Persian Wars

Persian Empire and Ionian Revolt
o Persia built a huge empire in the Middle East by conquering its neighbors
o It was ruled by a king who appointed local rulers to oversee the provinces
o Persia conquered the Greeks in Ionia in 546 BCE
o Persians took farmland and harbors and forced the Ionians to provide
goods
o Ionians were forced to serve in the Persian Army
o The Ionians rebelled against Persia with the help of the Athenian soldiers
and ships
o Persia defeated the Ionians and punished them

Battle of Marathon
o Darius, King of Persia, wanted to conquer more of Greece
o Darius sent Persian soldiers to Marathon to attack the Greeks
o Athens sent a runner (Pheidippides) to Sparta to ask for help
o Sparta was holding a religious festival and wouldn’t help
o The Athenians were forced to fight the Persians by themselves
o The Greeks won even though they were outnumbered

Battle of Thermopylae
o King Darius died and his son Xerxes became the new king
o Xerxes sent 180,000 Persian soldiers to attack Greece
o He built a bridge of ships across the Hellspont channel to march his
soldiers into Greece
o The Athenian Navy was sent to stop the Persian Navy and the Spartan
Army was sent to fight the Persian Army
o King Leonidas led the Spartan Army to Thermopylae to fight the Persians
o He had 7,000 men to fight against 180,000 Persians
o King Leonidas ordered all but 300 of his soldiers to retreat
o The Spartan 300 all fought to their death killing thousands of Persians
o Persia eventually defeated the Greeks at Thermopylae

Battle of Salamis
o After Thermopylae, the Athenians fled Athens to nearby islands
o Xerxes led his army to Athens and destroyed the city
o The Greeks tricked Xerxes by promising to surrender if he sent his Navy
into a narrow waterway near Salamis
o The Greek ships then attacked by bashing into the Persian ships
o 300 Persian ships sank to the bottom
o The Greeks defeated the Persians at Salamis

Battle of Platea
o After Salamis, Xerxes fled with some of his soldiers
o He left a large part of the army in Greece with orders to attack in spring
o Persia attacked Athens in the spring
o The Greeks had 80,000 soldiers to fight the Persians
o The Greeks defeated the Persians at Platea and forced Persia out of Greece
o The Greeks saved their independence but lost many men
o The city of Athens was destroyed in the war