Persian War-
only the rich could afford the 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
spear in one hand shield in the other
Start of the Persian War-
War between Greece and Persian Empire
It first began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
Greeks were settled there but Persians conquered it around 546 B.C.
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 B.C. the Persian fleet of 25,000 men landed in an area called marathon
10,000 Athenians meet them there
after several hours of fighting
-Persians fled the battle field
-6,000 Persians lives were lost
-200 or less Athenians lives were lost
The Athenians were using this new fighting formation called phalanx
the Persians were not well trained in the type of land fighting
The Persians also wore very light armor compared to that of the Athenians
Athenians were fighting on their 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
he was 26 miles 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, dad 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 then and defend their city of Athens
-Some city-states thought it wasn't worth it and they should just allow them to burn it
-some even fought with the Persians
Famous battle of Thermopylae-
A narrow mountain pass was the setting of this battle
7,000 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 and they stood up and defended it for three days
300-
a 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 Spartan 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 and a 1/3 of his men . 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 Persians out of 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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