Themistocles Essay

Themistocles contribution to the defence of Greece was more significant than any other Greek individual. To what extent do you agree?
Themistocles, an Athenian statesman, general, politician and naval tactician. He was crucial to the Greek’s victory in the Persian Wars, and was one of the central persons that lead to Greece’s survival. (Burn, 2016) (Cartwright, 2016) His contribution towards Greece was more than that of any other individual, however, there are others that had a significance throughout the Persian wars.

Themistocles had an insight into the world that was hard to duplicate. He managed to precisely the right thing at precisely the right time, and by doing this, he assured the security of Greece. His cunning and charisma were

When the Persian fleet had arrived at Aphetae, Eurybides, the commander of the small amount of ships that Sparta had sent, wished to turn tail, and return home. Themistocles used bribe of thirty talents to keep him, and his ships at the front. (Herodotus, 1954) Themistocles, seeing the overwhelming navy of the Persians conducted a plan: When the fighting broke out, the highly-trained Greeks would allow themselves to become encircled. At the first blow of the signal horn, the triremes would form a ‘close circle – bows outward, sterns to the centre.’ From this position, they had no mobility; the only direction in which they could move was forward, and that is exactly what they did. On the second signal blast, these lighter and faster Greek triremes rammed the Persian ships, and with their bronze-sheathed battering rams on the bow of the ships, caused great damage to the enemy ships. (Herodotus, 1954) Another tactic that Themistocles used was his discussion to initiate the battle in the mid to late afternoon. One cannot fight at sea when dark, and he knew that; making sure that this was done minimised casualties for the Greeks and tired out the Persian men, who had been ready to begin fighting since the very early morning. Overall, this decision made sure the battle had a fast conclusion. When they got word of the massacre at Thermopylae, however, Themistocles called a retreat, as they were only holding the pass to prevent Xerxes using his navy to assist his men at Thermopylae, and at this moment in time, there were no men at Thermopylae that were worth protecting, anymore. (Last Stand of the 300,