Persian War
New Technology
- During the Dorian Age, only the rich could afford to buy 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-spear in one hand, shield in the other
Start of the Persian War
- War between Greece (including Sparta) and Persian Empire
- Began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
- Greeks were settled there but Persians conquered it around 546 BC
- 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 490 BC, the Persian fleet of 25,000 men landed in an area called Marathon
- 10,000 Athenians meet them
- After several hours of fighting-
- Persians fled the battlefield
- 6,000 Persian lived were lost
- 200 or less Athenian lives lost
- Why such a victory?
- Athenians were using this new fighting formation called phalanx
- Persians not well trained in this type of land fighting
- Persians also wore very light armor compared to Athenians
- Athenians would fight on their own homeland
- 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
- Ran 26 milse from Marathon to Athens
- Persians tried to quickly attack Athens after their defeat at Marathon but the Athenians had already returned so they fled once again
- Ten years later
- Xerxes, Darius the Great's son, had become the successor of the Persian army
- Brought an enormous army to complete the job that his father once vowed
- Greek Issues
- Very divided on how to handle the Persian situation
- Some citystates thought that they should fight them and defend Athens
- Some citystates thought it wasn't worth it and they should allow them to burn Athens
- Some even fought with the Persians
- Very divided on how to handle the Persian situation
- Famous Battle of Thermopylae
- Narrow mountain pass was the setting
- 7000 Greeks and 300 Spartans stood in the way of Xerxes and his huge army on this push to Athens
- Xerxes underestimated the Greeks and Spartans; they stood up for 3 days to them
- 300
- Traitor went to Xerxes and informed him of 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 Spartans' Sacrifice
- Made a great impression on the Greeks
- Allowed the remaining Greeks to retreat and fight 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 his fleet was sunk, truly diminishing his army
- Lasting Effects of Persian War
- Delian League was created- an alliance of Greek citystates to continue to push the Persians out of all Greece
- Athenians was the head of the league and moved the headquarters to Athens
- This gave Athenians a lot of power and helped push them into their golden age
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