What caused Macedonia to become a powerful and successful empire?

Answer 1

There was never a Macedonian empire. There was the Kingdom of Macedon, which was the largest and the dominant state in mainland Greece.

Macedon, in the north of Greece, was developed into the largest and most powerful state in mainland Greece by King Philip II of Macedon. He created a new type of infantry formation, the Macedonian phalanx, which made use of the sarissa (a very long spear) and was superior to the traditional phalanx. He captured the gold mines of Mount Pangaion (to the east of Macedon) which provided him with wealth. He established an alliance with the kingdom of Epirus (in western Greece) by marrying the daughter of its king. He conquered Thessaly, a region which gave him control over central Greece. He destroyed the Chalkidian League, destroyed its main city and took over the Chalcidice Peninsula (just to the west of the city of Thessalonica). He subdued the Thracians who lived to the north and northeast of Macedon.

Thus, Philip took over the north and northeast and much of centre Greece and had a firm alliance with Epirus in the west. The other Greek states fought against Philip. He won, but did not take over these states. His ambition was not to take over the whole of Greece, but to unite the Greeks to form an alliance he needed for his great project; the conquest of the massive Persian Empire. He was murdered before he could accomplish this project. His son Alexander the great carried it out.

Alexander's empire was a Greek empire, not a Macedonian one. This was because although Macedonian troops were the largest force, his army included forces from the other Greek states and his conquest was a collective Greek effort. Greek rule was shared among Greeks and members of the Persian aristocracy. Moreover, Alexander's empire broke up within a few years, when he died young. His generals fought wars over its partitioning. Eventually, his conquests were divided into three Greek-ruled states: the Kingdom of Pergamon, the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The Kingdom of Macedon remained as it had been before and continued to be the largest and the dominant state in mainland Greece.