Battle of the Persians with the Greeks. The Rise and Fall of Sparta

Greco-Persian Wars

In the second half of the 6th century. BC e. Persia turned into a powerful slave state. Having conquered Phenicia, Palestine, Babylonia, Egypt and all of Asia Minor, she considered the conquest of Greece .

Persia was quite a formidable opponent. Its army, consisting mainly of residents of conquered countries, outnumbered the Greek one. But Persian infantry was still significantly weaker than the Greek one. She did not have that moral unity that distinguished Greek troops .

Persia did not have its own ships, and its fleet consisted of ships from conquered states, including Phenicia, Egypt, and Greek cities in Asia Minor.

The Greeks had a very small fleet before the start of the war.

The wars of Greece with Persia were wars of a young slave-owning military democracy, which was based on a more developed slave-owning mode of production, against the state, based on the system domestic slavery . The Greeks fought in these wars for their independence, and this strengthened their moral unity. The Persians did not and could not have such moral unity, since they led wars of conquest .

The first campaign of the Persians.

The reason for the war was the assistance provided by Athens and Eritrea to the Greeks of Asia Minor who rebelled against the Persian yoke. In 492 BC. e. Persian troops under the command of Mardonius, son-in-law of the Persian king Darius , from Asia Minor crossed the Hellespont (Dardanelles) to the Balkan Peninsula and headed along the northern shore of the Aegean Sea to Greece. The fleet also took part in this Persian campaign against Greece.

A feature of the joint actions of the army and navy in the first campaign of the Persians was the use of the fleet, which accompanied the army along the coast to supply it with food, equipment and to secure its flank.

Near Cape Athos during a storm, a significant part of the Persian fleet was lost, and the army suffered heavy losses in clashes with the Thracians. Given the almost complete absence of land roads in Greece suitable for the movement of a large army, and the lack of local food resources to feed the troops, the Persian command considered it impossible to achieve the goal of the war with ground forces alone. Therefore, the campaign against Greece was interrupted and the Persian army returned back to Persia.

Second campaign of the Persians.

Marathon battle.

In 490 BC. e. The Persians launched a second campaign against Greece. The navy also took part in it. But the method of joint action between the army and navy was different in this campaign. Persian fleet now transported a land army across the Aegean Sea and landed it on Greek territory near Marathon. The Persians chose the landing site well. Marathon was only 40 km from Athens.

The Persians had 10 thousand irregular cavalry and a large number of foot archers. The Greeks had 11 thousand hoplites. The Athenian army was commanded by 10 strategists, among whom was Miltiades, who knew the Persian army well. Some of the strategists, seeing the numerical superiority of the Persians, proposed to retreat to Athens and there, under the protection of the city walls, wait for the enemy. But Miltiades insisted on giving battle. Greek phalanx was built by him at the entrance to the Marathon Valley. To paralyze the flank attack of the Persian cavalry, Miltiades, by weakening the center of the phalanx, strengthened its flanks, increasing the number of ranks here. In addition, the flanks were covered with abatis.

Unable to use cavalry on the flanks, the Persians placed them in the center of their battle formation.

The Persians began the attack. They showered clouds of arrows on the Athenian hoplites. To reduce the losses of his troops, Miltiades gave the command to begin moving the phalanx forward. The phalangists went from walking to running. In the ensuing battle, the center of the Greek phalanx was broken through. But on the flanks the Greeks won and put the enemy to flight. Then the Greek flanks attacked the part of the Persian army that had broken through in the center and defeated it.

Despite the numerical superiority of the Persians, the Greeks won on the Marathon Plain. The army with better organization and discipline, with more advanced tactics, won.

However, the Greeks, due to the slowness of the phalanx and the absence of a fleet in the Marathon area, were unable to develop achieved success. The Persian troops who fled from the battlefield managed to board ships and went to sea without interference. The Greeks captured only seven enemy ships.

The Battle of Marathon, which took place in September 490 BC. e., is an example of the reflection of a landing force.

Third campaign of the Persians.

