thebans also pushed

29:48

through a vote to formally denounce

29:51

both focus and Sparta in

29:53

the eyes of the god Apollo and

29:55

his oracle.

29:57

Blocking them from Delphi until they complete. with

30:01

the Fines.

30:02

In all likelihood, the Thebans

30:05

knew that their northern neighbors in focus

30:07

and their traditional enemies in Sparta

30:10

would both refuse to pay, giving

30:13

Thebes a just cause to declare

30:15

the third sacred war against either

30:18

of them. This would present

30:20

an opportunity for Thebes to

30:22

regain some of its prominence, which

30:24

was lost after the last Theban-Spartan

30:27

war by attacking some

30:29

soft targets. Focus

30:32

was small,

30:33

Sparta was in decline,

30:35

and few other Greek cities would risk

30:37

siding with them against the Amphictyonic

30:39

League, regardless of Theban

30:42

politics.

30:44

But Focus had a trump card.

30:47

At least according to legend, they

30:49

had been the permanent heads of the League

30:52

when it was founded, and were

30:54

forced out at some point early

30:56

in its history.

30:58

This is totally possible given their

31:00

proximity to Delphi. It's

31:03

also entirely possible it's just

31:05

an old Fochian myth about

31:07

some grudge they had against their neighbors.

31:11

Either way, the Fochian army marched

31:13

in immediately, seized

31:15

control of Delphi, and declared their

31:18

city in charge of the League,

31:20

intending to counter denounced Thebes

31:23

and provide religious justifications

31:25

for their allies to send aid.

31:29

Sparta just wanted to get out of their fine,

31:31

and Athens didn't want Thebes to gain

31:34

power again. So

31:36

both quickly sided with Focus.

31:39

However, other Greek cities were hesitant

31:42

after the Fochians raided the Delphic

31:44

Treasury to pay for mercenaries.

31:48

This was the height of disrespect

31:51

to the god Apollo,

31:52

and you can see why some other cities

31:55

that didn't have as much of a dog in the fight

31:58

might be as

31:59

to join in the war,

32:02

even if they didn't like Thebes.

32:05

Regardless of any of the smaller cities though,

32:08

all of Greece's big power players

32:10

were involved, so war erupted

32:12

at once, initially focusing on

32:14

the area around Phoches and Delphi,

32:17

but expanding rapidly. The

32:21

Thessalian League in northeastern

32:23

Greece sided absolutely

32:25

with the lawfully elected Amphictyonic

32:27

Council and therefore Thebes.

32:31

They also had a long-standing rivalry

32:33

with Phoches, which probably helped

32:35

in the decision. The

32:37

non-league city of Pharae

32:39

backed Phoches and put

32:42

up furious resistance to their Thessalian

32:44

neighbors. So

32:47

Thessaly sent a letter to Macedon

32:49

asking for Philip to swing down

32:52

and help them out with this whole Pharae

32:54

business.

32:56

Almost 2400 years

32:59

after the fact, you can still sort

33:01

of see the spark in Philip's remaining

33:04

eye when he received this request.

33:08

Initially, in 354 or 353, Philip was

33:12

caught off guard by the strength

33:14

of the Phocian mercenaries.

33:17

They not only repelled Macedon and

33:19

the Thessalians from Pharae,

33:21

but defeated Philip

33:23

in the field twice. The

33:26

Roman era historian Polyinus

33:28

suggests that the Phocians used

33:30

catapults as field artillery.

