Herodotus accounts of the Corinth assembly speak of Themistocles pursuit of unity. Despite whole unity not achieved, the Greek force was extremely disciplined. Which allowed them to fight and defeat the Persians as a unified force? The Persians did not have unity- Herodotus accounts that in the battle of salamis- “Artemisia was chased by an Athenian trireme…she rammed one of her friends”. Morale The morale of the Greek soldiers in comparison to the Persians contributed to their victory.
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.
Pericles was a very strategic leader and they decided to start another war by going to the source, Sparta. xx. Spartans won the war simple because of the bad Athenian decisions. The Athenians thought too high about themselves, so they thought that they could just go far and conquer. 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 Spartans pretended to flee from the Persian shields only to turn at the right moment and inflict serious losses on the Persian army. The Spartans maintained their supremacy in warfare until the battle of Leuktra in 371 BC, which was a major factor in the decline of Sparta.The Spartans were defeated in the Battle of Lauctra by the great general and strategist Epaminondas of Thebes. His tactic of using and echelon formation with the leading side loaded up with his best troops and in very deep formation allowed him to break the unbreakable, the Spartan hoplite line crumbled. G.L. Cawkwell, a modern historian, argues that Sparta's defeat a Leauctra highlights the failure of its social system - its narrowness and emphasis on
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.
To what extent was Themistocles’ contribution a key factor in bringing about a Greek victory in the Persian Wars (480-479 BC) Themistocles played a crucial role in bringing about a Greek victory in the Persian Wars from 480-479 BC. A Greek victory was achieved in 480 BC at the Battle of Salamis due to the superior tactics used by Themistocles, both during the battle and the naval policy introduced prior. Themistocles was ‘the most intelligent general [at Salamis],’ and was ‘a man of intellect, foresight and cunning.’ It was largely due to these attributes that Themistocles enforced great tactical decisions making him a key factor in bringing about Greek victory in the Persian Wars (480-479 BC). Themistocles was an Athenian politician and naval strategist who was the creator of the Athenian sea power. Following the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, Greece underwent great development in an attempt to become a stronger power and eliminate Persian threat.
The Athenian ownership of the Delos treasury, suppression of revolts as well as the challis decree marks the transformation of the delian league into the Athenian empire. The role of the delian league was to protect those Greek states which had already revolted from Persia and to liberate those still under Persian rule. The league was very active in overthrowing Persian power and consolidating the role of Athens as hegemon’s in the Greek world. It was clear that the alliance was unequal from the beginning because, the leadership was Athenian, they had the largest fleet and they were also superior in resources. This was a result from their successes in the Persian wars, in particular the battle of Salamis.
These critics, including Thucydides, believed that “the democracy had… driven them to sink more and more resources in a losing proposition” because they didn’t want to fail and in turn, an oligarchy was formed in June 411 8 But ultimately this same oligarchy disbanded, was replaced by another form of government, and eventually democracy prevailed. Democracy won out in the end for Athens which caused the other Greek city-states to want this type of government and look to Athens to help them. This proves that Athens was overall the schoolmaster of Greece, and utilized an advanced system to govern their people, despite critics’ complaints about
After defeating the Persians for the second time, the Greeks decided that they needed to form a league to promote the mutual protection of Greece. All members who joined the League were to pay a fee to help defray costs. The treasury of the League was located on the island of Delos, for which the league was named. At the time of the Greeks were so determined to make the defensive alliance work, that they sealed the pact by throwing a piece of iron into the sea, and pledged to support each other until it rose back to the surface. Pericles was the most prominent politician in Athens from 461 until 429 BC.
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.