Despite the failure of two campaigns, the Persians did not want to give up their intention to capture Greece. In 480 BC. e. they organized a third campaign.

The ten-year period between the second and third campaigns was characterized in Greece by a fierce struggle on issues of preparation and conduct of war.

Two political factions fought. The first of them, consisting of slave owners associated with trade and craft, the so-called "sea party" led by Themistocles , insisted on building a strong fleet. The second group, which included slave owners associated with agriculture, and was led by Aristide, believed that for a future war the fleet was not important and that it was necessary to increase the ground forces. After a tense struggle in 483 BC. e. Themistocles' group won.

By the time of the new Persian attack, the Athenians had a strong navy, which played an exceptional role in the hostilities that then unfolded.

In 481 BC. e. thirty-one Greek states, on the initiative of Athens and Sparta, in order to unite the forces of Greece to fight the Persians, created military defense alliance . This increased the advantages of the Greeks in the upcoming struggle.

The Greek war plan boiled down to the following. Due to the fact that Persia had a numerical superiority in forces, it was decided not to fight in the open field, but to defend the mountain passes. During defense by the army Thermopylae Gorge the fleet was supposed to be located at Cape Artemisium (the northern tip of the island of Euboea) and prevent landings in the rear of the ground forces.

Thus, The Greek plan provided for simultaneous and coordinated actions of the army and navy.

According to the Persian war plan, their troops were to cross the Hellespont, move along the coast of the Aegean Sea and, having defeated the Greek ground forces, occupy the territory of Greece.

The Persians thought of using the fleet according to the type of the first campaign. He was supposed to go along the coast, parallel to the movement of the army, and, destroying the Greek fleet, “carry out the following tasks:

- supply the army with everything necessary;

- by landing troops in the rear of the Greek army to promote the advancement of their army;

- protect the flank and rear of your army from the influence of the enemy fleet.

To avoid going around Cape Athos, near which she died during the first trip most of Persian fleet, a canal was dug in a narrow part of the Akte Peninsula.

The armed forces of the Persians in the third campaign against Greece were led by King Xerxes himself.

The Persian army still had many warriors from conquered countries who were not interested in the victory of their enslavers. The Persian fleet also consisted of ships from various states conquered by Persia. This circumstance, as in the first two campaigns, was one of the reasons for the low morale of the Persian armed forces.

To protect the Thermopylae Gorge the Greeks concentrated a small detachment of hoplites under the command of the Spartan king Leonidas . A united Greek fleet consisting of 270 triremes, of which 127 belonged to Athens, was sent to Cape Artemisium. The task of the fleet was to prevent the advance of the Persian fleet into the area of ​​Thermopylae and thereby deprive it of the opportunity to provide support to its army. At the head of the Greek fleet was the Spartan navarch Eurybiades, but the actual command was in the hands of the head of the Athenian detachment, Themistocles. The Persian fleet consisted of approximately 800 ships.

Under such conditions, the battle was unprofitable for the Greek fleet. And Themistocles, having correctly assessed the situation, took his ships at Cape Artemisium in a position that blocked the Persians’ passage to Thermopylae and at the same time did not allow them to deploy all their forces for battle and thereby use their numerical superiority. After this, the Greek fleet, without getting involved in lengthy military clashes with the enemy, before darkness fell, launched a series of rapid strikes against part of the forces of the Persian fleet, thereby depriving it of the opportunity to assist its army during the battles at Thermopylae.

Thus, the Greek fleet took an advantageous position and active actions at Cape Artemisium provided significant assistance to his army fighting at Thermopylae. The successful actions of the Greek fleet raised the morale of its personnel and showed that the Persian fleet could be defeated, despite its numerical superiority.

When it became known about the fall of Thermopylae, the presence of the Greek fleet at Artemisium lost its meaning, and it, moving south, concentrated in the Strait of Salamis.