33:33

A rare tactic in the real world, despite

33:36

what video games may suggest. Lobbing

33:39

boulders into the tightly packed Macedonian

33:42

phalanx and then charging would

33:44

certainly have had a devastating effect

33:48

if nobody had ever tried it before. It's

33:50

not a trick that works twice, though. Philip

33:54

gathered a large army over the winter,

33:57

told the Thessalians that he needed them

33:59

at his side. fight to get focus out

34:01

of their territory, and swept

34:03

through the region the next year, pushing

34:06

the Phocean army entirely

34:08

out of Thessaly in the Battle of Crocus

34:10

Fields, where the Macedonians

34:12

went into battle wearing laurel wreaths

34:15

to honor Delphic Apollo. It

34:18

was a perfect tactical and

34:20

propaganda move. Philip

34:23

instantly became the great champion

34:25

of Apollo and had effectively

34:27

occupied Thessaly in the process. He

34:31

was declared Archon of the Thessalian

34:33

League, essentially High King

34:35

over the many petty monarchies in the

34:38

area, supposedly

34:40

by popular acclaim. But

34:42

with the Macedonian army there in

34:45

force, what choice did

34:47

the Thessalonians really have? Philip

34:50

began the process of reorganizing

34:53

Thessalonian city boundaries and governments

34:55

to try and soothe the traditionally

34:58

competitive and fractious region

35:00

into a unified province under

35:02

Macedonian rule. However,

35:05

that task would be left

35:07

to subordinates, because Philip

35:10

himself went south to chase the

35:12

Phoacians back to their own city.

35:15

At this point, his march starts to

35:17

look awfully familiar.

35:20

After marching through his allies'

35:22

territory in Thessaly,

35:24

he occupied a few cities peacefully,

35:27

sacked Magnesia,

35:28

and arrived at the infamous seaside

35:31

pass at Thermopylae,

35:34

where he found it blocked by a Southern

35:36

Greek army on his way

35:39

to link up with his own allies in

35:41

Thebes.

35:42

Yeah, if not for having to fight for

35:45

control of Thessaly, this would

35:47

be a near exact repeat

35:49

of Xerxes' march through Greece.

35:52

But in this case, Athens, rather

35:54

than Sparta, held the hot gates.

35:58

Philip undoubtedly...

35:59

could have taken Thermopylae. Frankly,

36:03

any educated Greek probably could

36:06

at this point. But Philip

36:08

wasn't equipped for a war with Athens

36:11

at the moment, so he went back to

36:13

finishing his accounts in Thessaly.

36:16

Neither Philip nor his new Thessalonian

36:19

subjects came back the next spring.

36:22

With Athens now involved directly

36:24

and his momentum broken, Philip

36:27

saw greater opportunities to participate

36:30

in the Third Sacred War by opening

36:32

a northern theater instead of taking

36:35

little old focus itself. It

36:37

also allowed him to deal with two problems

36:40

at once. One of the

36:42

Odrysian Thracian contenders for

36:44

their own throne had started threatening

36:46

Macedon. Philip and his

36:48

army struck out across coastal

36:51

Thrace to deal with Amadocos.

36:54

However, the other Thracian contender

36:57

came to terms with Athens in

36:59

eastern Thrace,

37:01

and both Thracian and Athenian

37:03

influence sparked a rebellion in

37:05

the Chalkidachian League against

37:07

Philip. So the Macedonian

37:10

king slowly picked his way through

37:12

his rivals in western Thrace, until

37:17

in 349 Athenian reinforcements arrived

37:19

at the rebel city of Olinthos.

37:22

A two year siege ensued, with

37:25

a second round of Athenian reinforcements

37:28

coming in 348, and a third scheduled to come, but

37:32

delayed by inclement weather long

37:34

enough for Philip to take the city. To

37:37

keep Athens busy after Olinthos

37:40

fell, Philip hired privateers,

37:43

mercenary pirates to raid

37:45

Athenian allies and colonies

37:48

in the Aegean while he prepared

37:50

to go south. The

37:53

war between Thebes and Phocas

37:55

had hit a stalemate, and

37:57

Philip declared that he would go south.

38:01

but not where he was headed. Focus,

38:04

Athens, and Sparta sent a

38:07

gargantuan army to Thermopylae,

38:10

including every man eligible

38:12

for military service in Athens and 1000

38:15

Spartan hoplites, which

38:18

may have been almost every Spartan

38:20

still eligible for citizenship at this

38:22

point due to their self-destructive

38:25

property requirements.

