भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

reached Persia, after so many hazards and privations. On the other hand,
Alexander himself set sail by the sea-route with another division of his
army, and reached Persia. As the whole of the old Persian Empire had now
formed a part of Alexander’s greater demesne, he went to his capital,
namely Babylon. But he did not return to the capital in that same
triumphant spirit he had started on his Indian campaign two years ago, with
a view to winning for himself the vauntful title of the Emperor of India. Not
only did he not return like the Emperor of India, he did not even appear to
be an emperor at all. He returned just like an ordinary commander of an
army, despaired and worn out, after a long-drawn and hazardous campaign.
India was not Persia
73. The cause of this disappointment of Alexander was that the Greeks up
to that time, knew only one empire worth the name—much more extensive
than their own—that of Persia! When these Greeks marched upon that
Persian emipre under their uncommonly brave and brilliant commander,
Alexander, and when after only two or three campaigns the vast Persian
empire fell before them like a paper palace, they were so much flushed with
their victory, that they fondly considered their commander to be endowed
with divine qualities, and as such unconquerable. Alexander himself could
not escape the infection of pride. His ambition to win for himself the
overlordship of the whole world soared to the sky. Bharat appeared to him
just next to and as easy a prey as, Persia. So very vast a land and so very
weak! So, he wanted to crown his Persian conquest with the glittering
diadem of the Indian imperial authority. Greedily enough, he ran to have it
with all haste.
74. But the experience he had was quite contrary to what he had expected.
In India, he had to face the bitterest opposition at every step. Although he
never lost a battle as such, his Greek army was completely exhausted and
exasperated in the very process of winning them. These victories were far
too costlier than the ones in Persia, and all their vauntful declarations of
conquering India as easily as Persia proved to be empty words ‘full of
sound and fury signifying nothing‘. And in the end, he had to return with
the acquisition of only a small all of land along the Indus river.
75. Thus was Alexander disappointed and to a certain extent insulted. But
that valiant emperor was not downcast. He was itching to return once again
to India after stabilizing things in the newly conquered regions of India and