The Persian army, having passed Thermopylae, invaded Central Greece and occupied Athens. The Persian fleet concentrated in Phaleron Bay,

Disagreements arose among the Greeks about the further use of the fleet. The Spartans sought to retreat to the Isthmus of Corinth, where the fleet, together with the army, was supposed to prevent the Persians from invading the Peloponnese. Themistocles, who led the Athenians, insisted on giving battle to the Persian fleet, using a tactical position in the Strait of Salamis advantageous for the Greek fleet. The small size of the strait did not give the Persians the opportunity to deploy their entire fleet and thereby use their numerical superiority.

Meanwhile, Xerxes, deciding to give battle to the Greek fleet, closed the exits from the Strait of Salamis with his ships.

The Greeks, at the insistence of Themistocles, decided to take the fight.

Salamis fight

The Battle of Salamis took place at the end of September 480 BC. e. The Greek fleet, which consisted of about 350 triremes, was deployed in a double front formation along the coast of the island of Salamis. Both flanks rested on the coastal shallows, which guaranteed them from being bypassed by Persian ships.

The Persian fleet, numbering approximately 800 ships, began to enter the Strait of Salamis the night before the battle.

The formation of the Persian fleet took place all night. The rowers were tired and did not have time to rest, which could not but affect the course of the battle.

The Persians took up a position against the Greek fleet, on the opposite shore of the Strait of Salamis. In an effort to deploy as many forces as possible, they formed their ships in three lines at close intervals. This did not strengthen, but weakened the battle formation of the Persian fleet. The Persian ships that did not fit into the line were placed in the eastern passages to the Strait of Salamis.

The battle began the next morning. The Athenian triremes, located on the left flank of the Greek fleet, quickly attacked the right flank of the Persians, where the Phoenician ships were located. The cramped position of the Persian fleet made it difficult for its ships to maneuver. The crowding increased even more when the ships of the second and third lines of the Persians, wanting to take part in the battle, tried to take a place in the first line. One of the Athenian triremes rammed an enemy ship on which Xerxes' brother, Ariomenes, was located. The latter, trying with a detachment of soldiers to go to the Greek trireme and on its deck to decide the outcome of the duel in his favor, was killed.

The successful attack of the Athenians and the death of Ariomenes upset the Persian right flank. The ships of this flank, trying to get out of the battle, began to move towards the exit from the Strait of Salamis. This brought chaos to the center of the Persian fleet, which had previously withstood the onslaught of the Greeks; The left flank of the Persians soon fell into disarray.

The Greeks, inspired by their success, intensified their attack. Their triremes broke the oars of the Persian ships, rammed them and boarded them. Soon the entire Persian fleet, under the pressure of the Greeks, fell into complete confusion and rushed in disarray towards the exit from the Strait of Salamis. The slow-moving ships of the Persians, located crowded together, interfered with each other, collided with each other, and broke their oars. The battle ended with the defeat of the Persian fleet. The Persians lost 200 ships, the Greeks - only 40 triremes.

Conclusions. The main reason for the victory of the Greeks was that the organization of their fleet, its combat training, the quality of ships, and tactical art were higher than that of the Persians.

The victory of the Greeks was also due to the fact that they fought a war for their independence and were united in their desire for victory, therefore their fighting spirit was incomparably higher than that of the Persians.

The victory of the Greeks was facilitated by the correct choice of position for battle in a narrow area, where they could deploy all their forces, rest their flanks on the banks and thereby protect them from being outflanked by the enemy, while the Persians were deprived of the opportunity to use their numerical superiority.

An important role in the outcome of the battle in favor of the Greeks was also played by the fact that the personnel of the Persian fleet were tired from the night formation, while the personnel of the Greek fleet rested all night before the battle.

The main tactical method of battle was the ramming attack, supplemented by boarding.

The Salamis battle had three phases: the first phase consisted of building the fleet and occupying the starting position at the chosen position, the second - in the rapprochement of the opponents, and the third - in the actual collision of individual enemy ships, when the matter was decided by ramming and boarding.

Control of forces in the hands of the command remained only in the first two phases. In the third phase, control almost ceased, and the outcome of the battle was decided by the actions of single ships. The commander in this phase could influence in a certain way only by personal example.