38:28

If the battle had happened,

38:30

it would have been a major turning point

38:33

in history, either expediting

38:35

Philip's conquest dramatically or

38:37

killing the newborn Macedonian Empire

38:40

where it stood.

38:42

Instead,

38:43

focus ran out of money. No

38:46

money means no mercenary payroll,

38:49

means mercenary revolt.

38:51

A military coup in focus restored

38:54

a previous Phocean leader to power,

38:56

and he told Athens and Sparta to

38:59

go home because he was going to

39:01

sue for peace and bring the

39:03

war to an end in 346. Without

39:07

an ally to actually support,

39:10

Athens was forced to do the same

39:12

because if Philip had free passage

39:15

through Phocean territory and

39:17

allies and Thebes, he could

39:19

walk right up to the Athenian walls

39:21

unopposed and Athens was really

39:24

not ready for that. There

39:26

was lots of talk about forging a common

39:29

peace for all Greece once again, but

39:32

utterly disingenuous. Philip's

39:35

ambition was boundless and the

39:37

Athenian leader of the hour was the

39:39

charismatic orator Demosthenes,

39:43

who utterly despised Philip.

39:46

The peace of 346 was

39:48

a stopgap,

39:50

but it did have two notable effects.

39:53

It officially ended the king's

39:56

peace in Greece at a time

39:58

when Artaxerxes the III was too busy

40:01

with Phoenicia and Egypt to take

40:03

much notice.

40:05

It also granted Macedon two

40:07

votes on the Amphictyonic Council,

40:10

stripped from focus as a punishment.

40:14

The Amphictyonic League was one

40:16

of the prime institutions of Panhellenic

40:19

culture, an organization

40:21

for all Greeks. By

40:24

allowing Macedon into the League,

40:26

it signaled that Macedonia would

40:28

be accepted as Greek rather

40:31

than pseudo-barbarian. With

40:34

Greece settled down for a moment,

40:37

Philip went northeast again, marching

40:40

off to deal with the remaining Eastern

40:42

Thracian king in a poorly

40:44

documented campaign that saw the end

40:47

of Odrysian independence, as

40:49

both contenders were now vassals

40:52

of Philip. It also marked

40:54

the first time the Macedonian army

40:56

marched to the Thracian Chersonys,

40:59

but certainly not the last.

41:02

Macedon had grown immensely

41:04

in the preceding decade,

41:07

and at this point Philip began

41:09

reorganizing his country.

41:12

Not only did he need to create more

41:14

logical and structured systems

41:16

of governors, liaisons to new vassals,

41:19

tax assessments and the like,

41:21

but he had a valuable opportunity

41:25

to increase Macedonian food

41:27

security. With large buffers

41:30

all around the homeland,

41:32

the Macedonians didn't need to concentrate

41:35

their resources in rugged hill

41:37

forts and mobile animal herds.

41:40

Philip's son Alexander supposedly

41:43

recollected later that his father brought

41:46

Macedon down from the hills and

41:48

into the plains.

41:50

When he resettled portions of the population

41:53

in more agriculturally productive

41:56

areas, Philip greatly increased

41:58

Macedon's population. and

42:01

security. The mid-340s

42:04

saw Philip settle his eastern

42:06

border with invasions of southern

42:08

Illyria and Epiros, defeating

42:11

the last hostile kings and tribes

42:14

of the former and installing his favorite

42:16

Epirote brother-in-law and

42:19

Alexander the Great's probable namesake

42:21

as the new Epirote king.

