There have been countless battles and wars in the ancient world that have astonished historians. Thousands of bloody, inhuman battles that were fought by opposing sides. None of which have astonished historians like the battle of Marathon between the Greeks and Persians. “The battle of Marathon is one of history's most famous military engagements”(Stern, 11) according to William Stearns based off of Herodotus account. The war between the Persians and the Greeks was an extremely unique war for its time period. No military force had ever been brought together larger than what the Persians brought together. No military had ever trained and valued war as much as the Greeks had. Two runaway trains were headed right towards one another. One of the …show more content…
The Greeks were fighting on their own land. Fighting for their home. This made the war mean a tremendous amount more to the Greeks than it did to the Persians. Many of the Persian soldiers had been forced to fight at Marathons while the Greeks were ready to die to defend their homeland. On the other hand, One of the major disadvantages for the Greeks during the Battle of Marathon was that the Spartans were not around to fight the battle. The most well trained military in the ancient world wasn’t able to arrive at Marathon fast enough to help fight during this battle. Unlike Athens which was a mere 28 miles North of Marathon, Sparta was over 200 miles away from Marathon(Fosten, 24). This called for at least a 3 day journey to Marathon from Sparta. Also, the Spartans were engaged in a festival when the battle had broken out. They promised to send help after their festival, the “Carnie” ended. This festival was extremely important to the Spartans. The Spartans thought that if they left it early, the gods would in turn punish them on the battlefield. This meant that the Spartans would have no factor in the Battle of Marathon(Stern,
There were 300 Spartans commanded by their king, Leonidas and 6,000 soldiers from other city-states against the Persian army of 100,000 men. The small Greek force held their position for two days till a Greek traitor told Xerxes of another path that was used by local people. Using this pass, the Persians passed through the mountains in secret and trapped the Greeks from the front and behind. On the third day, King Leonidas chose to stay to fight to the end and told the rest of the city-states to run while they still could but the Spartan army would die till the end. Although the Battle of Thermopylae was lost it showed that the Spartans were not afraid of the Persians and brought hope to the rest of the Greek city-states.
They believed by training their young at such a young age that they would be the strongest military force there was. (Document H) School was very different for the children of Athens, they did not only educate them in military but in the arts. At the age of 18, Athenians began military training while the Spartans started exceptionally sooner. By doing so, Athenians were prepared for both
The Battle of Bull Run, the principal real conflict in the Civil War, finished in a Confederate triumph. It smashed illusions that either side would win rapidly or effectively. The fight came to fruition when President Lincoln requested General Irvin McDowell to strike Confederate powers at Mananas Junction, as a stage toward taking Richmond. He needed to move rapidly against the foe, trusting a conclusive triumph would suppress the resistance. Assaulting at a young hour in the morning, Union powers initially appeared to be winning, yet the Confederates checked their development.
If the Union won at The First Battle of Bull Run The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical events that occurred during the Battle of Bull Run. Although it is known that the Confederate Army defeated the Union Army in July 1861, I believe the battle would have ended differently if not for valuable intelligence that was given to the Confederates during the beginning of the battle. The information the Confederates received helped them redirect their efforts and defeat the Union Army at Henry Hill.
The first major battle that we will look back on is the Battle of Fort Sumter. This battle took place at Fort Sumter, and began on April 12th, 1861. This battle signified the beginning of the war, and was also where the first shots were fired between both sides of the war. During the battle, the Union was being commanded by Robert Anderson, and the Confederates were being commanded by P. G. T. Beauregard. The battle went on for 33 hours and lead the Union army to surrender.
In Herodotus’ Histories, Tigranes teasingly says, “Zounds, Mardonios, what manner of men are these that you have brought us to fight withal? ‘Tis not for money they contend but for glory of achievement!’. Tigranes makes this offhand comment, but it implies a difference between Spartan and Persian culture. Xerxes understands the implications of the comment itself and reacts badly to it. During battle, Xerxes finds out that the Spartans’ difference in values makes the Spartans better warriors.
