If this interests you, I highly recommend Dan CArlin's Hardcore History podcast [1], specifically his King of Kings series dealing with the notable Kings of Persia. Episode 3 deals with Alexander specifically.
Something Dan said has really stuck with me. He says that science is less interesting. If you don't invent a light bulb, someone else will. It's inevitable. Science can of course impact history (eg the development of the atomic bomb) but a lot of other events could go either way and it dramatically changes history.
IIRC Cyrus (one of the great Persian kings in that podcast) ordered the rebuilding of the Temple Mount and probably singlehandedly saved Judaism from extinction. Had that died then would we have had Christianity and Islam?
The Battle of Marathon was the major turning point that allowed the Greeks to survive and obviously go on to impact the Romans and really the rest of Europe. How different would history have been if the Persians had won and Europe had become Persian?
Something Dan said has really stuck with me. He says that science is less interesting. If you don't invent a light bulb, someone else will. It's inevitable. Science can of course impact history (eg the development of the atomic bomb) but a lot of other events could go either way and it dramatically changes history.
IIRC Cyrus (one of the great Persian kings in that podcast) ordered the rebuilding of the Temple Mount and probably singlehandedly saved Judaism from extinction. Had that died then would we have had Christianity and Islam?
The Battle of Marathon was the major turning point that allowed the Greeks to survive and obviously go on to impact the Romans and really the rest of Europe. How different would history have been if the Persians had won and Europe had become Persian?
[1]:https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/