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A Little History of the World No. 17 

We all know the name Alexander the Great and there’a a reason for it. In just 10 years he took over much of the known world from Egypt to India. He was violent, sure, but he could also be lenient and pardoned many who fought against him. In the end he wore his own army out and after 10 years of conquest his soldiers just wanted to go home. It was on the march back to Macedonia that Alexander died: he fell ill after a night of heavy drinking…well he was only 32.

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A Little History of the World No.16 

Back to the Mediterranean and it’s time to meet one of the most incredible figures in ancient history. After the assassination of his father Phillip, Alexander was crowned King of Macedonia, a small country north of Greece. But that wasn’t enough for him. Over the next 12 years he marched eastwards and in a very short time ruled a huge kingdom that stretched all the way to India.

What’s even more incredible is how young he was; seriously you should go and find out more about him. 

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A Little History of the World No.14 

After conquering Babylonia and Egypt the Persians turned their sights on Greece. Over 20 years two kings, Darius and Xerxes repeatedly attacked the islands.

Partly because they were more forward thinking, and partly because they were fighting for their lives, the Greek tribes united to push back the invaders time and time again. 

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A Little History Of The World No.4

Egypt wasn’t the only great civilisation around this time. The Mayans in Mexico, the Indus Valley civilisation in modern day Pakistan and the Xia Dynasty in China all emerged too.

We are publishing a short-fire history of the world throughout April and possibly beyond, inspired by EH Gombrich’s classic book “A Little History of the World”.

Find out more on our website.

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A Little History of the World No.2:

Humans were once hunter-gatherers, covering hundreds of miles in searching food. Suddenly we settled down into villages, towns and then cities. What made humans settle down? A great river.

Bonus fact: the Nile flooded so regularly it allowed people to create the first calendars.

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Ok so you know about the ancient Egyptians, and the Romans and the Greeks, but how do they all fit together? Who came first and did they exist at the same time? We’ve compressed 3150 years of history into, ahem, 15 seconds to show you how the ancient world looked.

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