Persian War Essay

In early fifth century BC Greece, the Greeks consistently suffered from the threat of being conquered by the Persian Empire. Between the years 500-479 BC, the Greeks and the Persians fought two wars. Although the Persian power vastly surpassed the Greeks, the Greeks unexpectedly triumphed. In this Goliath versus David scenario, the Greeks as the underdog, defeated the Persians due to their heroic action, divine support, and Greek unity. The threat of the Persian Empire's expansion into Greece and the imminent possibility that they would lose their freedom and become subservient to the Persians, so horrified the Greeks that they united together and risked their lives in order to preserve the one thing they all shared in common, their

The Battle of Salamis was the icing on the cake for the Greeks. They were able to defeat the larger Persian fleet by dictating the terms of the battle. They choose a location that favored their smaller swifter ships instead of the much larger, heavier Persian ones. The Greeks were able to maneuver and ram the Persians at will and had most of the Persian fleet in check by nightfall. The funny thing about it is that Xerxes had a throne set up for him on the island of Salamis to watch the battle. After the Greeks victory here they had control of the seas. This restricted the Persian fleet from keeping the army supplied and protected. Xerxes took the remaining elements of his fleet and headed back to Asia after the battle.

The first Battle of the Persian War was the Battle of Marathon. The Persian king Xerxes led 100,000 troops into battle against 10,000 Greeks. The Persians outnumbered the Greeks ten to one, but the Greeks had strategy and their terrain on their side. They were led by the brilliant strategist Miltiades, who had a plan. The Persians charged at the Greeks. Then, Miltiades sent his men to the sides, surrounding the Persians. This is known as the pincer movement, or double envelopment, because the soldiers from the flanks envelop the enemy. The Persians were trapped, and were soon defeated. Miltiades’ maneuver is still regarded as one of the greatest strategies of all time.

The reasons for the Greek victory against the Persians in 490 to 480/479 BC was a mixture of exceptional leadership, skilful tactics and strategy, superior weapons and soldiers, and Greek unity. Strong leadership was the most important aspect of the Greek defence, as without the intelligence and bravery of the leaders, the Greeks would have been easily defeated. As a result of the excellent leadership; Greek tactics, strategy, and unity were greatly strengthened. Combined with their better weapons and soldiers, the Greeks held the advantage and seized opportunities at the perfect moment. Also, with each

The ancient Greeks only experienced major external invasions be the Persian Empire. The first Persian war happened when Darius I sent a small force to punish the Greeks. This force was easily defeated by the Athenian General Miltiades. Years later, Darius’ successor, Xerxes, would mount a full-scale invasion of Greece. Xerxes led a much larger force, looking to conquer and subjugate the Greek city-states. This would bring forth an alliance between the Greek city-states under the premise of defending their land and driving off the Persian invaders.

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae. The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

After the burning of sardis in 490 B.C about 20,000 persian soldiers sailed for greece. The persians landed on a plain in marathon, close to athens.Although Athenians were outnumbered by two to one they rushed to marathon.Unlike the persian they had no archers or calvary,but despite there disadvantages the greeks won.

Marathon, Greece is located about 22 miles from Athens, Greece. This is the site of the famous Battle of Marathon which took place in 490 B.C. between the Athenians, led by Platea, and the Persians, led by Datis and Artaphernes. The Persian War was sparked by the Greek involvement and support in the Ionian revolt, Ionia was a small Greek polis. The Athenians sent forces to aid the Ionians in their endeavor to overthrow Persian rule. King Darius I of Persia swore he would get revenge on the Athenians. The Battle of Marathon marked a turning point in the Persian Wars, which ended the Persian invasion. The Greeks took a victory over Persian in this battle and Persia was at a loss of more than just dignity. They lost the chance of expansion which was necessary to acquire more resources and wealth for their kingdom.

The Persian wars were a group of wars between the Persians (the largest empire) and the Greeks (city-states philosophers) from 492 bc to 449bc. The history is told in great part by Herodotus, a Greek historian, considered to write historical bias in regards to Greek & Persian history. Herodotus was said to investigate the Persian war, going through different lands and collecting personal inquiries, myths, legends and accounts of the Persian Wars. He was praised and honored for his recollection of the events, which were both factual and fictional. Herodotus wanted to pass down a history of why these two great people came into battle from a personal point of view.