42:24

He finished out

42:25

the decade with another campaign

42:27

to eastern Thrace to annex

42:30

the territory outright, and

42:32

to celebrate this victory,

42:34

he founded Philippopolis, the

42:37

city of Philip,

42:38

or modern Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

42:42

With that,

42:43

Macedon was functionally secure

42:46

from the Hellespont to the Adriatic

42:48

Sea. There was never

42:50

much to threaten them from the north to

42:52

begin with, at least not since

42:55

Alexander I and Xerxes' time,

42:57

but there was still a seething

42:59

mass of unruly polace in

43:01

the south. This

43:03

brings us to events we've discussed

43:08

more recently. 340 and 339 saw Philip

43:10

besieging Perinthos and Byzantian,

43:13

only to be rebuffed when the Persian

43:15

Empire of Artaxerxes III

43:17

started sending aid to the Belugared

43:20

city states.

43:22

In 339, Athens and

43:24

Thebes rejected their peace treaties

43:27

and attacked Macedon's allies.

43:30

On his way home from the Chersonys, Philip

43:33

actually decided to pull Adarius

43:35

the Great and swung up north to

43:37

cross the Danube and fight some

43:40

Scythians for some reason, presumably

43:43

a punitive expedition for raids

43:45

into now-Macedonian ruled territory.

43:48

This

43:49

was a poor decision.

43:51

King Philip broke his leg in battle

43:54

against the horse archers and had to

43:56

delay his return to Greece for

43:59

over 6 months.

43:59

months.

44:01

When he did return, the city

44:03

of Amphissa was used as

44:06

a scapegoat. Some

44:08

Amphisians went to farm another

44:11

of Apollo's sacred plains

44:13

and successfully provoked a fourth

44:16

sacred war, with Philip

44:18

assuming control of the Amphictyonic

44:20

League and marching south

44:23

in 338. Athens and Thebes

44:27

both feared Philip's rapidly escalating

44:29

dominance and moved to oppose him.

44:33

This time, they really did join

44:35

focus in a defense of Thermopylae,

44:38

which Philip expected. Evidently

44:41

nobody on the anti-Macedonian

44:44

side had read Herodotus, but

44:46

Philip had. That's the

44:48

problem when your country's most

44:50

defensible sight is also

44:52

the sight of your most famous defeat.

44:56

Once everyone knows these strategic

44:58

weaknesses, it stops being

45:00

quite so defensible. Nobody

45:03

bothered to guard the mountain road

45:06

that circumvented the pass at Thermopylae.

45:10

So Philip replicated the Persian strategy

45:12

from a century and a half earlier.

45:15

He sent part of his army up the

45:17

goat path and they popped out in

45:19

the enemy's rear,

45:21

turning the tight pass against its defenders

45:23

for a slaughter.

45:25

From there he marched on focus,

45:28

where he offered to undo

45:31

all the penalties imposed on them at the end

45:33

of the last war. Focus

45:36

joined Philip there, turning their army

45:38

around to join the Macedonians

45:40

on their way to Thebes.

45:44

They faced off in the Battle of

45:46

Carinaea,

45:48

on a wide open plain in Boetia

45:50

near the city of Thebes. Athens,

45:54

panicked by the prospect of imminent attack,

45:56

sent in their army full force

45:59

to defend the Thethians as a buffer.

46:02

Poor choice. The Macedonians

46:05

and their allies, or more honestly

46:07

subjects at this point, crushed

46:10

both of their opponents on the battlefield,

46:13

effectively ending the Fourth Sacred

46:15

War and setting the stage

46:17

for Philip to demand whatever he

46:19

wanted from whoever he wanted

46:22

in Greece.

46:23

This campaign also saw Philip's

46:26

son,

46:27

the 16 year old Prince Alexander,

46:30

take command of a cavalry unit

46:32

and lead his way to victory for

46:35

the first time.

46:37

Greece was reorganized as never

46:39

before. Long

46:41

dead cities like Plataea were refounded.

46:45

Colonies were made independent

46:47

of their mother city. All

46:49

the other existing leagues and

46:51

alliances outside the Amphictyony

46:54

were dissolved and replaced by a

46:57

single super league called

46:59

the League of Corinth. Corinth

47:02

and other strategically valuable cities

47:04

were required to host Macedonian

47:07

garrisons.

