Why did Alexander the Great push all the way to india when he could have easily conquered the Mediterranean?

by __Nemo___

We always here about how he and his army conquered all the way to india, but why is it that he went east instead of west?

Iphikrates

Funny, this question has come up several times in recent months. I wrote a detailed answer here. Feel free to post in that thread or in reply to this post if you have any follow-up questions.