In this battle, the Athenian naval superiority was lost as Sparta was able to use gold, sent from the Persian king Cyrus, to build a fleet rivaling the Athenian. The battle ended tragically for the Athenians. After this battle, Persian officially entered the contest and threw its naval support behind Sparta, hastening the inevitable end of the conflict. The conflict ended suddenly in 405.

The First Persian War took place at the Battle of the Marathon near Athens and it was known as one of the infamous battle between the Athenians and the Persians. In 501 B.C.E., a Greek tyrant named Aristogorus provoked the Persian rulers by instigating an uprising in Miletus and Ionia to revolt against the Persian Empire. In order to ward off the Persian Empire’s wrath, Aristogorus reached out to his compatriots on the mainland in Greece of Athens and Sparta. “Sparta refused, but Athens sent twenty ships-enough just to anger the Persians, but not to save Miletus.” Nevertheless, the Athenians conquered the Persian’s capital of Lydian in Sardis in order to steal the golds, but they accidentally ended up burning down the richest capital of Sardis.

“The Persian Empire was the most powerful and aggressive power in the eastern Mediterranean at the time.” (Many Europes; pg 51). Before expanding the land, The Persian Empire had land that expanded west of Asia and included Egypt. With the defeat of the Assyrians Empire around 550 BCE with the leadership of King Cyrus, this gave them the name of the Persian Empire. That’s when the Empire began to expand its land and power with overtaking many different city-sates, like Lydians, Mesopotamians, and Babylonians, and incorporating them into the Persian Empire. It wasn’t until King Darius, who ruled from 521 BCE to 485 BCE, started to rule that the invasions were directed to the Greece. Now many of the Greeks thought that the Persian Empire was different and that was for a good reason. Not only did the empire have a

The Persian War was between the greek territory and the Persian Territory. It all started when the Lonains revolted in 499 B.C. The Greeks were the ones that helped the Lonians Revolt against the Persian Territory. After the revolution the greeks marched to the city of Sardis in the Persian territory and burnt it to the ground. It put hatred in the heart of Darius and his people, they knew exactly what they wanted was to conquer the land of the greeks and to give them what they thought they deserved.

In 499BC, the Persians attacked Greece mainland but they were defeated and pushed out of mainland Greece, this was The Battle of Marathon. In 480BC, The Persians decided that they needed to expand their empire and to do so they had to come back to attack the Greeks again. This time nothing would stop them, at least that’s what they thought. The Persians poured into Greece and lit Athens on fire while stealing their valuable goods, the Greeks quickly fled to Salamis leaving behind only the sick and infirmed which were killed by the Persians as the others left. The Greeks had no other option but to turn to their secret weapon, Themistocles. The Greeks were traveling in their ships while arguing about what their strategy was until Themistocles

Through the manuscripts of Herodotus, an ancient historian who hailed from the mountainous lands of Greece, modern day historians have been granted the ability to piece together the multitude of events that supposedly transpired during the years 480 and 479 BC between the Persian empire and the city-states of the classical Greece (Herodotus). The second Persian invasion of Greece, which took place in the previously mentioned years, was a part of the many series of battles and encounters that made up the Greco-Persian Wars. This invasion in particular, however, probably saw one of the most distinguished battles in ancient European warfare befall. As a whole, the second Persian invasion of Greece consisted of several battles that transpired within a close proximity of one another chronologically. The war itself was fairly short-lived, even for its time, lasting only the course of approximately one year. The battles themselves took place in Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Platae, and Mycale (Setzer). The Persian invasion forces were led by King Xerxes I of Persia, the son of Darius I of Persia. Prior to the reign of Xerxes I, King Darius I had wanted to take control of ancient Greece. As such, he ordered two campaigns which made up the first Persian invasion of Greece. Much to his hindrance, however, Darius I breathed his last breath before he was presented with the opportunity to carry out a second invasion.