What Is Power? Where Does It Come From?

What is power ? “Power is the capacity, ability, and willingness to act (ieorganizing.org).” Every word in that definition is important for an understanding of the word power. Where does power come from ? “Power comes from purpose (keithabtanam.com).” Alexander the Great was one of the powerful people in the world. Sparta was also really powerful.

First power is the capacity to act. Capacity means “the facility to produce or deploy (dictionary.com)” . That means if a group has the capacity to act they have developed or put together resources in order to have power. For example if Alexander had bows but no arrows he wouldn't have the capacity to act. Next power is the ability to act. Ability means to have the skill to do an action you wish to do. For example if Alexander had the bows and arrows but no one knew how to use them, they wouldn't have the ability to act. Another example is that if you had a piece of paper and a pencil but you didn't know what to write you wouldn't have the ability to act. Finally power is the willingness to act. Willingness means “the motivation to do something (thefreedictionary.com)”. If one had the capacity and the ability to act but they did not know the motivation they still have a powerless situation. For example if Alexander had bows and arrows and everyone knew how to use them but they did not know why they were battling they would be powerless.

“Power comes from your purpose (keithabtanam.com)”. Purpose means “the reason for which something is done (thefreedictionary.com)”. Power comes from why you want to do something. For example Alexander got so much power because his father had conquered so much of the Greek land. Another example is that the “Spartans had so much power because of their purpose for training the boys (The Ancient World page 171)”. Their purpose was to have a powerful and strong army and thats where they got their power from.

Alexander the Great had a powerful situation in every battle. That is because he had his capacity which were the spears, they were called the sarissas. He had the ability which were the trained men. And also the willingness because the warriors knew that they were going to battle to win. The Spartans also were powerful in every battle they had. They had the capacity, ability, and the willingness to act. First the capacity were the weapons they had. The weapons were the shields and the sowards. Next the ability was that the army was fully trained. Finally the willingness was the motivation which was they wanted to conquer more and more land.

Conqueror and king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great was born on July 20, 356 B.C., in Pella, Macedonia. The Macedonian phalanx was Philip's creation, extended by Alexander. It was usually 16 men on a side, 256 men in each unit, always and exclusively Macedonian. They were armed with the sarissa, a long spear but at 13 feet actually shorter than the hasta used by Greek hoplites, which was over 16 feet long. The real strength of the phalanx was its many formations and maneuvers. While the square was the usual formation, it could form a line or wedge or other shapes. The soldiers were trained