We can’t talk about the battle Of Thermopylae, without placing it in the historical, political, geographical and social environment that was lived in the IV-VI centuries BC, and that were the triggers of the so-called Medical Wars. The conflicts between the Archemenid Empire of Persia and the Greek City-States resulted in a series of confrontations and military actions, the so-called First Medical War in the year 490 BC and the Second Medical War between 480-479 BC, where we must place the Battle of Thermopylae. In this article, we will study the events that started these conflicts, who intervened and what were the consequences, let’s begin to reveal the true story of The Battle of Thermopylae.
The Battle of Thermopylae | Background
Is he conflict that pitted the impressive Persian Empire against the Greek City States, They were called Medical Wars, they took place in the V century BC. c.
If we go back to the origin, we have to talk about the Persian expansion over the easternmost parts of Greece. The Persian Wars begin during the reign of Cyrus II, the great. Ionia was then under Persian rule. The trigger was in the Ionian revolt against the region of Lidiaunder Persian rule, even destroying its capital, which provoked the wrath of the Persian king Darius I.
Darío I, decided to punish both the Ionians and the Greek polis that had given them support, and among them was also Athens. This is the origin of the Persian Wars, whose name is a reference to the Medo Persian Empire, conquered by Cyrus II. The Persian Wars are divided into three different periods.
- First Medical War (492–490 BC) – Battle of Marathon
- Second Medical War (492–479 BC) – Battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea
- Third Medical War (479-449 BC) – Battle of the Eurymedon River
The Battle of Thermopylae | The Second Medical War begins
The Second Medical War, it’s really about the second invasion What is the empire trying to do? Persian against Ancient Greece. This invasion was led by Xerxes I, who came to power after the death of his father Darius I, and emerged as revenge for the defeat of the First Medical War.
When Xerxes I came to power, he spent his first years of reign suppress riots that happened both in Egypt and in Babylon, to later focus on his revenge and his obsession with attacking the Greeks again.
sent to Greece a series of ambassadors, distributing them to all the cities ask them for land and water, both symbols of submission. Many of the Hellenic Islands and cities accepted, but others totally distrusted, these cities were none other than Sparta and Athens.
Cities that responded to the ambassadors’ request for water and land with the well-known phrase “You will have all the land and water you want”, pushing them into a well. Something that angered the Persian king even more, taking it as a definitive declaration of intent.
in sparta nevertheless, these events of insolence, they filled the gods with wrath, sending dire omens. So the Spartan people were summoned to ask for volunteers to calm the wrath of the gods.
Two people responded to this request, they were two wealthy Spartans who offered to surrender to the Persian king. Xerxes I tried to bend them by making them prostrate before him, to which the Spartan emissaries resisted prostrating but managed to give him the messages that the Lacedaemonians had entrusted to them, which was none other than to take them to avenge the assassinated ambassadors in Sparta. Xerje did not want to take revenge on them since the misfortune was greater punishment for them.
The Battle of Thermopylae | Battle Development and Tactics
Considered one of the greatest battles in history, it was an immense war force heading towards Greek lands.
The Persians were preparing for a major invasion, while the Greeks banded together to hold them off. After the episode with oracle of delphiSparta and her army could not leave, since the council of Sparta advised against it to the king, but this, che managed to gather about 300 soldiersthe bravest, strongest and most loyal that were in Sparta and He left for Thermopylae.
The oracle of Delphi came to warn its king, Leonidas, of the dangers he would suffer if he decided to go to war, assuring him that he would not return, but this was not a sufficient obstacle for Leonidas, who went to war where he was convinced. that he would return with his shield or on it, it was going to be a life or death battle.
The Greeks had a great general named T.emestocles, who devised a great strategy for the greek army. The 300 Spartans along with more hoplites belonging to the different Greek polis, would block the roads leading to Greece, thus stopping the Persian army by land. the greek fleet made up almost entirely of Athenians, they would delay the Persian ships at Artemisium.
It is not known for sure how many forces the Persian army had, since the historical data we have come from Greek historians, especially from herodotusand they seem to be exaggerated, even saying that the Persian forces were far superior in number, 200,000 Persians, mostly slaves, compared to the 7,000 hoplites of the different Greek polis.
