New Technology
- During the Dorian age; only rich could afford to buy the bronze weaponry and armor
- Iron later replaced bronze and allowed the common man to be able to arm himself and fight battles
- Also a new formation was formed in battle called the phalanx
- Phalanx- Spear in one hand, shield in the other
Start of the Persian War
- War between Greece and Persian Empire
- Ir first began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
- Greeks were settled there but Persians conquered it around 546 B.C.
- The Ionian Greeks revolted
- Athens sent soldiers to help in the revolt
- Darius the Great- defeated the revolt and then vowed to destroy Athens
- In 140 B.C. the Persian fleet to 25000 men landed in an area called Marathon
- 10000 Athenians meet then there
- After several hours of fighting
- Persians fled the battle field
- 6000 Persian lives were lost
- 200 or less Athenians lives were lost
- Why such a victory?
- The Athenians were using the new fighting formation call the phalanx
- The Persian were not well trained in the type of land fighting
- The Persian also wore very light armor compared to that of the Athenians
- Athenians would fighting on their home land
Marathon
- Even though Athenians had won, they left their city without much of an army
- According to tradition army leaders would send a runner to alert Athens of the battle
- Pheidippides was that runner
- He ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
- Persians tried to quickly attack Athens after their defeat at Marathon but the Athenians dad already returned so they fled once again
- TEN YEARS LATER
- Xerxes, Darius the Great’s son. Had become the successor of the Persian army
- He brought an enormous army with him to complete the job that his father once vowed
Greek issues
- The Greeks were very divided on how to handle the Persian situation
- Some city-states thought that they should fight them and defend their city of Athens
- Some city-states though it wasn’t worth it and they should just allow then to burn it
- Some even fought with the Persians
Famous battle of Thermopylae
- A narrow mountain pass was the setting of this battle
- 7000 Greeks and 300 Spartans stood in the way of Xerxes and his huge army on this push to get to Athens
- Xerxes underestimated the Greeks and Spartans, however they stood up for three day to them
- A traitor went to Xerxes and informed him a secret path around the pass
- Fearing defeat the Spartans fought the Persians so that the Greeks could flee to fight another day
- All 300 were killed including Leonidas
Lasting effects of the Spartan Sacrifice
- Made a great impression on the Greeks
- Allowed the remaining Greeks to retreat and fright the Persians again
- Showed Xerxes what he was up against
Battle of Salamis
- Greeks abandoned Athens, because they thought that fighting at sea was their best chance
- They were right, Xerxes watched as a 1/3 of this fleet was suck. Truly diminishing his army
Lasting effects of the Persian war
- The Delian League was created (an alliance of Greek city states to continue to push the Persian out of all Greece)
- Athenians was the head of the league and moved the headquarters to Athens
- The gave the Athenians a lot for power and helped push then into their golden age
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