Macedonia, which the southern Greeks considered about a half-step away from barbarism, conquered Greece because Philip exerted a masterful combination of political wiliness and use of superior force. The Greeks lost because they failed to unite to face the threat until it was too late.
Philip first conquered Thessaly and Thrace, giving him sway from the Hellespont to Thermopylae. These actions made some Greeks nervous, but using the gold of Mt. Pangaeus Philip bribed generously and by the 330s had a party loyal to his cause in every Greek city.
Moreover, some of the Greek cities thought they could use the barbarian, or the threat of him, against their enemies. So they gave various concessions to Philip, or looked the other way as he gobbled up first this and then that opponent. In other cases, he posed as a disinterested arbiter of Greek quarrels, managing thereby to insert Macedonian interests and voice into matters completely outside his direct sphere of influence.
Battle of Chaeronea
The famous Athenian orator, Demosthenes, tried to rouse his city to action. In a series of speeches that are still models of rhetoric, he warned the Greeks against the danger from the north. Even today, you might hear a political speech referred to as a philippic, for this word has come to mean any speech warning of dire danger. By the time Philip was viewed as a real threat, however, it was really too late. The Greeks united and fought Philip, Spartans fighting alongside Thebans and Athenians at Chaeronea in 338. It was a hard-fought battle, but the Macedonians were completely successful.
Philip was now free to organize Greece as he saw fit, and the message he sent was quite clear. He destroyed the city of Thebes, though he gave orders to spare the house of the house of Pindar. Athens, too, he spared. He gave Sparta the opportunity to join his new alliance; when Sparta refused, he destroyed that city as well.
The battle at Chaeronea marks the end of the Greek city-state as a historic force. We'll hear from Greece again, of course, but never will Greek city-states be a factor, only alliances or kingdoms.
Philip's Death
Philip returned to Pella in 336 to attend his daughter's wedding. As the bridal party passed through the streets in procession, three men leaped from the crowd and stabbed Philip to death. The three men were killed on the spot. There have long been dark rumors that Philip's death was engineered by his own wife, Olympia, who was eager for her son to be king. There is no real evidence for this.
What would Philip have done had he lived? He was one of the great leaders of ancient Greece; had his son not been such an extraordinary legend, Philip would be considered a leading figure of Greek history. We know that he had designs on Asia, for he had sent his favorite general, Parmenio, to establish a camp across the Bosporus. It is likely that he intended no more than to secure Asia Minor for the Greeks, but we can do no more than speculate.