Played a major role in organizing the victory Themistocles. He was the first to understand the need for a fleet as an integral element of the armed forces. An outstanding naval commander, he knew how to correctly assess the situation and, in accordance with it, set specific and realistic tasks for the fleet.

The Salamis victory of the Greeks was a turning point in the Greco-Persian wars. The defeat of the Persian fleet deprived their army of sea communications. Land communications were so stretched that they could not supply the large Persian army. As a result of this, Xerxes retreated to Asia, leaving a small force in Greece under the command of his relative Mardonius.

The next year, 479 BC. e. hostilities resumed. In the battle of Plataea (in Boeotia), the Greeks defeated the troops of Mardonius. In the same 479, the Greek fleet defeated the Persian fleet near Cape Mycale (the western coast of Asia Minor). Thanks to these victories, the Greeks were able to expel the Persians from Greece, from the islands of the Aegean archipelago and from the western shores of Asia Minor and thereby defend their independence.

The Greco-Persian Wars were won by more advanced, better organized and better trained armed forces.

The victory of the Greeks in the wars with the Persians was a victory of a new, higher system ancient slavery above the system domestic slavery .

The victory of the Greeks over the Persians was of great importance for further development Greece. She contributed to the economic, political and cultural development of the Greek states, especially Athens, which captured enormous booty and prisoners.

In the Greco-Persian wars, they took shape and consolidated fundamentals of organization, tactics and strategy of the armed forces . Strategic art during this period it was expressed in the determination of the main target for attack, in the maneuver of forces, in the choice of place and time for the start of the battle.

The wars began with the uprising of the Ionian Greek cities (on the western coast of Asia Minor) under Persian rule in 499 BC. Sparta refused the Ionians' call for help, but the Athenians, who feared that their former tyrant Hippias (he was then in Asia Minor and had plans to return) would not receive support from the Persians, decided to intervene and sent 20 ships. Together with the Eretrians from the island of Euboea neighboring Attica, the Athenians helped the rebels capture and burn the capital of the Persian satrapy of Sardis in 498 BC, but this detachment was soon withdrawn, and by 494 BC. the uprising was suppressed (however, the rebels managed to achieve some concessions).

In response, in 492 BC. Darius I, king of the powerful Persian Empire, sent his son-in-law Mardonius at the head of an army and fleet across the Hellespont (modern Dardanelles) to Greece. At the foot of Mount Athos (the Akta peninsula, protruding into the Aegean Sea from the north), the fleet was wrecked, and the ground army was forced to return.

Intending to punish Athens and Eretria for the burning of Sardis, in 490 BC. Darius sent a new fleet to the Aegean Sea under the command of Datis and Artaphernes, who were accompanied by Hippias.

Marathon.

First, the Persians sailed to Eretria and, after a six-day siege, captured the city. Meanwhile, the Athenians sent the walker Pheidippides to Sparta with a request for help, but the Spartans replied that due to a religious festival they would not be able to set out until the full moon. Then 10 thousand heavily armed Athenian infantry, to whose aid only 1000 Plataeans came, occupied a narrow valley overlooking the Marathon plain not far from the coast, where the Persian fleet was expected to stop on the way to Athens.

Athenian strategists chose Miltiades as commander-in-chief because he was familiar with the military tactics of the Persians, who expelled him in 493 BC. from Thrace. Now Miltiades waited, remaining in place, while the Persian infantry and cavalry (about 30 thousand people) landed on the shore. The Persians were protected by thin armor and were armed with bows and short swords. When the enemy's arrows began to hit the Greeks, Miltiades ordered them to attack - running, so as to remain as little as possible under the hail of arrows. The Persians, not ready for hand-to-hand combat, retreated to their ships, suffering heavy losses (about 6,400 people killed), 192 people were killed among the Athenians and Plataeans. An attempt to attack Athens by surprise from the harbor of Phalera ended in failure, and the Persians returned to Asia. The Athenians built a high mound in honor of the dead, which is still visible on the battlefield of Marathon. They then, following the advice of the prominent Athenian politician Themistocles, began building a fleet. Themistocles counted on the fact that Greece was too small to feed the army of the conquerors, and therefore, if the fleet providing communications was destroyed, the enemy army would have to leave.