Warfare played a major role in the history of ancient Greece. Wars and skirmishes between rival city-states, Greek leagues and empires, and foreign threats such as Persia greatly shaped the way the ancient Greeks conducted warfare and politics, also greatly influencing the way modern scholars view the history of Greece. Hoplites were the mainstay of ancient Greek armies for several centuries and the way they fought characterised many of the Greek city-states throughout their history. This essay aims to outline the way the hoplites of Classical Athens fought, and how these modes of combat fit in with the prevailing Athenian attitude of andreia, or manly courage. Evidence from ancient and modern sources will be used to evaluate the way hoplites
Sometime around the year 425 B.C., the writer and geographer Herodotus published his magnum opus: a long account of the Greco-Persian Wars that he called The Histories. In the introductory lines of Herodotus of Halicarnassus’ this book, he says “The purpose is to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to prevent the fame of the important and remarkable achievements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among matters covered is, in particular, the cause of the hostilities between Greeks and non-Greeks.” Herodotus makes it clear from the beginning exactly what he intends to do. He certainly did achieve his goal. To support the aforementioned statement, the author has stated several fair, balanced facts and examples in his writing that are going to be discussed in this paper.
Ancient battles have existed throughtout ancient history. Historically these battles were due to gaining total power of an empire or fighting for the resources these ancient lands provided the people. They were both located near the Mediterranean sea, allowing both empires to have similar quantity in their empires. These two empires were great and powerful,ut Persian 's empire was stronger than Greece empire because it had a larger skillful military. One example was Cyrus the Great and the Rise of Persia during 550-522 B.C.E. Persia was founded by Cyrus the Great, one of most brillant and powerful king.
By the middle of the 5th century B.C. Athens and Sparta, the two most powerful Greek city-states, found themselves on the brink of a full-scale war. According to Thucydides, at the beginning of the war both Athens and Sparta were at the pick of their might and flourishing and could trade and cooperate to each other’s benefit; instead, they got involved into an armed confrontation, in which the rest of the Greek cities participated, on one side or on the other. The growing military and financial power of Athens as well as its policy of forcing smaller city-states to join its Delian League was shifting the prevalent balance of power in Hellas and raising anxiety among Spartans, their allies and neutral cities. Sparta’s decision to get involved
The Persians have a vastly bigger army than the Greeks do. According to Herodotus’ estimation, there were three hundred thousand Greeks fighting the 5,283,220 soldiers brought by Xerxes. (7.184&186) An army of that size can seize almost any land they want.
The start of the first Persian war. The Greece Persian wars are a sequence of wars fought between the great empire of Persian and the coalition of Greek city states. It lasted for about half a decade from 499 BC to 488 BC even as we say Greece Persian wars it 's not always that all of Greece and authority was much greater. And the pelopnnesian islands in the Aegean Sea. Athens had already removed their wealth from these islands and controlled them through navy.
This along with the harsh training tactics such as lack of food and dealing with changes in temperature further helped young Spartans acquire the basic elements of military for their fighting. The Spartans were fully invested in being militarily dominant. Like the Roman legions, Spartans had an undying loyalty to their country and fellow soldiers. Both Roman and Spartan soldiers would rather die than concede their honor by
Athens and Sparta are individually a single unit, but they have differences that set them apart. Athens has numerous social classes in it’s government, they are known for their strong navy, they have democratic values, and Athens has a bigger population than Sparta. Sparta only has three social classes, they are known for their strong army, which consists of the best and most feared fighters on land, and they have militaristic values. There is a debate on which polis is superior, Athens or Sparta. Athens and Sparta are both well-developed societies, however, Sparta stands out as the superior polis because Spartan women have more rights, education was distributed equally among boys and girls in Sparta, and Sparta had a strong and united culture.
(R 23-35). The Greeks hearing Achilles return, gain strength, will and perseverance to carry on the war. The responsibility that Achilles takes plays massive role, affecting the men 's actions throughout the