Alexander the Great conquers India; What are the effects of a Hellenic India

I imagined the Greeks (and their Indian wives) living in their own communities, feeling threatened by the Indian majority. So, they side with who is culturally and religiously similar to they are, same way Ethiopia sided with Europe against the Ottomans and their allies.

Then, Alex’s main army settles in India. OTL, Alex’s conquest was enough to Hellenize somewhere. Though the problem is that there are only two real opportunities for us to get a significant number of Greeks in India.

1) Why? Why would they join the conqueror, particularly when this conqueror has had absolutely no problem with killing Greeks loyal to Persia or suspected of being loyal to Persia or Greeks who he just happens to be paranoid about?

There's no reason for them to see this barbarian warlord as on their side more than the other Indians (used as "inhabitants of the subcontinent") If they have Indian wives, that just makes it worse - for Alexander and anyone else who thinks they'd say "Hey, fellow Greeks! Welcome!"

2) There is no way in hell Alex's main army is settling in India.
 

Winnabago

Banned
1) Because they were sitting in the middle of an alien culture, and also India is rich and is good plundering?

2) Let’s say he conquers the Indo-Gangetic plain. How exactly would he get out of India? India is a big place, and it would be difficult to get back to the Mideast. Same as when he settled in Babylon: find an important city, and plan your next attacks from there.
 
As far as I see it, India, being more populous, with a more entrenched, alien civilisation, would entirely resist "Hellenization". I can't see even Northern India falling to Alex the Overachiever, nor to any other random genius Greek. Think of the situation the Ptolemies, and to an extent, the Seleucids, got their sorry asses into; a situation in which their primary source of military manpower, the Greeks, are massively outnumbered by the native population. When the Ptolemies allowed the natives to join the phalanx, that emboldened them to revolt. With India, this is significantly worse, as their are fewer opportunities for Greeks to emigrate, and a larger native population to begin with.
 
1) Because they were sitting in the middle of an alien culture, and also India is rich and is good plundering?

2) Let’s say he conquers the Indo-Gangetic plain. How exactly would he get out of India? India is a big place, and it would be difficult to get back to the Mideast. Same as when he settled in Babylon: find an important city, and plan your next attacks from there.

1) Not alien if they're marrying Indian women, or even just having lived here for generations. The "alien culture" is Macedon at this point. As for rich and good plundering: So?

2) Same way he got in. Which the army is going to want to do given any choice in the matter, or even the ability to mutiny/rebel against his madness.
 

Winnabago

Banned
Okay then, how would you expect to get a Hellenized India?

He got in by marching in, and campaigning a lot. It’s a lot easier to get in than to get out, so people stay a lot of the time. Call it the Roman program.

It doesn’t matter if the army mutinies, Alexander still dies and the army is still Greek.
 
Okay then, how would you expect to get a Hellenized India?

He got in by marching in, and campaigning a lot. It’s a lot easier to get in than to get out, so people stay a lot of the time. Call it the Roman program.

It doesn’t matter if the army mutinies, Alexander still dies and the army is still Greek.

I don't. I think that the concept of more than a tiny fraction of India being Hellenized is even more absurd as Megastate Rome Forever, which is as shameless an ASB scenario as anything up to and including Sealion I've read.

As for getting out: Yes, and his army is going to get otu by marching out and campaigning as necessary. They are not going to stay here if they can avoid it, and saying "they can't" - if you can say that they can subdue the area on the way in enough to count for anything, they can march through these places on their way back home..
 
If Alexander's army gets into a position where it looks like they might not be able to go back home if they go any further, they'll mutiny. Like OTL. And yeah, India ain't getting Hellenized. There are just too few Greeks in the army (the army that doesn't have much of a chance of conquering India in the first place) compared to the numbers of Indians proud of their own ways, and all the Greeks will be homesick like hell.
 
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