47:08

Members would be assessed for tribute

47:11

payments to the league treasury controlled

47:13

by Macedon.

47:15

For all intents and purposes,

47:18

Philip had just conquered all of

47:20

Greece outside the Peloponnese.

47:24

So naturally, he turned his attention

47:26

to that squarish little peninsula

47:28

next.

47:30

What little remained of the old

47:32

Peloponnesian League dissolved

47:35

itself and most of the Peloponnesian

47:37

cities negotiated their peaceful

47:39

entrance into the League of Corinth.

47:42

I say most because Sparta

47:45

refused to play ball.

47:47

According to Plutarch, quote,

47:51

"...and when Philip wrote thus to the Spartans,

47:54

If I enter your territories, I will

47:57

destroy you, utterly,

47:58

never."

47:59

to rise again.

48:02

They answered him with a single word.

48:05

If. Oh that's

48:08

cool. Or it would be cool

48:10

if I didn't know what happened next.

48:13

This is one of people's favorite

48:15

examples of Spartan awesomeness.

48:19

It's a great example of the brief,

48:22

witty, laconic speech and

48:24

exudes, we can

48:26

take em' energy. If

48:28

this exchange really happened,

48:31

it was all posturing.

48:34

A lot of pop history and misguided

48:36

Sparta enthusiasts like

48:39

to go straight from if, to, and

48:41

neither Philip nor Alexander

48:43

ever occupied Sparta. But

48:46

they skip the bit in between.

48:49

Philip invaded the Peloponnese, crushed

48:52

the Spartans in battle,

48:54

and ransacked Laconia unimpeded,

48:57

but never bothered to actually

49:00

besiege the city of Sparta.

49:02

Because it was a toothless backwater with

49:05

an impressive but long past

49:07

history.

49:09

After beating Sparta back into the

49:11

dirt, Philip had effectively

49:14

subjugated everything of value in

49:16

southeastern Europe,

49:18

and he sent Parmenion to Anatolia

49:20

to create a beachhead

49:22

for a larger invasion of Persian territory

49:25

with the full force of the Macedonian

49:28

Empire.

49:29

While Parmenion was away, Philip

49:31

started and dealt with some family

49:34

drama. Upon

49:36

returning from Southern Greece, Philip

49:38

supposedly fell in love with and

49:40

definitely married

49:42

the niece of one of his generals, a

49:44

woman named Cleopatra Eurydice.

49:48

We are about 300 years away

49:50

from THE Cleopatra, but

49:53

it's just a Macedonian woman's name.

49:56

So is Eurydice for that matter. Brace

49:59

yourself for dealing with a lot

50:01

of Cleopatrai and Eurydiceus

50:04

in the near future.

50:06

Well,

50:07

the uncle of the bride got drunk at the

50:09

wedding and prayed publicly to

50:11

Zeus that his niece would produce

50:14

a legitimate Macedonian

50:16

heir for Philip.

50:18

Remember, Prince Alexander's

50:21

mother, Olympias, was an epirot,

50:24

married to join her ancestral

50:26

lands with Macedon. She also,

50:28

somewhat famously, loved her

50:30

son but hated her husband. If

50:34

Philip felt like a fully

50:36

Macedonian prince would be a better

50:39

heir, and loved his

50:41

new wife for real, then

50:44

Alexander and Olympias were in

50:46

very real danger.

50:48

An illegitimate son with a

50:50

16-year head start

50:53

was a genuine threat to

50:55

the legitimate heir as a baby.

50:59

Mother and son went on the lamb, fleeing

51:01

to her family and Epirus and then

51:04

passing through a series of other minor

51:06

Epirote vassal kingdoms to

51:08

evade the feared assassins. But

51:11

eventually, Philip got in touch

51:15

and basically said, what

51:17

the hell are you doing? I'm not

51:19

going to disown and kill Alexander.

51:22

He's an adult with military

51:25

and political training from the best tutors

51:27

in the Greek world.