Thermopylae and Salamis.

When Darius died, his son and successor Xerxes was unable to set out immediately due to the rebellion in Egypt, but the Persians began preparing a new invasion. Since they had to move again through northern part food warehouses were built in Thrace, a canal was dug across the isthmus near Mount Athos, a floating bridge was built across the Hellespont (the crossing point from Asia to Europe); finally, a land army of approximately 100 thousand people and a fleet of 1000 ships were assembled.

This time Athens and Sparta performed together. Their strategy was to hold the Persian army in the north until both fleets met in battle. Therefore, the Spartan king Leonidas with 6,000 Greeks occupied the mountain pass of Thermopylae, while Themistocles, at the head of an allied fleet of about 300 ships, awaited the Persians at Cape Artemisium, the northern tip of Euboea.

Summer 480 BC Xerxes invaded Thessaly with his huge army. His warriors died by the thousands at Thermopylae, a narrow pass between the mountain range and the sea, until a Greek traitor showed them a secret path through the mountains. When Leonidas learned that the Persians were about to attack him from the rear, he released most of his Greek allies and fought until his death at the head of 300 Spartans and several hundred Thespians.

Meanwhile, a storm forced Themistocles to leave Artemisium. The Persians entered Athens and burned the city. However, two months earlier, most of the Athenians had been evacuated to Troezen in the Peloponnese. Themistocles and the Spartan commander Eurybiades stationed a fleet in the bay of the island of Salamis, neighboring Athens. By cunning, as if avoiding battle, they lured the Persians into a narrow strait, where they destroyed the Persian fleet.

Final victory for the Greeks.

Xerxes had to retire to Asia, but he left an army of 80 thousand people in central Greece. On next year(at the end of August 479 BC) these forces, with Mardonius at their head, were destroyed at Plataea in southern Boeotia by a united Greek army of 40 thousand people, commanded by the Spartan commander Pausanias. According to legend, on the same day the allied Greek fleet defeated the Persians at Mycale, a cape on the coast of Asia Minor, and the remnants of the Persian troops were defeated there on land. As a result, over the next two decades, most of the Greek population of Asia Minor was liberated from Persian rule.

In Europe, some Greek cities were ready to recognize the government, but the largest and most significant city-states - Athens and Sparta - decided to resist. In 490 BC. e. The Athenian army under the command of the strategist Miltiades defeated the Persian army at Marathon. This victory, firstly, showed the Greeks that the supposedly “invincible” Persian army could still be defeated, and secondly, it prevented a possible capture. The Battle of Marathon, however, was not the end, but only the beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars.

The next, largest clash between the Greek states and the Persian power broke out ten years later. King Xerxes of Persia in 480 BC. e. not only transported a huge army to Greece, but also built a gigantic fleet, quite capable of competing with the combined fleets of all Greek city-states. The Persian king was opposed by an alliance of Hellenic city states, as before, led by Athens and Sparta. The Spartan king Leonidas decided to meet the land army of Xerxes on the narrow isthmus of Thermopylae in central Greece, but the Persians managed to discover a workaround. During the ensuing battle, King Leonidas and all his soldiers (according to legend, there were exactly 300 of them) died, but managed to stop the march of the Persian army. Meanwhile, the strategist Themistocles, who led the defense of Athens, decided to evacuate the city's population, transporting them to the island of Salamis. The Greek fleet was also located here.

The Persian land army captured and burned Athens, but the Persians suffered a crushing defeat at sea. Greeks at the end of September 480 BC. e. almost completely destroyed the enemy fleet at the Battle of Salamis. Seeing the further futility of the struggle, Xerxes ordered his army to retreat.

The last major battle in the history of the Greco-Persian Wars was the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. e. The Persian army under the command of Mardonius was completely defeated by the united Greek army, led by the Spartan Pausanias. The Greco-Persian Wars finally ended in 449 BC. e. the signing of the so-called Callian peace (named after the Athenian ambassador who concluded the peace agreement). According to its terms, from now on she no longer had the right to send her ships to the Aegean Sea and keep ground forces closer than in three days routes from the western coast of Asia Minor. Athens undertook to withdraw its troops from those Greek cities whose inhabitants were recognized as subjects of the Persian rulers. From that moment on, the Persians tried to interfere in Greek affairs only secretly, with money and weapons, supporting the Hellenic city-states allied to the Persian power.

