Alexander III of Macedonia is known as the most successful military leader and conqueror, undefeated on the battlefield. He is known as Alexander the Great and achieved military success before the age of thirty. Alexander the Great, according to the biographer Arrian, “would not have been born without the intervention of the gods” and goes on to say that his life “exceeds the merely human one”. Alexander, according to early historians, achieved success due to his superior intellect, creativity, and inhuman military strength and courage. He is referred to as "the Great" more than any other title. According to later criticism, however, Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor due to many external factors and components that made the conquest of the region not only possible, but imminent. While many historians prefer to speak of Alexander's military genius, many other factors outside of Alexander's control are responsible for his successful and undefeated conquest at such a young age. Alexander's father Philip laid the foundations of a military loyal to the throne. Many of the military developments used by Alexander were actually also developed by his father. The Macedonian phalanx, military exercises and its organization may have been used successfully in battle by Alexander, but they were innovated by his father and predecessor. His father is also responsible for the unification of Greece before Alexander's rule. With a united Greece behind him, Alexander was able to concentrate all his military, diplomatic and economic energies outward and on his campaign. The campaign itself was a continuation of the expansion plans that King Philip II would conduct until his aborted death. Asia Minor, the area Alexander conquered was a huge...... middle of paper......tedArrian, Pamela Mensch Mensch and James S. Romm S. Romm. The Arrian Landmark: Alexander's Campaigns; Anabasis Alexandrou: a new translation. New York: Anchor Books, 2012. Bose, Partha S. The Art of Alexander the Great's Strategy. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2003. Bosworth, A. B. Alexander and the East: The Tragedy of Triumph. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Engels, Donald W. Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. Fox, Robin. Alexander the Great. New York: Penguin Group, 2004. Heckel, Waldemar. The Wars of Alexander the Great, 336-323 BC Oxford, United Kingdom New York: Osprey Pub, 2002.Plutarch, John Dryden Dryden and Arthur H. Clough H. Clough. The life of Alexander the Great. New York: Modern Library, 2004. Worthington, Ian. Alexander the Great: a reader. London New York: Routledge, 2003.