51:29

I hired Aristotle for

51:31

this boy for God's sake.

51:34

I'm old, covered in injuries, and

51:36

the prince you think I want to replace him

51:38

with doesn't even exist yet.

51:41

Alexander is my heir. So,

51:45

Olympias and Alexander calmed

51:47

down and went home.

51:50

But Alexander remained in perpetual

51:52

fear of being replaced. Oh,

51:56

and of course this all ignores Philip's

51:58

actual first son. by

52:00

a completely different wife, called

52:03

Philip Eridaeus,

52:05

who was not really a contender for

52:08

power because he was at least perceived

52:11

as having some kind of psychological

52:13

disability.

52:15

Though from the sources we have, it

52:18

seems like a pretty mild condition

52:21

which is a bit odd.

52:23

In early 338, Philip

52:25

II was trying to arrange a

52:27

marriage for Eridaeus with the

52:29

daughter of Satrap Pixodarus

52:32

over in Caria.

52:34

Rumors swirled that this meant

52:37

he was going to replace Alexander

52:39

with Philip Eridaeus.

52:41

So Alexander hired a Corinthian

52:44

actor to go to Caria, pretend

52:46

to be a Macedonian noble, and

52:49

suggest that Pixodarus should marry

52:51

his daughter to Alexander instead.

52:55

King Philip caught wind of this, had

52:57

the actor detained, and exiled

53:00

four of Alexander's friends, who

53:02

had dreamt up the scheme to other

53:05

parts of the Macedonian Empire.

53:08

He then told his heir apparent

53:10

that he would never dream of marrying Alexander

53:13

to a carrion. Alex

53:16

could do so much better than that. Philip

53:19

was probably feeling pretty good about

53:21

himself when he went to his brother-in-law's

53:24

wedding. It looked like he

53:26

had finally gotten Alexander to

53:29

stop freaking out about being replaced.

53:32

The most recent report from Parmenion

53:35

only showed continued success

53:37

in Asia and reported that the

53:39

boy king on the Eastern throne had

53:41

been murdered.

53:43

So it probably came as quite a shock

53:46

when, in October of 336, one

53:50

of Philip's own bodyguards repeatedly

53:52

thrust a knife into his chest. The

53:55

assassin ran for the exit,

53:58

where hooded men were waiting with Alexander. an extra

54:00

horse.

54:02

Philip's other bodyguards pursued

54:04

and the assassin's horse tripped, breaking

54:06

its ankle.

54:08

Rather than capturing or questioning

54:10

the assassin,

54:12

the other bodyguards plunged their spears

54:15

in for the kill.

54:17

As with most anonymous political

54:19

murders, conspiracy theories have

54:21

abounded ever since. Why

54:24

did the bodyguards kill instead of capture?

54:27

Who were those men with the getaway crew?

54:30

What motivated the assassin?

54:33

Presumably money or bribes

54:35

of status, but from who? Alexander,

54:39

Olympias, Bogos, Darius III,

54:41

Artaxerxes IV, one of the Anatolian

54:43

satraps, a jaded Macedonian

54:46

noble.

54:48

They've all been suggested.

54:50

We will never know, but it set the stage

54:53

for the amount of trust circulating

54:55

in the aristocracy at Macedon

54:58

going forward,

54:59

which is to say none.

55:02

Philip's death created the

55:04

chaotic opening for Persian forces

55:06

to expel Parmenion from Anatolia

55:09

with misleading ease, while

55:11

at just 20 years old, King

55:14

Alexander III ascended the

55:16

Macedonian throne.

55:18

He was proclaimed king by the assembled

55:21

nobles and soldiers at the wedding feast

55:24

moments after his father's death,

55:26

and immediately had to deal with the process

55:29

of consolidating power.

