Following the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, Greece underwent great development in an attempt to become a stronger power and eliminate Persian threat. Themistocles was a key factor in contributing to these developments, as he was leader of the Athenians after the Battle of Marathon. According to Herodotus, ‘Themistocles believed that Athens future lay on the sea as a trading power.’ Therefore, the contributions of Themistocles were largely relevant to the growth of Athens as a sea power, which proved to be the key reason for a Greek victory in the Persian Wars to come. Prior to the Battle of Marathon (in 493 BC and later), Themistocles ‘suggested fortifying the Piraeus peninsula, which had 3 harbours.’ The Athenians could establish a citadel overlooking the 3 harbours, which previously, were open and indefensible. This motion however was interrupted by the battle and was completed after Persian defeat at Plataea in 479 BC.
ESSAY- Account for the victory of the Greeks from 480 to 479 The Greek victory in the Persian Wars from 480-479BC can be directed towards many reasons. In contrast to the Persian forces, factors such as unity, leadership, knowledge of the land, tactics and communication exemplify how the Athenians were superior in fighting, which consolidated their victory in the battles from 480 to 479BC. Unity Scholar Mullins beliefs that the Greek unity achieved was a factor in her victory over Persia. The congress of Corinth in 481BC was a vital step towards the promotion of Greek strength. Herodotus accounts of the Corinth assembly speak of Themistocles pursuit of unity.
The Spartans were really close to them on the other hand, this led to them having an open shot to Athens with little in their way. The Athenians had ships, but that didn’t stop Lysander from get into Athens and ending the war. xxii. The conflict after the war was mainly caused by the amount of power that the Spartans had. It caused Persia to help Athens for freedom and it also caused the city-states to revolt from Spartan control.
Themistocles played an essential role in the Persian wars and was a key factor to Greek victory in these wars. He made this impact through his pre-war efforts, his leadership skills and his intelligence in tactics which is shown during the battle of Salamis. During his pre-war years, Themistocles came to the realisation that if Athens was to suceed in it's war efforts against Persia then it would need to greatly focus on the improval of it's naval force. Unsurprisingly, however, most Athenians disagreed with this idea as it would result in a weakened land military force and less money to the citizens of Athens. In order to persuade his fellow Athenians to support his idea of a strengthened naval force, Themistocles resorted to trickery.
The Spartan King ruled supremacy over his one hundred Spartan bodyguards. In fact, being part of the Kings squad held great honor and meant that they were as what they would call a true Spartan. During a war, only one of the kings went into battle while the other stayed in Sparta. This is evidently told by Herodotus as he states that this ‘conflict between Kings Cleomenes and Demaratus is what finalized this decision in a time around 507 BC. Following on, the King would generalize and plan out military campaigns.
| Essay #1 | History 210 Section 02 | | Victoria Slade | 10/2/2012 | | Although there were times of strife and confusion among the Athenians in fifth century B.C.E., Pericles managed to control the chaos and allow Athens to grow culturally and politically as the greatest empire in all of Greece. Periclean Athens was, in fact, the schoolmaster of Greece, as they taught through their culture, their politics, and finally their ideals. The Athenians during this time taught by example and excelled in these areas so much that the remaining areas of Greece, and even the modern Western world were influenced and learned from this great city. In Athens, their culture was refined by this point in time with their individualized dramatic and visual arts. These aspects of their culture were vital to their identity.
Now just like in the first war Sparta couldn’t do it alone; so they asked the Persians to help conquer Athens. They asked their own enemy for help. This truly was a good example of history repeating itself. Mainly because Spartans defeated the Persians on land and Athenians defeated them in the sea. This time Spartans defeated the Athenians on land and the Persians defeated the Athenians in the sea.
Alexander however is the one who is most recognized due to his military achievements. From early on Alexander’s military prowess could be seen with the destruction of Thebes in order to control rebellion. In 334 BC he crossed to Asia Minor with 32,000 infantry and 5,100 cavalry. He quickly took over Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine while pushing back the Persians. He later marched into Egypt where he was welcomed as a savior.
One of the decrees’ provisions stated that surplus from minting was to be subjected into a fund, which was most likely used in an era of economical strain, and anyone who objected this would be imperiled to the death penalty. It’s through this coinage system, one of the first of its era for Greece, that Athens was able to effectively maintain its control over their allies and dominate from an economical point of view. Furthermore, Athens geographically coastal location was easily accessible for the construction of the way station, this was able to better Athens in terms of trade throughout the Aegean, therefore enabling the Athenians to successfully and effectively maintain control over its allies. It also presented the Athenians the opportunity to trade a certain type of marble extracted from Penteli which was renowned in the Greek world for its high quality, as well as silver coins, which, in places that didn’t have the need for coins, was melted back to its clump state and used for trading. Through this convenient location, Athens was further given another way to assert it’s effectiveness in controlling the other city-states or allies, as having such a readily available Athenian port was crucial in the trading between other civilizations, including that of Egypt, Syria and Palestine (as well as the rest of the Persian Empire) through naval transportations.
Pericles was the most prominent politician in Athens from 461 until 429 BC. He encouraged his fellow Athenians to use the tribute money the League collected to underwrite the development of Greek culture. During this time Athens was also known as the “school of Hellas.” Pericles at the time was more of a tyranny than a limited democracy. Sadly, Pericles was a victim of the plague that swept Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. During the second Persian war,