Both the Spartan army and their Greek allies were able to hold off the Persian forces long enough. The Persians had underestimated the power of the Greeks, their armies were better trained and better equipped and above all better motivated, while the Persian army was made up mostly of slaves, the Greek armies were made up of free men, who loved their land and were willing to die for it.
The Persians had the advantage of numbers, they were large armies, but this advantage vanished as they passed through Thermopylae, since this is a very narrow pass, in which the number of soldiers, far from being an advantage, increased. can become an inconvenience. The Spartans of Leonidas, however, were men born to fight and die in war.
When the Persian armies approached the gorge of Thermopylae, all the hoplites of all the city-states of Greece, those of Corinth, Thebes, Akkadians, etc., were on them. However, the Spartans remained in the rear in an early part of the offensive.
the hoplites with better armor, defense and weaponry decimated the Persian infantry, but due to the large number of soldiers that made up the Persian army, the Greek forces soon began to notice the fatigue of the fight and weaken their formation. That’s when they went into battle the 300 Spartans, that they were soldiers well educated and trained while the rest of the Greek forces withdrew to the rear.
The combat was really bloody, the Spartans had a weapon that the Persians lacked, and it was unit, the spartan army was the elite of the army, plus they all knew each other or were brothers, cousins or just neighbors, but that unit kept the formation more active and vital. The Spartan army did not stop getting rid of enemies while they barely suffered casualties.
When the Persians realized the disaster they were suffering, they sent their elite soldiers, called The immortalsname they received because of the rapid change in their forces, when a soldier of the so-called immortals fell in battle, he was quickly replaced by another soldier, what they demonstrated was to be superior in number but not in fighting skills, so their destiny was to die at the hands of the Spartan soldiers.
The Persians continued to fall wave after wave, their arrows were useless, their number was not enough to weaken the will of the Spartans. This is how the Spartans managed to hold out for almost two days, validating the motto that they repeated endlessly to cheer themselves up.
“If you were tired it didn’t matter, you are a warrior, if you were wounded it didn’t matter, you are a warrior and the Spartan warrior only fights”
All seemed lost for the Persians, but an event changed the course, a greek named Ephialtes, with a great desire for notoriety and to get rich, mainly, he betrayed his compatriots telling the Persian king Xerxes, a path by which he could enter from the rear and surround the Spartans.
The Greeks, when they learned of the betrayal and that Leonidas’ army would be attacked from both sides, gave up the battle. The king Leonidas, ordered the return home of all the Greeks, in order to avoid more totally unnecessary losses, staying 700 Thesians, the 300 Spartans and 400 Thebans. The Greeks surrounded, fought from the widest area of the pass, since the main weapons were spears, and in the wider areas they were much more effective, until all their spears were broken, having to continue the fight with the sword or even with your own hands.
The Thebans were the first to surrendermany of them waited for the Persians to approach to attend to their request for surrender, to attack them with their swords, while the rest of the Greek ranks continued to battle, the Greeks were forced to retreat to more narrow areas where a rain of arrows hovered against them, finishing them all one by one.
At the death of Leonidas, the soldiers who were still alive, went to protect the body of their king, to prevent the Persians mutilated his bodyThus showing their respect and admiration for their king, they defended his body to the death. When all the Spartans had died, King Xerxes ordered Leonidas’ head to be cut off and nailed to a pike.
It is believed that in battle they reached die 10,000 Persians, I miss this which seriously undermined the morale of the army, as they realized that Greece was not going to give up easily and that they would defend their land to the end.
Sparta had an identification system to count battle casualties. It was a branch that they split in half, on both halves, they wrote the same sign or symbol, then one half was hung from the wrist and the other half was left in a clay pot. If he came out of the battle victorious, he was the one in charge of collecting his other half of the branch, then the branches that remained in the vessels were the real casualties of the battle. In this case 300 of these branches were never collected.
The Battle of Thermopylae | Aftermath of the Battle
Following the defeat of the Greek army on land, the fleet retreated south after the Battle of Artemis. The Persians began to advance towards Athens, while the Greeks attempted to fortify the sensitive Isthmus of Corinth with a supporting fleet. Themistocles managed to win a crucial battle in the battle of salamis which would be the one that would force the Persian troops to withdraw to their domains in Asia. The Persian invasion ended the following year, following Greece’s victory at the Battle of Plataea.
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