Overcoming The Greco-Persian Wars

The Ancient Greek city-states of the 5th century BCE took on one of the most powerful and dangerous empires of the ancient world in a struggle to maintain independence from the Persians. The Persians represented the opposite in ideals of everything that is Greek and threatened the end of political sovereignty, higher thinking, and innovation. Overcoming the Persians was a critical accomplishment by the Greeks in the Greco-Persian wars of the 5th century and can be attributed to their superior strategizing and exceptional leadership in time of crisis.
The Persian wars got its start in 499 BCE on the eastern shores of the Aegean Sea. The Greek colonies of Iona had been taken over by the king of Persia, Darius, and it was not long before they
The Persian army, under King Darius, camped on the beach of Marathon and planned on marching to Athens and overwhelm them with their superior numbers. Mobilizing their troops quickly, the Athenians swiftly assembled in the hills above the beach directly in the path of the Persians. Instead of attacking immediately the Persians camped on the beach for several days, allowing the Athenian generals to hold a council and decide on a course of action . The Council wisely put Miltiades in charge of the conducting of the eminent battle and he was able to find a solution to the problem of being outnumbered by the Persians. His main concern was of being enveloped by the enemy. He decided to weaken his center lines of troops and put the extra men on the flanks of his three pronged formation. When the battle started the Persian center was able to break through Miltiades center but their flanks were overwhelmed and the Persian phalanx collapsed upon itself. The two flanks met in the center and subdued the entire army due to Miltiades strategy and execution. The Athenians were able to capture 7 Persian ships, kill 6,400 Persians, and only lose 192 men; it was a complete
This was the second important battle of the war. Thermopylae was chosen as the site for a stand because it would be a bottle-neck for the Persians, making it hard for them to utilize their strength in numbers. Only a small force of 300 elite Spartan warriors and 700 Thespians held off the Persians for four days of grueling fighting until they were eventually overwhelmed . Although they were defeated in Thermopylae, it was not a complete lose. The Persians suffered heavy casualties, delayed the advance of the enemy, and became a unifying heroic legend that helped to make the Greek city-states pull together and fight