The Battle of Thermopylae was an attack on Greece resulting from Athens' involvement in the Ionian Revolt. In 499 BC, King Cyrus II tamed Persian tribes and conquered Lydia and parts of Ionia, but the Ionians composed of Greek tyrants rebelled against Persia, leading to his invasion (Warren Hollister , 103). In an attempt to repel the Persian attack, Ionia appealed for help from Athens and persuaded them to send twenty ships to fight against the Persians. The Persian army then led by Darius I, grandson of Cyrus, had the advantage over the Greeks and in 494 BC, the Greeks set out to fight the Persians at Marathon (Warren Hollister, 104). The decisive result would see the Athenians defeat Darius I's army; this defeat pushed Darius to plan a new attack against Greece but the task fell to his heir Xerxes. Here we see previous wars fought between these nations, with Greece claiming a quick victory that would later dictate the outbreak of a second attack on Greece in what would become the Battle of Thermopylae. In this situation, the Greeks incited the Persians to attack them by their involvement in the revolt which angered the Persian king Xerxes, who swore revenge on the Greeks. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay This period (490-479 BC) was the beginning of the Persian Wars and marked the first battle between the Persians and Greeks. Xerxes, in 480 BC, had galvanized his army of around 180,000 men to besiege Athens. Following the news that Xerxes plans to attack Athens, the Greeks under the command of Themistocles prepare for battle. Meanwhile, Xerxes made his march toward Athens, taking advantage of Greek discord and forming alliances with “opportunistic Greek cities like Argos and Thebes” (Warren Hollister, 104-105). Sparta established a regional defensive alliance, the Peloponnesian League, which included Sparta, Athens, and Corinth (Warren Hollister, 105). One of the best decisions the Greeks made was to form an alliance to further improve their numbers. As Xerxes crossed northern Greece heading south, an army of 300 Spartans and 6,000 Greek hoplites (soldiers) positioned themselves on a narrow path at Thermopylae, so thin between the sea and the mountain, ready to face a Persian army of 200,000 fighters (Ancient Greece. co.uk). In this situation, the Greeks were far outnumbered, and in an attempt to level the field, they chose the best place to confront the Greeks, a narrow path that stretched only between the rocky mountains and the sea murderous. This made it difficult for the Persians to attack with all their infantry, as they risked dying at the hands of the Spartans or plunging into the sea. On the morning of September 480, the Persians launched the first attack against the Spartans by sending the Medes and the Cissians. The wicker shield of the Persians was no match for the armor, bronze helmet, spear and sword of the Spartans. The strength of the Greek army lay in its formation (phalanx); the Persians advanced on the Spartans. The Spartans held their ground using their shield to hold back the wave before fighting their way through the Persian army (Rawlinson). The Spartans used short swords in close combat, massacring the Persians in large numbers while suffering minor casualties themselves. Recognizing the weakness of his infantry, he sent his elite forces, the "immortals", to quickly end the fighting, but as he watched, he stood up in terror at the sight of theGreeks mastering their army. The Greeks adopted a strategy suited to their environment by forming a solid formation of men in rows. The front row consisted of Spartans with shields to block the personnel behind them who were equipped with spears, as the shields protected the rank, the Persians were hit with the spears. Xerxes was given a lifeline when a trader, Ephialtes, revealed a secret path around the path that Xerxes deployed his "Immortals" to take at nightfall and sneak up on the Spartans (Rawlinson). Leonidas holds a conference to plan his final strategy. Knowing he would not win this fight, he ordered the rest of the Greek army to retreat while he maintained an army of Thebans and Thespians with his Spartans to fight against the Persians (Rawlinson). In the final battle, the Spartans fought bravely against the Persians, killing Xerxes' brothers and when their weapons were destroyed, the Greeks suffered massive losses; Leonidas and his men were surrounded by the Persians and killed with arrows. Although the Spartans were professional warriors, their success in the field was determined by their training; If they broke this formation, gaps would appear in their defense and, due to the compact nature of Thermopylae, an attack from the rear would trap them in a circle of enemy fire that would force them into a corner which led to their demise. After the Persian attack on Athens, a new military power arose in Macedonia, led by King Philip II. His victory over Greece at Chaeronea brought his unit under his command in 338 BC. In the final months before his assassination in 336 BC, Philip II had planned an attack on the Persian Empire with the aim of punishing the Persians for their attack on Greece. (Warren Hollister, 147). At the age of twenty, Alexander succeeded his father as king of Macedonia and, under his control, quashed all revolt in Greece; his main influences were his mother Olympias, Philip II, and Aristotle (Hollister, 148). Alexander had a mission: to conquer Asia. Similar to the Greeks, Macedonia had won previous victories against the Persians, but the motive for Alexander's attack on Persia was not simple revenge but rather a desire for power. Alexander set out to conquer in 334 BC by crossing the Hellespont with 30,000 infantrymen and 5,000 cavalry heading north where he faced the Persian army led by Memnon and defeated them in what was the Battle of Granicus, in May 334 BC (Porter). This brought knowledge of Alexander to the Persian king Darius III who underestimated the young king's strength; this would prove fatal as Alexander would once again defeat the Persian army in November 333 BC at Issus, thus capturing the family of King Darius (Wasson). Alexander set about liberating all territories captured by the Persians, including the island city of Tire in August 332 BC (Porter). In an attempt to secure his family's release, King Darius III sends a messenger to deliver a peace treaty to Alexander, offering part of his empire west of the Euphrates and the hands of his daughters in marriage , which Alexander refuses, challenging Darius III to do so. fight for his throne; during this period, King Darius III retreated to Babylon to prepare an army to confront Alexander (Wasson). King Darius III planned to meet Alexander in open combat at a village called Gaugamela. King Darius III galvanized an army of 250,000 men as well as 15 elephants and 200 chariots; the Gaugamela plain had a wider plain and allowed the use of his chariot and cavalry to his advantage. Alexander sets up camp 4 miles from Darius' army.