The Greco-Persian wars are described in detail by Herodotus in his History. He traveled a lot and visited various countries. Persia was no exception.

The Persian kingdom was headed by Darius I. The Greek cities located in the region were under the authority of the state. The Persians subjugated them and forced the population to pay huge taxes. The Greeks living in Miletus could no longer tolerate this oppression. Erupted in 500 BC. e. In this city, the uprising spread to other cities. 25 ships came to the aid of the rebels from Eretria (a city located on the island of Euboea) and Athens. Thus began the wars of antiquity, which became the most significant in the history of the two states.

The rebels, supported by naval forces, won several victories. However, the Greeks were subsequently defeated.

Darius, who swore revenge on the Athenians and Euboeans, decided to conquer all of Greece. He sends envoys to the policies demanding submission to his authority. Many expressed their resignation. However, Sparta and Athens remained adamant.

In 490 BC. e. The Persian fleet approached Attica from the north, and the army landed near the small village of Marathon. Immediately the Athenian militia was sent towards the enemy. Of all Hellas, only the population of Plataea (a town in Boeotia) provided assistance to the Athenians. Thus, the Greco-Persian wars began with the numerical advantage of the Persians.

However, Miltiades (the Athenian commander) correctly lined up his troops. So, the Greeks managed to defeat the Persians. The winners pursued the losers of the battle all the way to the sea. There the Hellenes attacked the ships. The enemy fleet began to quickly move away from the shores. The Greeks won a brilliant victory.

According to legends, one young warrior, having received an order, ran to Athens to tell the residents the good news. Without stopping, without taking a sip of water, he ran a distance of 42 km 195 meters. Stopping at the square of the village of Marathon, he shouted out the news of the victory and immediately fell breathless. Today there is a competition to run this distance called a marathon.

This victory dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Persians. The Athenians themselves were very proud of the outcome of the battle. But the Greco-Persian wars did not end there.

At this time, Themistocles began to gain popularity and influence in Athens. This energetic and talented politician great importance attached to the fleet. He believed that with his help the Greco-Persian wars would end in victory for Greece. At the same time, a rich silver deposit was discovered in Attica. Themistocles proposed spending the proceeds from the development on building a fleet. Thus, 200 triremes were built.

The Greco-Persian Wars continued 10 years later. King Darius I was replaced by the ruler Xerxes. His army marched to Hellas by land from the north. A huge fleet accompanied her along the sea coast. Many Greek city-states then united against the invaders. Sparta took command.

In 480 BC. e. The Battle of Thermopylae took place. The battle lasted two days. The Persians could not break through the siege of the Greeks. But a traitor was found. He led the enemies to the rear of the Greeks.

He stayed with the volunteers to fight, and ordered the rest to retreat. The Persians won this battle and moved towards Athens.

The Athenians abandoned the city. Old people, children, and women were moved to neighboring islands, and the men went on ships.

The battle took place in the Strait of Salamis. Persian ships entered the strait at dawn. The Athenians immediately attacked the enemy's leading ships. Persian ships were heavy and clumsy. The triremes easily bypassed them. The Greeks won. Ruler Xerxes was forced to retreat to Asia Minor.

Afterwards the battles of Mycale and Plataea took place. According to legend, the battles took place on the same day, and the Greeks emerged victorious in both.

Military operations continued for a long time, until 449 BC. e. This year, peace was concluded, as a result of which all Greek cities located in Asia Minor received independence.

The Greeks emerged victorious. Their troops were few in number but well trained. In addition, the main reasons for the Greco-Persian wars were the desire of the Greek people to regain freedom and independence, which supported their morale.

