Persian War

1. Persian War Clash of the Mighty

2. As the Greeks found themselves in need of more land, especially the poorer polis of Sparta, they began to establish colonies on the Greek islands and Asia Minor. Sparta sometimes used violence to capture new lands, but often they purchased the land instead. • This colonization created further competition between the Greek city-states, especially Sparta and Athens, who didn’t like each other anyway. • As the Persian Empire expanded, the Greek colonies on Asia Minor were taken over by the Persians. • Athens helped their colonies rebel against the Persians. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and only managed to anger the Persians. The Persians decided to attack mainland Greece to keep them from interfering in Asia Minor again. Greek Colonization Leads to Conflict

3. 490 BC-Persia king Darias lands 20,000 troops on the plains of Marathon, a flat grassy plain close to Athens. The Persians waited for the Athenians to attack them on the open plains. • Athenian generals knew their 10,000 troops could not defeat the larger Persian army on open ground, so they stayed in the hills surrounding Marathon. • The Persian general got tired of waiting and decided to load his troops back up on ships and sail to attack Athens directly. He decided to load his cavalry on to boats first. What were the effects of this decision? • What is a marathon and why do we call it that? Battle of Marathon

4. To avenge his father’s defeat by Athens and capture the great wealth of the Greek city-states, Xerxes launched a new invasion of Greece in 480 BC. He sent in 180,000 troops supported by countless warships and supply vessels. • Although the Greeks usually fought against each other, when faced with the overwhelming Persian force, they decided to fight together. Sparta sent the most soldiers, and one of their kings, Leonidas, served as commander of the Greek troops. Sparta did not have a navy, so Athens provided the navy, led by the Athenian general Themistocles. • Why didn’t Sparta have a navy? Persian Strikes Again

5. Themistocles decided the best strategy to fight Persia was to cut off their supplies on the sea, but the Athenian navy was not ready yet, so they needed to stall Persia. He decided the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae was the best place to stall the Persians. • 7,000 Greek troops fought valiantly against the Persians, holding their ground admirably until a traitor showed the Persians a narrow mountain pass around the Greeks. With the Persians now on both sides, trapping the Greeks, Leonidas sent most of the Greek troops away. He and several hundred other Spartan troops stayed and fought the Persians against overwhelming odds. All of the Spartans died, but they were successful in holding off the Persians long enough for the Athenians to get together a 200 ship navy. Battle of Thermopylae

6. At Salamis, near Athens, the Athenian navy defeated the Persians in the narrow channel of Salamis. • Greeks ships were smaller, faster, and easier to maneuver in the narrow waterway. • At Plataea, all the major Greek city-states united together to fight the Persians. • The Greeks were better trained, as well as had full-body armor and longer spears, which gave them an advantage, even against the larger Persian army. Battles of Salamis & Plataea send Persia packing

7. Their defeat at the hands of the Greeks, combined with internal problems like too-high taxes and corrupt, selfish kings, would eventually lead to the downfall of the Persian Empire. • In 334 BC the Macedonian Greek king, Alexander the Great, defeated the Persians without much difficulty. The Persian Empire falls