Greco-Persian Wars Essay

The Greco-Persian wars were a series of battles fought between the empire of Persia and an alliance of Greek city-states. At the time, King Darius who had successfully conquered Thrace and Macedonia for the first time led the Persians on a path to control all of Greece. Eventually this led to the Persians gaining control of Ionia, which prompted the Ionian Revolt. Ionian cities threw out the Persians that had set over them, formed a league, and applied for help from the other Greeks. The Ionians gain support from the Athenians that eventually helped them stand their ground. This, however, put a target on Athens. The Persians now see them as their main opponent in this battle.

In 490 BCE, King Darius leads his attack with one main objective,

to defeat and overthrow the Athenian and Ionian cities. A Persian fleet, consisting of about 20,000 infantry, 800 cavalry, and 600 naval vessels makes its way along the coast of Anatolia. Athens decides to find help and does so by asking the Spartans and Plataea for help. The Spartans agree to help, but their religion prevents them from starting their journey until the next full moon. This would take some time, time that the Athenians might not be able to survive. Plataea, however, decides they will help and send a couple hundred soldiers to help. This was the most that anyone had sent to help Greece. The Persians were now on their way to the Marathon Plain, a place where they knew they would have room to maneuver in battle.
Once the Persian make their way to the Plain, they set up but do not attack.

This was a scare tactic, they thought that maybe the Greeks would see the size of their fleet and just give up. Adding to that tactic, the Persians also kept their best soldiers in the front middle because they knew if the middle collapses, this would cause the surrounding army to collapse from the inside out. The Athenians did not get scared, and also seemed to have the geographical advantage (top of the mountain). The battle of marathon did not turn out how the Persians expected, they lost about 6,000 men, a significantly less amount than the Athenians. This gave the Athenians confidence and support from surrounding

cities.
King Darius is now dead, and the Athenians have now found silver mines. This gave the Athenians a direct source for their own goods, and they didn’t have to seek out trade as much. Themistocles, a smart army leader, persuades the Athenians to use the silver for a necessity against a Persian revolt, which was to build ships. This was a smart move because everyone knew that Xerxes, the son of Darius, would want revenge.
Xerxes sends a massive invasion force of around 500,000 soldiers to avenge his father’s death. Because of the size of this army, it took seven days and seven nights to get to Greece with help from technological achievements such as pontoons. The Greek form a coalition with 31 city-states. The reason for it only being 31 be for numerous reasons, such as farming communities not wanting to get involved, certain city-states being scared, and of course there were the city-states that would not mind seeing Athens fall because they are powerful at the time. With help from the Spartan military leaders, the Greek took the naval route while the Spartans took land. The Greek decide to make their stand at Thermopylae (480 BCE), a small valley where only a certain amount of soldiers could fit through at a time, and the Persians would have virtually no way around this path.
Leonidas, one of the Kings from Sparta, lead the Greek army as well as his Spartans throughout the confrontation at Thermopylae. They were using this path so that they could limit the Persians to a certain amount of soldiers, also forcing them to fight hand to hand, something the Spartans have mastered. A Greek informant alerts the Persians about an alternate route, which they take and eventually trap the Spartans. The Spartans fought but eventually were killed because Persians surrounded them.
The Persians have decided to divide their military and take different routes, as a response the Greek decide to abandon their cities and send notes to Xerxes suggesting surrender.

Xerxes, driven by anger, wants no part of surrender. Like I mentioned before, the goal is to completely conquer and overthrow Greece. The Greek expected this, so they prepared for the Persians to be coming as soon as they mentioned surrender. The Persians have been tricked into a narrow straight, called the straight of Salamis. This sparked another battle of its own, the Battle of Salamis. Athens had played this out just right and knew that the Persian ships could not fight well in the narrow straight, and as a result most of the Persians’ ships were

destroyed.
The final battle, the Battle of Plataea, was the largest battle and the armies were about evenly sized. The end result is the Greek and Spartans overcoming the odds and defeating the Great Persian Empire. This was a significant victory, but Greece still remained divided. There were fears of the Spartans and Athens getting too powerful because of what they have proven. The Delian League, made for protection, was a leagues consisting of alliances to prevent someone being overthrown. This league included Athens, northern Greek City-States, Islands in the Aegean Sea, and the Ionians.
As an end result, the Athenians take advantage of the league. They have the power to do so as they build and man ships. They basically tell them that if they need help it is going to have to be from Athens, and in a way, it was extortion. Oarsmen also realize how important they are, and now demand privileges such as more rights and higher pay. There is now confidence, and sense of supremacy in Athens.