In this talk Jiang Xueqin examines how Philip II of Macedon turned his kingdom from a poor and weak nation into the military hegemony that would conquer Persia. In his youth, Philip was a hostage at Thebes, where he studied the military innovations that made Thebes into the dominant military power in Greece at that time. He learned that with enough training and discipline, an army could achieve the mobility, co-ordination, and flexibility necessary to dominate others. He inspired loyalty among his men with his bravery, fair-mindedness, and oration. Slowly and methodically, with a mix of diplomacy and aggression, Philip II would unite classical Greece, and pave the way for his son Alexander the Great to conquer Persia.