Write An Essay On The Persians Battle

The Spartans fought in a formation called the Hoplite Phalanx. The Hoplite Phalanx is a highly organized fighting formation where Spartans are lined up side by side with overlapping shields. The goal of the Hoplite Phalanx is to protect the person to your left and right. When one person in the front line of the Phalanx is injured or killed someone behind them takes their place. The Hoplite Phalanx was very effective and it helped Spartans win battles where they were heavily outnumbered. The fighting formation that the Spartans used in the film included a variation of unorganized infantry lines, chaotic hand-to-hand combat, and a technique that they used which consisted of them laying down on the ground to let Persian horses jump over them as they approached. The hand-to-hand combat showed Spartans fighting by themselves with no teamwork from their fellow soldiers to help them battle the Persians. This fighting style would have never happened. The reason that Spartans were so successful in battle was because they fought as a team and kept to the Hoplite Phalanx. In “Herodotus, The Histories” Demaratus says, “so it is with the Spartans; fighting singly, they

The Greek victory against Persia was largely due to efforts of mainly Athens but also Sparta as well. Athens was responsible for the major turning points of the Persian invasions, while Sparta was responsible for the deciding battle. Miltiades, with his skilful battle strategies, defeated the Persians during their second invasion at Marathon, which gave Athens a confidence boost on their military. During the third invasion, when the Athenians were evacuated to Salamis, Themistocles had devised a plan to trick the Persians which had resulted in Persian army without a supply line. Sparta?s importance had revealed during their sacrifice at Thermopylae and at Plataea, where they provided the most effective part of the army.

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 Role of Themistocles in the Greek Defeat of the Persians in 480 - 479 BC.

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 great Athenian general Miltiades came up with a shrewd battle plan. He decided to thin out the ranks in the center of the phalanx to strengthen the wings. During the battle, the Greek wings crushed the Persian wings and forced them to retreat. At the same time, the Persians in the middle managed to break through the weakened center of the phalanx. Instead of pursuing the retreating Persian wings, the Greek wings moved backward to attack the Persians that had broken through the Greek defenses. The Greek center then turned around so that they had the Persians surrounded. The Persians were slaughtered (5). According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the Persians lost 6400 men while te Greeks lost only 192 (4).

The Persian Wars were a series of destructive and malevolent battles which occurred in the time frame of 490B.C and 480 – 479B.C. The Greek victory over the Persians in the Persian Wars cannot be attributed to only one factor, more it was a commixture of factors. Such factors include unity, leadership, strategy, tactics and the pre-eminence of the Greek soldier. Each contributing factor was to play a distinctive and pivotal role in the various battles to come, which ultimately would lead to the subsequent demise of the Persians.

Alexander the Great was able to defeat King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela because of his advanced battle strategies. These included upgrading the phalanx position. Instead of the spears either being straight forward or directly up, he had the back rows' spears point at a 75º angle to deflect arrows and javelins while the front row has their spears straight forward. On both sides of his phalanx, Alexander had set up cavalry. Alexander also had a second phalanx to prevent defeat. Alex first decided to lead the Persians away from the middle ground where the king was. After King Darius III had noticed what was happening, he ordered part of his cavalry to attack from the side. To avoid being surrounded, Alexandre charged straight into the

pass of Thermopylae. In the past, Leonidas' men repulsed the frontal attacks of the Persians for the first

King Leonidas, a superior tactician, accurately assessed the Persian army’s motivations and capabilities and decided to use the natural terrain to his advantage. Assuming that the Persians would challenge the Greek forces from their staging point, derived from pervious knowledge during the Battle of Marathon and the Persians encampment location, King Leonidas had chosen to eventually maneuver his forces into the Pass of Thermopylae, also known as Hellespont; saddled between a mountain range and the Gulf of Maliakos (Frye, 2006). Hellespont would provide the Spartans some significant tactical advantages, where within the pass, at its narrowest portion which was only 50 feet wide; countering the Persian greatest strength of archery and mounted horsemen (Frye, 2006).

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.

At Arbela, Alexander encountered the Persians, this was the Battle of Gaugamela. At the end, the Persian army fell, and into the Kurdish mountains Alexander followed Darius. As they pursued Darius they found Babylonia, Alexander then decided to desert the chase. He probed the all the riches of the land Darius ditched. Later, Alexander defeated the superb palace of Susa and took their riches. Next, he departed to the capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis. Alexander believed Persepolis was their worst enemy among the cities of Asia. Also, they were the wealthiest city. Alexander sacked and burned the city to stop its uprising, and as a consequence for the demolition of Athens. Then he went to Darius's last capital, Ecbatana, where he left the Macedonian general in command of the seized valuables. Alexander set out in search for Darius. Darius and his eastern satraps have ran off past the Caspian Gates. The satraps had assassinated Darius when Alexander got to them, he demanded a royal funeral. As Darius's inheritor and avenger, Alexander according to Persian principles, maltreated them. He became the Persian king, started to dress in Persian royal clothing and embraced the Persian court ceremonials. Like anywhere else, he placed officials in his management. But, he retained his place of the head of the Corinthian League with regard to the Greek ambassadors. Alexander professed that he was the King of Asia and

The Persian army waited four days after their arrival on the Greek shore before actually engaging the Spartans in combat. On the fifth day Xerxes launched an assault on Leonidas’ position. To begin the attack the Persians fired a huge barrage of arrows at the Spartans. About 5,000 arrows were launched at the Spartans with no effect. The large bronze shields and helmets used by the Spartans proved to be too much for the Persian arrows. King Xerxes then ordered 10,000 troops forward to take the Spartans prisoners (Robinson). The wave of Persians moved forward and soon found themselves in a full frontal assault with a wall of spears and shields. The Spartan phalanx stretched from each side of the pass. The phalanx formation put each man shoulder to shoulder with their large shields forming a wall of bronze. Each man was armed with a spear that would protrude from the wall making it almost impossible for the Persian soldiers, with much smaller and weaker swards and shields, to penetrate their defense. The Spartan phalanx was positioned right behind the stone wall they had constructed as well.

Alexander’s men also had long spears that proved very useful by providing more damage with a longer range. (Fisher, Alexander the Great; Seize the Night). The Romans placed their weaker soldiers in the front and the lighter armed soldiers in the back. This was because the front line is where you would be in the most danger, as they were not commonly attacked from behind. The Romans continued the use of the phalanx formation even though Alexander’s was much more powerful. The phalanx formation was the most dominant formation used in ancient times, which both the Romans and Alexandrians relied upon greatly. The phalanx formation is one of the prominent similarities between the two empires (Alexander,70).

The arrangements ended up being parallel to that of the battle of Issus. However, realizing that the Persian cavalry was moderately powerful, Alexander reinforced his wings and ordered them to lengthen if there was any risk of being out-flanked. These well designed decisions would have made a huge impact on the final outcome of the battle, this shows Alexander’s ability to adapt his tactics to suit different situations and develop ways to overcome problems that may occur.