What were Alexander the great advantages?

Answer 1

His naval forces were limited, while Persia could call on those of Egypt, Phoenicia and the Asian-Greeks, meaning his base in Macedonia and mainland Greece was vulnerable (which is why Alexander targeted those provinces first).

He lacked the funds to pay his army over a long period of campaigning (he captured the Persian treasury after the battle of Issus which gave him the funds to hire more troops and pay their food for the final push on Persia).

Feeding his army and horses in a pre-motorised age was extremely difficult (which is why he timed his campaigns with the harvest seasons).

Matching the Persian cavalry superiority (which is why he established a system of linking his superior armoured infantry with his cavalry through light infantry).

Answer 2

Advantages

• Inherited a united Greece with a strengthened Macedonia as hegemon of the Greeks for his campaign against the Persians
• Inherited a strong professional and efficient military forged by his father Philip II, in particular, the Companion Cavalry, a unique force of shock-troopers who were the hammer in the hammer and anvil strategy.

• Inherited a revolutionized infantry which used 4-6.2 metres (13-20 ft) length pikes called a sarissa in the phalanx formation replacing the much shorter dory pike of previous phalanxes.
• Alexander was a master strategist and showed all the tactical knowledge needed to conquer vast territories.
• Had the best education by Greece's finest scholar, Aristotle.

Disadvantages

• Had to suppress some of the Greek states, who preferred to stay independent after his father's assassination
• The Greeks were outnumbered
• The Greeks were out financed
• Alexander showed himself to be a little reckless in the fight
• Could be unnecessarily ruthless