re: How would the world be different if Alexander the Great lived another 20-25 years?

Would have made the Iron Maiden song “Alexander the Great” all that much more metal!

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Once Alexander the Great broke Achaemenid power, the Hellenistic trajectory was locked in. Greek language, cities, coinage, and elite culture were going to dominate the eastern Mediterranean and Near East regardless, as it still did during Roman times across the Roman Empire. Greek was the language and culture of the intellectual elites. His early death mainly produced the Successor wars and decades of instability.

Had he lived, that fragmentation is delayed or avoided. Trade networks stabilize sooner, populations aren’t ground down by constant war, and Rome likely rises more slowly, though not prevented.

The main area of real divergence is east of Persia. Longer consolidation in Bactria and the Indus could deepen Greco-Indian interaction, especially with early Mauryan power under Chandragupta Maurya

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He would of likely conquered India, Italy, France, North Africa and maybe parts of Germany and Eastern Europe if he can get past the Alps. Not sure if the empire would of lasted much longer after his death. He hated being an administrator and his closest allies would of likely split after he died just a few decades later.

The more interesting “what if.”

If Philip II of Macedon lives another 20 years, he’s the one we’d be talking about, not Alexander. Philip already did the hardest work: unifying Macedon, breaking Greek resistance, and building the army that could take on Persia. Alexander inherited a finished system.

A longer-lived Philip likely invades Persia himself, but more carefully. Slower expansion, more consolidation, fewer dramatic marches east. You still get a Hellenistic world, it’s just clearly Philip’s project.

Alexander in that world is remembered as a great general or successor, not the centerpiece.

Philip is possibly the most under-appreciated father in history.