Began at the end of the 6th century BC. e. and continued until 338 BC. e. This was the period of greatest prosperity for Greek cities (polises). However, the heyday was preceded ordeal. In history it is referred to as the Greco-Persian Wars. The war lasted intermittently from 500 to 449 BC. e. It united the Greek city-states and ended in complete victory over the huge Persian power.

Beginning of the Greco-Persian War

In the 6th century BC. e. Persia turned into a powerful and warlike state, ruled by the Achaemenid dynasty. Behind short term the Persians conquered Media, Lydia, Egypt, and Babylonia. In Asia Minor they established dominance over the Greek city-states located there. After this, King Darius I turned his attention to the Balkan Peninsula. There the rich cities of Hellas were surrounded by green gardens.

The Persians organized their first big campaign against the Greeks in 492 BC. e. But it ended unsuccessfully for the invaders. After crossing the Hellespont, the Persian fleet was scattered by a storm. Almost 300 ships were lost. The commander of the Persian army, commander Mardonius, ordered to return back.

As for the Greek cities, in the face of a military threat they forgot their differences and united to defend their homeland. The core of the military alliance was Sparta. The Spartan kings also took command of the united army. Since war was expected both on land and at sea, many new warships were built. Athens made a major contribution to the construction of ships.

Marathon runner rushes to announce the victory of the Greeks

Meanwhile, the Persians in 490 BC. e. organized a second trip. This time the troops were led by such generals as Artaphernes and Datis. The invaders crossed the Aegean Sea and landed on the eastern shore of Attica.

Here on the Marathon plain in 490 BC. e. The famous Battle of Marathon took place. On the Greek side, the Athenians and Plataeans took part in it. They were commanded by the commander Miltiades.

The Greek army defeated the Persians, and a messenger was sent to Athens with good news. He ran 40 km without stopping, ran into a city street, told his fellow citizens that the Greek army had won, and fell to the ground dead. Since those distant times, runners have competed in marathon distance.

The main stage of the Greco-Persian War

After the victory at Marathon, the cities of Hellas received a 10-year respite. It was during this period that a strong navy was built, which later played a big role in the victory over the Persians.

The next military expansion began in 480 BC. e. The Persian army was led by King Xerxes himself (486-465 BC), who was the son of Darius I. The aggressor army was huge. In addition to the Persians, it also included military units of the conquered countries. Ancient historian Herodotus, from whose words we know all the details about the Greco-Persian wars, estimated the hordes of Xerxes at 100 thousand soldiers. These include infantrymen, horsemen, and war chariot crews.

The Persian king also had a huge navy under his command. The Egyptians and Phoenicians built ships for him. This entire land and sea armada struck terror into the hearts of the ancient Greeks. Those policies that were located on the coast of Asia Minor expressed their submission and allocated military units to participate in the campaign against the inhabitants Balkan Peninsula. But Artemisia, who reigned in Caria, herself came to Xerxes and added 5 warships to his fleet.

The mighty army crossed the Hellespont and ended up in the northern Balkan lands. The frightened local peoples did not resist, and the Persians moved along the coast to Greece. They were accompanied by sea by a fleet that stayed near the shore.

In a quick march, the invaders passed Thrace, left Macedonia behind, crossed Northern Greece and found themselves near the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae. Behind it the lands of Central Greece opened up.

Three hundred Spartans die defending their homeland

The feat of three hundred Spartans

By that time, the Greeks had not yet managed to assemble an allied army. Only 5 thousand soldiers concentrated near the passage. They were commanded by the Spartan king Leonidas. All these warriors did not flinch before the enemy hordes, but decided to fight to the end. They built a wall of stones, blocking off Thermopylae, and took up defensive positions behind it.

Xerxes ordered a camp to be set up next to the pass and sent scouts. They reported that only a few thousand soldiers were opposing the Persian army. This news made the king laugh. He sent envoys, and they invited a handful of defenders to lay down their arms. To this King Leonidas replied: “Come and take it.”

The ambassadors, wanting to frighten the daring Spartan, said: “Our arrows and darts will block the sun for you.” To these words, Leonid grinned and replied: “Well, then we will fight in the shadows.”

