WORLD HISTORY notes
Persian Wars
Day 5
Greek city-states developing in Ionia in Asia Minor
Persian Empire is expanding
A class between the two is inevitable
546 BC
499 BC
King Cyrus of Persian Empire – defeats Ionia
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Ionians forced into military service, pay taxes, lost ability to govern themselves
Ionia rebelled against Persian Empire
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ATHENS assisted the rebellion (sent 20 ships)
King Darius – Persian Empire crushed rebellion
UPSET WITH ATHENS FOR STICKING THEIR NOSE IN THE PERSIANS BUSINESS
490 BC 1ST PERSIAN WAR
King Darius attacked Greece
BATTLE OF MARATHON
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600 Persian ships / 20,000 Persian soldiers
9000 Greeks
according to Herodotus – Greeks lost 192 / Persians 6400
although defeated Persian ships headed for Athens to try to catch Athens unprotected
Pheidippides ran 26 miles back to Athens
• “Rejoice We Conquer”
• Darius / Persians returned home – DEFEATED!!!
481 BC
“Greek League” formed to protect Greece
• Athens = navy
• Sparta = army
After 1st Persian War – Athenian leader, THEMISTOCLES, asked Oracle at Delphi what Athens should do to protect itself
• “Oracle at Delphi” – build a “wooden wall”
o Themistocles took that to mean that Athens needed to build a NAVY for protection
480 BC - 2ND PERSIAN WAR
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- King Xerxes attacked Greece
Fought for REVENGE – a slave had told Xerxes everyday “Remember the Athenians”
350k soldiers = “10,000 IMMORTALS” (largest, tallest, greatest)
800 ships [“the boys with the toys”]
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE
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mountain pass
Holding the pass was important because it allowed Athens time to evacuate
300 Spartans, led by Spartan King, Leonidas
o ”Sire Only” unit – had a son to ensure family name continued
o “suicide mission”
Xerxes sent message to Leonias to give up their arms
o Leonidas responded – “Come and Take Them”
o Leonidas –“Tonight we will dine in Hell”
Spartans were told that the “Persian arrows would darken the sky in battle, the Spartan response – “that is good
news, we will fight in the shade!”
Ephialtes
o Greek traitor that told the Persians of an alternate route around the pass
o Persians routed the Spartan soldiers
EVACUATION OF ATHENS
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Oracle at Delphi advised Athens to evacuate
Themistocles evacuated Athens
Xerxes marched to Athens and burned it to the ground
BATTLE OF SALAMIS
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Themistocles knew the Persian success was based on the Persian Navy providing reinforcements and supplies
• lured the Persian navy into straits of Salamis (narrow)
• Xerxes was so confident in the victory, he set up his golden throne on the shore, to watch the battle in style and
record the names of commanders who performed particularly well
• Greek ships were smaller/faster than Persians
• Greeks routed the Persians
o Persians lost 200 ships / 60K men
• Xerxes returned to Persia, but left Mardonius with a small force
479 BC - BATTLE OF PLATAEA
Greeks defeated the remaining Persian Army
RESULTS OF PERSIAN WARS
1. PREVESERVED DEMOCRACY
2. Athens became leading Greek polis
a. Beginning of “Athenian Golden Age”
i. Pericles – leader that brought Athens into its “Golden Age”
1. Parthenon – built to honor Athena
3. Athens created the “DELIAN LEAGUE”
a. Alliance to stop further Persian attacks
b. Athens used it to create the Athenian Empire
c. Sparta was not a member
4. Greek culture would become the basis of western civilization
5. Sparta chose to retreat back to its “isolationism” [this helped Athens assert its control in Greece]
6. Foundation set for war between Sparta and Athens (Peloponnesian War)