Alexander stays in Macedonia

What if Alexander never left Macedonia and stays a regional king of a (in a cultivated Hellenic Greek´s view) half-Barbaric kingdom ? Would he bow his head finally to the loathed Persian Empire and pay tribute ?
 
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What if Alexander never left Macedonia and stays a regional king of a (in a cultivated Hellenic Greek´s view) half-Barbaric kingdom ? Would he bow his head finally to the loathed Persian Empire and pay tribute ?

Maybe the Persian Empire ends in a civil war and divides in different independent provinces with a feudal king on the top (like China in these times or the HRE later).
 
What if Alexander never left Macedonia and stays a regional king of a (in a cultivated Hellenic Greek´s view) half-Barbaric kingdom ? Would he bow his head finally to the loathed Persian Empire and pay tribute ?

Why would he? Before Alexander became king, his father Philip planned some sort of revanchist expedition against the Persian Empire. It's why the League of Corinth sent troops to bolster Alexander. Plus not warring against Persia would against his father's plans, the desires of the Macedonians and Greek cities subject to him, and his own personal ambitions. Plus why would he bow to a man like Darius, inexperienced and disrespected by his own satraps ruling over a divided, weak (and rich) empire.

It's going against his nature.
 
Well he's still going to have the massive and well-oiled war machine that his father spent his life building. What possible reason would he have to not use it? Remember, in many ways Alexander was a continuation of Philip's plans and ambitions. If Philip had been content to rule as a regional king, then Alexander would have probably followed in his footsteps.
 
Why would he? Before Alexander became king, his father Philip planned some sort of revanchist expedition against the Persian Empire. It's why the League of Corinth sent troops to bolster Alexander. Plus not warring against Persia would against his father's plans, the desires of the Macedonians and Greek cities subject to him, and his own personal ambitions. Plus why would he bow to a man like Darius, inexperienced and disrespected by his own satraps ruling over a divided, weak (and rich) empire.

It's going against his nature.

Maybe if he somehow has a hunting accident and is disabled for the rest of his life (maybe is neither able to to ride into battle nor fight) . He wouldn´t be able to lead his troops to battle himself, thus a very different Alexander, due to bad luck .
 
Maybe if he somehow has a hunting accident and is disabled for the rest of his life (maybe is neither able to to ride into battle nor fight) . He wouldn´t be able to lead his troops to battle himself, thus a very different Alexander, due to bad luck .

But chances are that kind of Alexander would be overthrown, as an ancient King had to be able to fight and lead troops into battle.
 
Ancient Macedonia being what it it, a weak with a strong kingdom will probably face a lot of coup attempts. Someone will try to gain control of and use that well-oiled war machine Philipp has created.

If your basic PoD is "no Macedonian+Greek war against Persia", then it might be the mest option to kill Alexander before he ever becomes king. Let's say that at Aigai, someone believes that Alexander had conspired with Pausanias to kill Philip II., and slays the prince in a fit of rage.
When Philip dies, Arrhidaios claims to be king as Philip III. The satrap of Caria might renew his offer to give him his daughter as wife.
Meanwhile, Attalus marching back the advance troops from Asia Minor to protect his niece, Philip II.s widow Cleopatra Eurydice and her two minor children, specially the boy Karanos. Demosthenes of Athens offers Athenian help to Attalus in exchange for Athenian freedom.
Meanwhile the former king deposed by Philip II., Amyntas IV is still alive and only 30 yo. He might see the situataion as fit for regaining his throne and title.
Just assume that the resulting free-for-all will end Macedonian capacity to keep Greece under its thumb and to make war on Persia for a generation.

Meanwhile, the League of Corinth is no more and Athens, Thebes and Sparta might go at it again.
Sparta might actually act as ally of Persia, and win this TL's version of Megalopolis. After all, without a defeat at Issos, persia will have more money to spare to support Agis III.

In Persia, AFAIK, Artashata/Darius III has the advantage of being the last legitimate scion of the Achaemenids. So a direct chalenge is unlikely, but satraps might choose to rebel regionally. We might certainly see a (short-lived?) 31st dynasty in Egypt before a Persian king or genral takes it back.

With a PoD in 336, Chandragupta Maurya is probably already born. He might still make himself master of the Nanda Empire and the Gangetic plain. A clash between a rising Maurya India and a Achaemenid Peria ofte the Indus area might be interesting.
 
He would stay just that. HE would never bow to the Persians, maybe like a Vlad Tepes-Ottomans sort of thing, where he fights until they go away, and are able to hold them off.
 
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