Download Persian Wars (490

Persian Wars (490-479 BC/BCE)
I.
Reasons
a.
Conflict between the Greek
city-states and the Persian Empire
was probably inevitable.
i. They were too big and too close
together and also too ambitious
to not have clashed.
1.
And in 499 B.C., they
clashed.
b.
For several decades leading up
to this clash, Athenian Greeks had
settled in Asia Minor, on the
western coast
i. . The Persians then conquered
these colonies and added them
to the Empire.
ii. The Greeks living in these
colonies were used to having
their own government of
elected officials.
1.
Athens was the
birthplace of democracy.
iii. They soon revolted against the
Persians; and in 499, their
fellow Greeks (specifically,
Athens) sent 20 ships to
support this revolt.
1.
This was the beginning
of the Persian Wars.
c.After initial success, Athens soon
lost interest, and the colonies
didn't hold out long against the
much larger and stronger Persian
army.
i. And when the revolt was
crushed, Persian Emperor
Darius wanted to punish Athens
for aiding the Asia Minor
colonies.
II. Marathon
a.
A few years later, when his
army was trained and ready,
Darius led his troops on an
invasion of Greece.
1.
They sailed to the Bay
of Marathon, where one of
the most famous battles of
all time took place.
b.
Athens had appealed to Sparta
for reinforcements, they chose
Phidippides, their best runner, to
send word to other Greeks of the
invasion.
i. Setting out from Athens,
Phidippides made for Sparta
journeying by way of Eleusis,
Megara, and Corinth.
1.
Greek couriers of his day
are believed to have been
able to cover over a
hundred kilometres a day,
a.
but Phidippides is
said to have run the 147
miles to Sparta in only
two, much of it over
uneven and rocky
terrain.
ii. but the Spartan troops wouldn't
arrive for nine days because
they were in the middle of
religious festivals.
1.
Phidippides had to run
back with disappointing
news.
iii. Marathon was very close to
Athens itself. 26 Miles
1.
Other city-states were
jealous of Athens' growing
power and hadn't sent
troops, either.
2.
So Athens was on its
own.
iv. On paper, it was a mismatch.
1.
Persian troops
numbered about 20,000.
a.
Athenian troops
numbered 10,000.
2.
The Persians knew a lot
about Athens and the best
way to attack Athens
a.
from the exiled
Athenian tyrant Hippias,
who was living at the
court of Darius now.
b.
Hippias was angry
that the Athenians had
thrown him out,
i. and he was hoping
to get back into
power in Athens with
Persian help.
v. In the Battle of Marathon,
1.
the Persians counted
6,400 dead soldiers and
many more captured.
2.
The Athenian dead
totaled only 192.
vi. And even though the Persians
still badly outnumbered the
Athenians, Darius turned for
home, convinced that he was
beaten.
i. Phidippides was sent
to tell the Athenians
of their victory.
1.
He ran the 26
miles from
Marathon to
Athens
2.
Arrived at the
Agora, and
exclaimed “Nike”
and died.
3.
the modern
marathon is run
26 miles to
commemorate
this victory.
c. The victory was due more to
surprise and discipline than
anything else.
i. The well-trained Athenian
soldiers did not break formation
as they suddenly charged the
Persian lines.
1. In the face of such a
determined charge, Persian
soldiers broke ranks and
ran,
a. and were slaughtered
from behind.
ii. The Persians were expecting
individual, hand-to-hand
fighting.
1. The Athenians gave them a
mass, united charge.
a. The sheer weight of the
charge must have been
astounding.
2. The Persian force was large
but scattered and poorly
organized.
a. The Athenian force was
not intimidated by the
larger numbers of their
opponents.
b. They almost literally
drove their opponents
into the sea.
d. It was a stunning victory, one that
sent Emperor Darius home in
disgrace. Darius never returned,
but his son Xerxes did.
III. Round II
a. In 480, 10 years after the
disastrous defeat at Marathon, the
Persians were back, this time with
even more men.
i. They went over land and met a
combined force of Greeks at
Thermopylae,
1. a small mountain pass that
controlled access to most of
the rest of Greece.
a. A group of 7,000
soldiers easily held off
the Persians for two
days.
b. But a Greek traitor
showed the Persians a
secret passageway that
allowed them to strike
the Greek army from the
rear.
i. Seeing this, most of
the defenders
retreated.
ii. A group of 300
Spartans stayed on
the battlefield,
fighting to the death
and covering their
fellow Greeks'
retreat.
iii. This heroic act
allowed the rest of
the Greek army,
which was made up
of soldiers from all
over Greece, to
escape capture or
certain death.
b. Following the success at
Thermopylae, the Persian army
poured into mainland Greece and
wreaked havoc,
i. including burning Athens to the
ground.
1. The people and army of
Athens, however, had
escaped to the island of
Salamis in the ships that
far-sighted generals had
insisted on building several
years before.
c. The Persian fleet followed the
retreating Greeks to Salamis,
where another surprise awaited.
i. With the Persian Emperor
Xerxes watching on his throne
from high up on a mountaintop
overlooking the Bay of Salamis,
the Greek ships first sailed
away from shore
1. pretending to flee the island
2. then turned around quickly
and began ramming the
larger, slower-moving, more
difficult-to-manuever
Persian ships.
ii. Before Xerxes knew what had
hit him, half his fleet was on
the ocean floor.
iii. In frustration as great as his
father's 10 years earlier, Xerxes
led his army back home.
IV. Round III
a. Despite the Greeks' smashing
victory at Salamis, the fighting
wasn't over.
i. The very next year, the
Persians and Greeks clashed
again.
1. This time, the result had a
more lasting effect.
b. For the first time in the wars,
i. the Greeks and Persians had
almost equal troop numbers.
ii. Also, Spartan and Athenian
fought side by side.
iii. In the Battle of Plataea, the
Greeks again proved their
military superiority, and the
Persians retreated for good.
V. How did they do it? How did the
Greeks win so many tremendously
important battles with so few men?
a. First and foremost, they had the
inherent advantage of the
defender:
i. They were fighting to protect
their homes and their way of
life.
1. History is full of examples
like this, of a group of
people willing to die to the
last man to defend their
homeland.
ii. The Persian soldiers, many of
them mercenaries
1. (who served only for a
salary),
2. were far from home,
3. spoke a different language
than the men who were
fighting right next to them,
4. and were afraid to admit
such things as their not
being able to swim
a. (which became a big
problem when, as at the
Battle of Salamis, their
ships suddenly started
sinking).
b. Secondly, the Greeks proved that
they were better soldiers than their
Persian counterparts.
i. They were better trained, and
they were better skilled.
c. Thirdly, the Greeks effectively used
the element of surprise.
i. By doing the unexpected, the
Greeks seized the initiative
away from the Persians,
1. who were the attackers and
thought they had the
initiative.
2. By keeping the Persians
guessing, the Greeks kept
the upper hand.
d. Had Darius or Xerxes won any of
these historic battles, the future of
Greece and the immediate present
of Western civilization might have
been very different.