Alexander the Great in India

Alexander the Great’s Indian campaign began in 327 BC and lasted until 325 BC. After conquering the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the Macedonian army undertook an expedition into the Indian subcontinent. Within two years, Alexander expanded the Macedonian Empire to include present-day Punjab and Sindh in what is Modern-day Pakistan, surpassing the earlier frontiers that had been established by the Persian conquest of the Indus Valley. Following Macedon’s absorption of Gandhara (a former Persian satrapy), including the city of Taxila, Alexander and his troops advanced into Punjab, where they were confronted by Porus, the regional Indian king. In 326 BC, Alexander defeated Porus and the Pauravas during the Battle of the Hydaspes.

 The Battle of the Hydaspes, also known as the Battle of Jhelum or the First Battle of Jhelum, was fought between Alexander the Great and Porus in May of 326 BC. It took place on the banks of the Hydaspes River in Punjab, as part of Alexander’s Indian campaign. In what was possibly their most costly engagement, the Macedonian army secured a decisive victory over the Pauravas and captured Porus. Large areas of Punjab were subsequently absorbed into the Macedonian Empire; Porus was reinstated as the region’s ruler after Alexander, having developed a newfound respect for the fierce resistance put up by Porus and his army, appointed him as a satrap. The battle is significant for opening up the Indian subcontinent to Ancient Greek political and social influences.

 Alexander the Great’s strategy in India was to continue his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding into the Indian subcontinent. After conquering most of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander turned his attention to India, where he would fight some of the hardest battles of his career. The Achaemenid Empire had established at least two satrapies in the Indus River Valley, and the Indian subcontinent was a fabulously wealthy land that few Greeks or Macedonians had ever seen. However, the various rulers of India were also powerful warlords who commanded enormous armies and would not easily be defeated by Alexander. As a result, the Macedonians faced their most arduous campaign in India. In the end, the conquest of India proved too much, and Alexander was forced to turn back.

 

Alexander the Great’s Indian campaign had significant repercussions for both the Hellenistic and the Indian World. The invasion of India by the great Macedonian led to the establishment of a Greek population in India, increased contacts between the two great cultures, and significant cultural exchanges, which influenced both the development of Hellenistic philosophy and Buddhism. However, Alexander’s conquests in this region proved to be fleeting. The course of Alexander’s campaigns in India was not easy or smooth. Yet, the Indians were defeated because they did not unite against the invader, lacked leadership, and Alexander met no equal match in India

The Paris Commune of 1870

 In 1870, under the command of Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte), France went to war against Prussia. The Prussian kingdom then allied itself with the other German states and invaded France, which faced several defeats, until Napoleon surrendered. A Republican government was set up that same year. Extremely conservative, the seat of this government moved from Paris to Versailles. The fruit of this was the Paris Commune, a social movement that demanded the reform of the economy, based on a form of government that was, as the name suggests, communal.

The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris from 18 March to 28 May 18711. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working-class radicalism grew among its soldiers. The Commune governed Paris for two months, establishing policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system of their own self-styled socialism, which was an eclectic mix of many 19th-century schools. These policies included the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent, the abolition of child labor, and the right of employees to take over an enterprise deserted by its owner. All Roman Catholic churches and schools were closed. Feminist, socialist, communist, old style social democracy (which was a mix of reformism and revolutionism) and anarchist currents played important roles in the Commune. However, the various Communards had little more than two months to achieve their respective goals. The national French Army suppressed the Commune at the end of May during La semaine sanglante (“The Bloody Week”) beginning on 21 May 18711. The national forces killed in battle or quickly executed between 10,000 and 15,000 Communards, though one unconfirmed estimates from 1876  and maybe the toll was as high as 20,000.

 

Some famous Communards include Henri Rochefort, who gave a series of lectures that were published in the New York Herald Tribune while staying in the United States after his escape from New Caledonia. They were highly critical of the French government for denying its citizens Liberty. Gustave Courbet was a French painter and a central figure of the Realism movement. He was known for his paintings in which he revealed the true lives of peasants and ordinary workers, at a time when the most well-accepted portraits were those with mythological heroes or religious scenes. Politically speaking, Courbet was an idealist and a visionary. One of his most important political activities has to do with the Paris Commune.

Courbet played a significant role in the political life of Paris during this time. In 1871, he wrote in a letter to his family: “I am, thanks to the people of Paris, with politics up to my neck […] Paris is a true paradise! No police, no nonsense, no charges of any kind, no matter what, everything in Paris works like clockwork, oh, if it could stay like this forever.” He had many roles as a member of the Commune; he was a representative of the city hall and a representative of the Ministry of Public Education.

Courbet was arrested for his alleged role in the destruction of the Vendôme Column following the defeat of the Paris Commune in June 1871. He was initially jailed in the Conciergerie, where he must have executed a drawing showing two very young fellow prisoners in a graffiti-marked cell.

However, it’s important to note that while Courbet’s political involvement during the Paris Commune is well-documented, specific artworks directly depicting or commenting on the events of the Commune by Courbet are not know. His involvement seems to have been more on the political side rather than through his artwork.

 

The aftermath of the Paris Commune was devastating. Large sections of Paris were reduced to rubble after the madness and devastation of Bloody Week, which finally ended on May 28, when government forces took control of the city. More than 43,000 Parisians were arrested and held in camps; about half were soon released. The national forces killed in battle or quickly executed between 10,000 and 15,000 Communards. In its final days, the Commune executed the Archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, and about one hundred hostages, mostly gendarmes and priests.  Some 43,522 Communards were taken prisoner, including 1,054 women. More than half were quickly released. Fifteen thousand were tried, 13,500 of whom were found guilty. Ninety-five were sentenced to death, 251 to forced labor, and 1,169 to deportation (mostly to New Caledonia)