55:32

The first order of business was

55:34

executing his older cousin, the

55:36

would-have-been king Amentus that

55:38

Philip had spared when he seized

55:41

power. Amentus had

55:43

a legitimate claim and was a fully

55:46

cognizant adult. Therefore,

55:49

he was a threat and he had to go. Supposedly,

55:53

under Alynpius's orders, Philip's final

55:56

wife, the aforementioned Cleopatra

55:58

Eurydice,

55:59

her daughter Europa,

56:01

were burned alive.

56:03

Alexander was furious for

56:06

this uncalled murder.

56:08

Because without a son to actually

56:10

challenge him, Cleopatra posed

56:13

no threat,

56:14

nor did her two-year-old daughter.

56:17

But like Parasautus before her,

56:19

what was done was done, and the

56:22

eventual Queen Mother was

56:24

still his mother.

56:26

However, Alexander

56:28

did execute Cleopatra's uncle,

56:31

who had previously spoken out against

56:33

him,

56:34

when the uncle in question was

56:36

discovered to be secretly in communication

56:39

with the Athenian Demosthenes, arranging

56:42

a revolt against Macedon. However,

56:45

that did not save Macedon

56:47

from mass revolt. Thebes,

56:50

Athens, Thessaly, and Northern

56:52

Thrace all chafed under

56:54

the new governments installed by

56:57

Philip. They rose

56:59

up. Alexander raised 3000

57:02

cavalry and tore through Thessaly

57:04

at speed, encircling

57:07

the Thessalonian camp before they

57:09

even realized he was in their country,

57:12

forcing a surrender. From

57:14

there, he raced to Corinth, making

57:16

a pit stop at Athens where the Athenians

57:19

realized they were outmatched

57:22

and laid down their arms without a fight,

57:24

before seeing Alex on to Corinth

57:27

where the other members of the League were

57:29

forcefully reminded that they were

57:32

obliged to serve Macedon,

57:34

regardless of its king. In 335

57:38

BCE, Alexander turned around

57:41

and went north, battling Thracian

57:43

rebels in the Chersones before

57:45

pressing deeper into inland Thrace

57:48

and crossing the Danube to battle the

57:50

Ghetai,

57:52

a still independent Thracian tribe

57:54

which was defeated and became a Macedonian

57:57

vassal. While on

57:59

the east side of his empire, a revolt

58:02

broke out in Illyria in the far

58:04

west,

58:05

so Alexander turned around and

58:07

beat them into submission too.

58:10

Then Thebes and Athens

58:12

changed their mind.

58:15

After taking most of 335 to

58:18

prepare for war, they rebelled

58:20

and marshalled their troops. Had

58:23

Illyria stayed peaceful, things might

58:25

have been very different.

58:27

But Alexander was already back in

58:29

northwestern Greece by the time the

58:32

rebels declared their intention. So

58:35

braving the possibility of a winter

58:37

battle, Alexander and the Macedonian

58:40

army turned south and marched

58:42

to Thebes.

58:44

The two great cities of southeastern

58:46

Greece had probably anticipated

58:49

a winter season to continue planning

58:52

and melding their forces together. They

58:54

had no such luck.

58:57

Thebes fought and it was destroyed,

59:00

both in the sense that they suffered heavy losses

59:02

in a pitched battle outside the city wall,

59:06

and in the very literal sense that Alexander

59:08

kicked in the gates, ordered his men to remove

59:11

anything of value, and

59:12

then burnt Thebes to the ground. After

59:16

centuries of dominating Boetia,

59:19

Theban lands were divided up between

59:21

its neighbours,

59:23

and the smoldering ruins were left as

59:25

a reminder

59:26

that nobody could challenge Macedon.

59:30

Athens, understandably, surrendered

59:32

without a fight again.

59:35

And with that, Alexander's

59:37

empire was at peace. But

59:40

if there's one thing Alexander III

59:42

of Macedon couldn't stand,

59:45

it was peace.

59:47

Last time, worlds collide

59:50

as Alexander prepares to enact

59:52

his father's master plan and

59:55

invade all of Asia.

59:58

Until then, if you want more- information

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