But all in all what most historians debate is not why Leonidas stayed but whether or not his decision to stay was the overall right choice. My perspective on the situation is that Leonidas’ decision to stay was not the right choice. I postulate this because the whole goal was to protect the pass so that the Persians could not reach Athens, but after the defeat of the Spartans the Persians pushed forward and burned Athens to the ground. So in essence the last stand of the Spartans was pointless because the Persians completed their goal of the ransacking of Athens. Themistocles was the true hero; he evacuated Athens before the Persians came and defeated the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis, which forced the Persians to flee back to Asia.
Agesilaus objected to Leotychidas' reign, saying that he was a mere bastard; the prince replied by saying that there was an oracle that warned against a 'lame king.' The debate was concluded when Lysander, Sparta's best commander and a personal friend of Agesilaus, declared that the (lysander, 400b.c). So, in 400, Agesilaus was accepted as king by the Spartans. Lysander was the proponent of a militant and aggressive foreign policy, and from now on Agesilaus had to follow this policy too. In the year of his accession, he sent general Thibron to what is now Turkey in order to protect the Greek towns against oppression by the Persian satrap Tissaphernes.
The story begins 40 years after 323 BC, around 283 BC, with Ptolemy I Soter, who narrates throughout the film. We see Alexander's daily life and the strained relationship between his parents. Alexander grows up with his mother Olympias and his tutor Aristotle, where he finds interest in love, honour, music, exploration, poetry and military combat. His relationship with his father is destroyed when Philip marries Attalus's niece, Eurydice. After Philip is assassinated, Alexander becomes king of Macedonia.
Alexander the Great, son of Philip II of Macedonia, was groomed from an early age to rule. Philip II brought him along on various military campaigns and as Alexander grew older he was given control of the cavalry at the Battle of Chaeronea. When Alexander was 20 years old, his father was assassinated thus leaving Alexander to take the role of king. He secured Macedonia’s frontlines, put down the Greek rebellion, then set his eyes on the rest of the world. Alexander started his campaign for the world with 37,000 men, 5,000 of which were cavalry.
It all started when King Darius decided to conquer the tiny Greek city states of mainland Greece. King Darius sent messengers to ask for presents of Greek earth and water, which would be a sign that the Greeks would accept rule by the Persians. Instead, the Greeks threw the messengers in wells and pits, and told them that was their earth and water. King Darius was furious and sent soldiers and cavalry by ship to Greece, and they assembled themselves on the plain of Marathon. Miltiades, a great general for Greece, convinced other Greek commanders that the Greeks should fight the Persians at Marathon.
After King Cyrus of Persia overthrew the Median rulers in 550 BCE, the Persians successfully extended their realm in conquering Lydia (546 BCE), eventually pushing their boarders further eastward by crossing to the boarders of Macedonia in 513 BCE (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012). The defending Greek city-states were not united in their political systems,
In 331 B.C 1 Alexander defeated the Persian king at the battle of Gaugamela. Discuss the preparations made by Darius and Alexander before the battle, the tactics used by each commander and the reasons for Alexander’s success. What were the immediate outcomes for Alexander? The Battle of Gaugemela was ultimately one of the turning events in Alexander the Great’s short but tumultuous life. His decisive victory did not just come down to pure luck, however; both Alexander and his Persian opponent Darius had painstakingly made preparations in order to ensure that his numerical superiority could be used to its full advantage.
After the Death of Cyrus, his son Cambyses took power and was later succeeded by Darius the Great who was the first to step into European land, the kings of Persia all had a role in conquering more than there predecessor and that’s exactly what Darius had in mind. Consequently this had Darius order his army to capture Scythia forwarding through Thrace. The Campaign was a tragedy for the Persians; the Persians were to retreat all the way to Thrace, leaving around 80,000 soldiers with the
When assessing the individuals during the pentacontaetia, it seems logical to start with Miltiades. During this time, Miltiades was the Athenian general, and he made his greatest contribution to the formation of the Athenian Empire by his efforts in the battle of Marathon. This battle was a key part in the formation of the empire as it proved the Ionian States that Athens could defeat the Persians without the aid of Sparta (however the advancing army did play an indirect role in the battle). Miltiades commanded his 10,000 Athenians and Plateans (Herodotus) and successfully stopped the first Persian invasion. It is said by Plutarch that Miltiades enjoyed the highest prestige from the battle, and this would have increased Athenian reputation among the Greek states (it is important to note that one factor of the formation of e empire was that the Ionian States chose Athens), and would thus have made them more inclined to choose Athens as the hegemon, and allowing them to create their empire.
Leonidas was another leader who contributed greatly to the eventual outcome of the Persian wars. Again, the Greeks were outnumbered and the choice was made to leave Athens and fight at another more suitable location. Although it was not Leonidas who chose the location of the battle, and although the battle of Thermopylae was a subsequent failure (Greek loss), the actions of Leonidas allowed for the success at the battle to come. As the Greek forces had been betrayed by a local sheep-herder (Ephialtes), Leonidas made the remarkable decision to stay with his 300 Spartan soldiers and fight at a wall remaining from a previous battle. Leonidas’ valour and courage is legendary.