Transcript The Persian Wars

-The Persian Wars-
The Persian Empire
• As Greece spread across the Mediterranean Sea, they
came across the Persian Empire.
• Persia had spread across the known world creating a huge
army and a massive Empire.
• Modern depictions make Persians the “bad guy”, but they
were very good to their people: No slavery, keep your
religion and your king, just know we are in charge. 
• When the Persian Empire expanded to the Mediterranean,
the Persian Empire attacked a few of the Greek colonies
and captured them.
Where is Persia?
Why were they fighting?
Greeks had colonies on the west
coast of Asia Minor (Persia)
Persia conquered these colonies,
claimed them as part of the
Persian Empire
Greeks colonies revolted against
Persian rule (they were used to
democracy, all influenced by
Athens)
Athens sent troops and weapons
to support the revolt, and ships,
but the Persians were too much.
Persia decided to conquer all of Greece
for defying them. 
Crushing the Revolt
• Emperor Darius of Persia crushed the
revolt quickly, even with Athens helping
the colonies. He wanted to punish Athens
for helping the colonies.
• After training a huge new army for a few
years, Darius sent troops to invade
Greece by sailing armies into the Bay of
Marathon.
The Battle of Marathon
• Athens asked Sparta to
help, but Spartan troops
would not arrive for 9 days
(they were in the middle of
religious festivals)
• Other jealous city-states
decided not to help
Athens against the
Persian Empire.
• So Athens took on the
mighty Persian Empire by
themselves…
A Serious Mismatch
• Persian troops—100,000
• Athenian troops—20,000=Totally outnumbered!
• Did Athens really have any hope against these
odds?
• The Athenian army was
well-trained and did not
break formation as they
charged the Persian
lines.
• The organized charge
surprised the large but
scattered (and poorly
organized) Persian
army
• Athenians fought as a
unit and used the
phalanx formation, a
way to fight as a crowd
while all shielded.
• The Persian soldiers
turned and ran from the
oncoming Athenians!!!
Victory!!!
A huge victory against Persia!
• The Athenian army almost drove the
Persians back to the sea, Persians could
not advance any more. They had to
retreat.
• Final Battle Numbers
– Persians—6, 400 dead
– Athens—192 dead!!!
– Darius returned to Persia, never returned to
Greece. But he never forgot…
Connection to the Past
Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot, winner of
the 114th Boston Marathon 2010. He
won the Boston Marathon with a record
time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 52
seconds. A marathon is 26 miles!
• The modern marathon has its roots in the Battle of Marathon
• A Greek soldier, Phidippides, ran from Marathon to Athens (26
miles) to tell the Athenians of the Greek victory and to warn them
that the Persians had attacked and they had won the Battle of
Marathon.
• Phidippides died from exhaustion after delivering his message!
• Today’s 26 mile marathon races remember his heroic act of
martyrdom
Gone, but not done…
• Although Persia had been beaten at Marathon,
the Persians were not done.
• Darius would never forget Marathon, and he
requested one of his favorite slaves tell him
each night as he served Darius dinner, “Sir,
remember the Athenians”
• He would want revenge, so would his family…
The Persian Wars-Day 2
• After the victory at Marathon, the Persians
decide to attack Greece again and destroy it!
Revenge of the Persians
• The Persian Emperor Darius’ son
Emperor Xerxes decided to crush
Greece once he was Emperor.
• In 480 B.C. the Persians returned to
Greece, set on conquering it at any
cost. Xerxes focus
• They brought a lot more soldiers,
almost all of their army this time
around! Better trained armies! Created
a army of 300,000 trained for 5 yrs.
• Persians met a small force
of Greeks at a area of the
coast known as
Thermopylae.
• Very few soldiers most of
Greece didn’t really think
Persia would attack
unprovoked.
• 7000 Greeks=50 to 1 
First time the Greeks had
ever fought together!
• This was a small mountain
pass that controlled access
to all of Greece. The Greeks
tried to stop the Persians
from going forward. Funnel
them in.
The Battle of Thermopylae
• A Greek traitors showed
the Persians a secret
passageway around the
armies.
The Downfall
• This allowed the Persians
to get around the Greeks
blocking the way.
• Faced with defeat, most of
the Greek defenders had
no choice but to withdraw.
Soon the forces of Persia
were closing in on both
sides!
A Heroic Act
• About 300 Spartans and 1,000 other Greeks stayed
behind and fought to their deaths. They were easily
overcome in an afternoon.
• This sacrifice allowed the other Greeks to escape
capture or certain death, allowing them to regroup for the
next battle against the Persians and rally the other Greek
city-states.
Here come the Persians
• After the loss at Thermopylae The Persians poured
into Greece. There was no stopping the huge army.
• They got their revenge by wreaking havoc, destroying
any city-state they could. Most of Greece was
unprepared. 
• They even burned Athens to the ground!
The Battle of Salamis
• As their city-state burned, the Athenian people
and the army escaped to the island of Salamis
near Athens.
• The Persians wanted to finish the Athenians off
for good, ending the war.
Those Clever Athenians
• The Greeks ships first sailed from shore like they
were fleeing the island.
• They then turned quickly around and began
ramming the Persian ships!!!
• Before the Persians knew what had happened
half of their fleet was sinking!
• The Persians retreated back to Persia, having
lost many men and most of their ships. But
would try one more time…
The Final Battle: The Battle of Plataea
• The Greeks and Persians at equal strength, huge armies!
• Athens and Sparta fought side by side, decided to
use a strategy call the “false retreat”.
• They acted like they were running away and the
Persians advanced thinking they had won, quickly
turned around and fought. Persians had no way to
retreat while defending, quickly surrounded.
• Greek military superiority won out and remaining
Persians retreated for good, ending the war!
How did the Greeks do it?
• Some reasons:
– Inherent advantage of being the defender
– They knew their country/geography well
– They were better soldiers (Sparta)
– They had better strategy (Athens)
– They used the element of surprise
– They worked together (most of the time)
– They never stopped fighting!