Unifying Greece

Before Philip of Macedon stepped in to unify Greece, Greece was broken up into territories and provinces. Also, before King Philip II came into power, Macedonia was unstable and was full of rural clans, which were all loosely tied under a hereditary empire. Philip inherited the unstable kingdom, from his brother, on the verge of a fall, and made it the most power state of its time. His military innovations revolutionized warfare, which was passed onto his son Alexander the Great who created the army that would conquer Persia and it's empire. Philip of Macedon began the unification of Greece, and his son, Alexander the Great, continued to unify Greece and conquer the known world when his father died.

When Philip came into power, his time expectancy reign on the throne was only a couple of months; this was because in the fourteen years before him, four kings had ruled over Macedonia. Yet, Philip in fact ruled for twenty-three years. In his suprisingly long reign, he managed to bring all of Greece under his power. Philip took Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidea and Methone, he destroyed the Phocian army, and he was only stopped once on his march south at the Pass of Thermopylea. If there was any one-man who disliked Philip at all, itw as Demosthenes. At one point, Philip decided to threaten Olynthus, who had an alliance with Athens, Demosthenes asked why nothing was happening, the council-men said they were terrified of the strength and might of Philip. Demosthenes declared this statement in the speech known as the Second Olythiac: " Do not believe, men of Athens, that Philip and the people he rules over have the same likings. He desires glory, and this is his passion, and he is ready for any adventure, and peril, preferring to a life of safety he honors of acheiving what no Macedonian king has ever done before. The people have no share in the glory; they are exhausted by these long marches up and down the country; they suffer and toil incessantly; and they are allowed no leisure for their work or ther private concerns, and they are unable to spend their hard-earned money, for all the markets of the country are closed because of the war" (Payne, 412). When Demosthenes gave this speech, he declared war on Philip, a personal war. With saying this speech, Demosthenes hoped to send a large army to defend the town, Olynthus, but only a small amount of soldiers were sent, and the town fell under Philips control. It seemed as is Philip's power was increasing everyday, and that of Athens was fading away. About two years after his conquest, the Athenians offered a peace treaty. Philip of Macedonia said he would be happy to make a treaty. The treaty stated that both Athens and Macedon would the territories the obtained at the time of the treaty. Also, Philip made a secret promise to the ambassadors that he would not attack Phocis. The secret promise was no included in the draft of the treaty. The Athenians returned to Athens thinking they had solved their problem, and thought they had respect from Philip. But little did they know, that the treaty would not only last for a couple of weeks and Philip had no respect. IT was Demosthenes who said "Every king and tyrant is an enemy to freedom and antagonist to laws" (Payne, 413), while talking about Philip attacking Phocis.

Philip almost had all of Greece under his belt; all that was left was Athens, with the exception of Sparta and Thebes. Philip went about his mission of capturing Athens carefully and slowly. After Philip turned Trace into a satellite state, Demosthenes rushed to Byzantium hoping to succeed in turning the citizens on the side of Athens, and not to swear any allegiance to Macedon; Demosthenes successfully got their alliance. Philip had also sent an army to Byzantium hoping to destroy the entire city over the course