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The first Persian War in 490 B.C. was a brief affair its objective was to punish the Athenians for their participation in a raid in Asia Minor. The second Persian war between 480-479 BC was a very different proposition. Persia's king, Xerxes, planned to lead a huge expedition to conquer all the Greek states. The Greeks formed the Hellenic League, which included Sparta and its allied states. The remaining Greeks decided to join Xerxes.
This paper will firstly give the background information regarding the events which led to the second Persian war. Secondly it will discuss the reasons why the Persians failed to win the second Persian War despite their numerical superiority. In 480/79 BC (the second invasion) the Greeks were victorious over the Persians for several reasons including superior arms and armour playing a decisive role in significant battles. Furthermore a greater need, and therefore a greater desire, for victory drove the Greeks to become united and put their differences aside to defend their homeland which previously was unseen in Greek history. However, in the second invasions it was clear that the deciding element in the Greek victory was their superior leadership, both in terms of battle tactics and overall war strategy. Finally, nature was another factor that played a role in the defeat of the Persians in the second war.

The Persian Empire under Dareios and his son Xerxes tried several times to invade and conquer the Greek city-states in the days of Athens and Sparta. The Persians were successful in invading but never conquered Greece. The Greeks won, despite overwhelming odds against them, time after time. After the defeat in the first Persian War in the hands of the Athenians, Dareios vowed to get revenge. However, at the time there were other issues that had to be dealt with. Other parts of the Persian empire such as Egypt had revolted and need to be dealt with. While he was in Persia preparing for an expedition to deal...