The Persians began their assault on Thermopylae. But all their attacks were repulsed. The narrow passage did not allow the invaders to deploy their full power. The entire land in front of the wall erected by the Greeks was littered with the dead bodies of the aggressors. This infuriated Xerxes, but he could not do anything about the people defending their homeland.

It shows how the Persians go behind the Greeks along a mountain path

Help came unexpectedly. There was a traitor in Leonid's army. His name was Ephialtes. He sneaked into the Persian camp on the third day of fighting and reported that he knew about a narrow mountain path along which one could bypass Thermopylae. The traitor volunteered to show the trail for a large monetary reward.

The Persian king happily agreed and sent the best warriors, who were called “immortals,” with Ephialtes. This detachment went to the rear of the Greeks. And when King Leonidas saw the Persians descending from the mountains in the rear of his army, he immediately gave the command to retreat. The Greek army left, and the king himself remained with a small detachment of Spartan warriors. There were only 300 of them. These people continued to defend Thermopylae, and all died in unequal battle. Together with them, Tsar Leonid gave his life for freedom and his homeland. Subsequently, the Greeks erected a monument with the figure of a lion at this place.

Further course of hostilities

After the capture of Thermopylae, the Persian army found itself in Central Greece. The allied Greek army retreated to the Isthmus of Corinth, thereby protecting the Peloponnese and Sparta. As for Athens, they were abandoned by both the troops and the local residents. The latter moved to the island of Salamis and from there watched their city burn, set on fire by the invaders.

Meanwhile, the war continued, and the allied forces placed all their hope in the fleet. Greek commanders decided to give battle to the enemy fleet in the Strait of Salamis. They knew about all the shoals and underwater currents, so they positioned their ships well.

Plan sea ​​battle in the Strait of Salamis

The Persian ships were heavy, and upon entering the strait, they began to run aground. Therefore, they turned out to be extremely vulnerable to the lighter and more nimble Greek ships. As a result, the Persian fleet was defeated. The defeat of the flotilla occurred in front of Xerxes, who watched the battle from a high hill.

Queen Artemisia distinguished herself in this battle. Her ships skillfully resisted the Greek ones. And the ship, on which the queen herself was, rammed several Greek triremes and safely escaped pursuit. Xerxes, observing this, exclaimed: “For me, men have become women, and women have turned into men.”

The victorious outcome of the Battle of Salamis inspired the entire allied Greek army. As for the Persians, having lost the bulk of the fleet, they were under the threat of being cut off from their bases located in Asia Minor.

All this prompted Xerxes to leave the army and return to Persia. He left the commander Mardonius in his favour. Thoth in 479 BC. e. lost the battle of Plataea. At the same time, Mardonius himself died. And almost immediately after this defeat, the Persian fleet suffered another defeat at Cape Micale. These two serious victories became a turning point, and the Greeks began to inflict one defeat after another on the Persians.

Greek and Persian ships

The final stage of hostilities

Victories were victories, and the Greco-Persian wars continued for another 30 long years. But the theater of military operations moved to the Aegean Sea and Asia Minor. There, Greek troops won several serious victories. They captured the coastal part of Thrace, several islands in the Aegean Sea, as well as the city of Byzantium.

In 469 BC. e. The Persians suffered another major defeat at the Eurymedon River. But even after that fighting continued for another 20 years. They either faded or intensified until, in the battle of the city of Salamis in Cyprus in 449 BC. e. Greek troops did not win a major victory.

After this, the opponents signed the Peace of Callias. According to it, the Persian kingdom lost its possessions in the Bosporus (Northern Black Sea region), the Hellespont and the Aegean Sea. In addition, all Greek city-states in Asia Minor gained independence. Thus ended a long war that lasted half a century. The most powerful power in western Eurasia admitted itself defeated. And the winner was a small but freedom-loving people who inhabited the fertile lands of the Balkan Peninsula.

After the Greco-Persian wars, the Greek city-states flourished. Athens stood out among them. The rule of democracy was established in this city. People's assemblies began to play a decisive role, at which the common people began to decide the most important political issues.