Alexander the Great conquered much of the known world, avenging two invasions by the Persians by taking over that empire and then stretching the limits of soldiers' patience by reaching the inner depths of India. All of that was rather straightforward compared to what occurred after his death, when a power struggle consumed his would-be successors for decades.

When Alexander and his army invaded the Persian Empire, Antipater, who had fought under Philip II, was the commander who was left behind, to rule over the newly melded Greco-Macedonian coalition. Eleven eventful years later, Alexander died, in 323 B.C., having conquered much of the known world. He was such a strong personality, such a demanding leader, that the vast majority of the power resided in him. Without his iron fist to keep the army together, the commanders who had served him throughout the various campaigns into Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India were left to struggle amongst themselves in order to fill the vacuum left by the great king's death. The struggle that followed was long-lasting and devastating and featured several seasoned commanders who had varying degrees of success as statesmen. These leaders who struggled to fill Alexander's shoes were known as the Diadochi.

Alexander died in Babylon. He could form few words in his last hours. At the last, in response to the question of to whom he was leaving his kingdom, he is said to have whispered, "to the strongest." In the confusion that followed, several men stepped into the fray and declared themselves up to the task.

Perdiccas was the one to whom Alexander handed his signet ring with his last movements. To many, this signaled Alexander's preference for Perdiccas to succeed him as the leader of the Hellenistic empire. Yet Alexander said no such thing.

Many people looked, as was usually the case, to family in terms of succession. Alexander did have a half-brother, Philip Arrhidaeus, whose father was King Philip II. This Philip was mentally challenged and suffered from various maladies and didn't present much of a case for a strong leader. Alexander himself had a son, also named Alexander; the mother of this young child was Alexander's Bactrian wife, Roxane. But crowning the young Alexander King Alexander IV would necessitate a regency of some sort, and some of Alexander's commanders didn't much favor that option, either.

The other option was to divide the kingdom into pieces, with each commander controlling a part. That is the option that the commanders eventually decided to pursue. While they were discussing such options, an infantry commander named Meleager led a revolt, naming Alexander's half-brother King Philip III and declaring their loyalty to him. The revolt was short-lived because it had no other support, and Meleager was killed for his arrogance.

In the fallout that resulted, the commanders came to terms on who would rule what:

• Antipater kept control of Macedon
• Craterus, a veteran of Alexander's campaigns who rose to become the great king's second-in-command, got Greece
• Ptolemy, a childhood friend of and seasoned campaigner with Alexander, claimed Egypt
• Lysimachus, one of Alexander's bodyguards, got Thrace
• Eumenes, Alexander's secretary, gained Cappadocia
• Antigonus, a Macedonian soldier who had served as satrap of Phrygia, retained control of that province
• Seleucus, one of Alexander's minor commanders, was named satrap of Babylonia
• Perdiccas, who had been Alexander's chiliarch, or commander of the royal guard, was named head of the Asian sector of the empire.

Not long after word of Alexander's death reached Greece, a large force there revolted. Antipater retreated into the fortress of Lamia and withstood a siege, which was broken up by the arrival of a force under Leonnatus, one of Alexander's bodyguards. The subsequent arrival of Craterus with a fleet put the besiegers to final flight.

The various commanders took sides, with Antipater, Craterus, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy joining to fight against Perdiccas and Eumenes. Perdiccas had married Alexander's sister, Cleopatra, and the other commanders feared that he was angling toward claiming Alexander's sole-ruler mantle for himself. His opponents wanted to keep the fragile division of territory intact.

Perdiccas, who firmly believed that he was Alexander's successor, accompanied the great king's sarcophagus on its journey back to Macedon, there to be buried in splendor. His body never made it home. Ptolemy's forces intercepted the royal procession in Damascus and carried the body back to Memphis in Egypt. Ptolemy's plan was to bury Alexander in Alexandria, the famous metropolitan city that the great king had founded. In one of history's great mysteries, the royal body then disappeared again and was never found. An incensed Perdiccas led three attempted invasions of Egypt; all were repulsed, resulting in the deaths of 2,000 of Perdiccas's men. Some of the survivors made sure that such a thing wouldn't happen a fourth time by dispatching Perdiccas themselves. Ptolemy then solidified his hold on Egypt.

Craterus, meanwhile, had died in battle, when his horse fell on him. With Perdiccas out of the way, Eumenes was isolated and defeated. Antipater's sudden death, in 319 B.C., resulted in a new name on the scene. Rather than naming his son Cassander to succeed him as regent of Macedon, Antipater named Polyperchon, one of his commanders. Polyperchon found a friend in the defeated Eumenes, and those two forces fought against Cassander, Antigonus, and Lysimachus.

Cassander proved himself worthy of succeeding his father by defeating Polyperchon and driving him from Macedon and Greece; then, the king-in-waiting married Thessalonica, the daughter of Philip II, to further strengthen his claim. Antigonus, meanwhile, defeated Eumenes yet again, and the soldiers of the latter seized him and handed him over to Antigonus, who had him killed.

By this time, Demetrius was fighting with his father, Antigonus. Those two fought against an invasion of Babylonia led by Seleucus and Ptolemy, and Seleucus gained in territory and stature. At the same time, Antigonus allied with Lysimachus to put down a revolt in Thrace.

Back in Macedon, Cassander was yet again fighting against Polyperchon, who had returned from his self-imposed exile, this time aiming to win and having the support of Olympias, Alexander's mother, who had ordered Philip Arrhidaeus killed not long before. Cassander, still very much in command, ordered the deaths of Olympias and of Alexander's wife, Roxane, and young son, the would-be Alexander IV. Cassander was again victorious, and Polyperchon was again banished, this time for good.

Demetrius invaded Greece in 307 and seized Athens. He further solidified his hold on the realm of ancient city-states by reviving the moribund League of Corinth, instituted by Philip II. Demetrius and Ptolemy traded victories, at Salamis and at Rhodes, and the two enemies descended into peace talks. Demetrius was still very much in Greece, and Cassander still very much wanted him to leave, so the two commanders continued to fight each other. A timely invasion of Asia Minor by Lysimachus prompted Antigonus to send a plea of aid to Demetrius, who left Greece to fight by his father's side. In the titanic Battle of Ipsus that followed, Antigonus died and Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus declared victory. Lysimachus and Seleucus divided Antigonus's territory between them.

Cassander, meanwhile, had returned to Macedon. He died there in 297 B.C., and Demetrius moved in and declared himself King of Greece and Macedon. Lysimachus then got it into his head to take the throne from Demetrius and, with the help of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, did so. Demetrius chose to lead his army into Asia Minor, where he happened to encounter the forces of Seleucus, who captured Demetrius. The onetime King of Greece and Macedon died in captivity in 283 B.C. (Ptolemy died in that same year.)

The following year, Seleucus decided that he wanted to own Lysimachus's lands, and so the two went to war. At the resulting battle, in Corupedium, in 281 B.C., Lysimachus died. Seleucus, of all the Diadochi, was the last man standing. He didn't have the last laugh for long, however: Ptolemy's son killed him that very same year.