Greek Force Themistocles example essay topic

2nd Persian Invasion Persia, under the rule of King Xerxes, was preparing for revenge on Athens. The defeat they had suffered in 490 BC at Marathon was a thorn in their side. Xerxes father Darius had begun the planning of this invasion and after he died it became Xerxes number one priority. Little did he know that he was going to be outclassed at every move, although the Greeks were heavily outnumbered. The exact numbers of each side are unknown; as Herodotus, our major source, is prone to exaggeration. Many factors gave the Greeks an advantage.

The union of the states; the superiority of the soldiers at one-on-one combat; the strength of the naval fleet and the fact that the battles took place on Greek soil were all points in the Greeks favour. Afterwards they stated that they were free men; not forced to fight and this was the reason for victory. one man could see all these advantages and put them to good use. He was once told you are going to be a great man one way or the other, either for good or evil. (1) Themistocles was a man who showed an unmistakable natural genius; . He was particularly remarkable at looking into the future and seeing there the hidden possibilities for good or evil.

To sum him up in a few words, it may be said that through force of genius and by rapidity of action this man was supreme at doing precisely the right thing at precisely the right moment. (2) Themistocles was held in high regard in Athens, enough to be chosen archon in 493 BC. After the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Athens was sure that the Persian threat was over. Themistocles was not as confident.

He wanted to build more ships for the Athenian Navy with the profits from the silver mines at Lauri on. The Athenians, believing that the Persian forces would not return, did not agree with this. Themistocles played upon their competitiveness and convinced them that the ships were for use against a neighbouring state. They then agreed to build 200 new triremes. When it was evident that the Persians were coming Themistocles was the only man willing to take the position as Commander-in-Chief of Athens. (1) Plutarch, Themistocles – 2 (2) Thucydides, 1: 138 In 481 BC, thirty-one Greek states met at Corinth.

They decided to join forces against the Persian barbarians. This union is the major reason why Greece was able to defeat the Persians. Sparta was chosen as leader of this union as they had the most military experience and had the highest reputation as soldiers. The Athenians thought that since they supplied the most ships they should be the leaders. Thucydides says: Themistocles immediately saw the danger of disagreement at this stage: he therefore surrendered his own command to Eurybiades and soothed the Athenians pride by promising them that if they proved their valour in the fighting, he would guarantee that the rest of the Greeks would accept their leadership later on. For this action Themistocles is generally regarded as the man most directly responsible for saving Greece, .

(3) The men who had been ostracized in the preceding ten years were told to return. Themistocles did not want these men to help the enemy as had happened in previous invasions. Aristedes; who was Themistocles greatest political opposition; was one of these men. He became an important part of one of Themistocles plans. One of the important advantages that Greece had was her knowledge of the terrain and the surrounding seas and he did not want these exiled men to provide any information that might jeopardise that advantage. Themistocles strategy was to fight the barbarians at sea, far away from mainland Greece.

He believed that the only way to win was at sea. This plan was opposed and his troops were sent to Tempe with the Spartans. They found the mountains here too hard to defend and returned to Thermopylae. Themistocles believed that Thermopylae was an excellent place for battle as it was restricted with mountains on one side and sea-side cliffs on the other leaving only a narrow pass for travel. This meant that a small number of soldiers would be facing each other and this suited the Greeks much more than the Persians. Themistocles and his fleet were sent to defend Artemesium while troops stayed to defend Thermopylae.

The Persians lost many soldiers at Thermopylae, much to King Xerxes disgust. The small army at Thermopylae included King Leonardis of Sparta and his 300 bodyguards. The Spartans, who were far superior at one-on-one combat, were able to hold off the Persians. The Persians were told about a pass over the mountains and were able to surround the Greeks and kill them all; including King Leonardis.

(3) Plutarch, Themistocles – 7 The battle at Artemisium, although not a victory, damaged many of the Persians ships and killed many Persian men. The local knowledge once again aided the Greek fleet. They were able to avoid the storms that caused the Persians to lose many of its ships. When Themistocles heard of what happened at Thermopylae he decided to withdraw under the cover of darkness. On the way home they left graffiti behind to warn the Greek men that were being forced to fight for Persia to fight half-heartedly.

King Xerxes and the Persian forces continued down the coast. Themistocles ordered the evacuation of Athens to Troezen, Aegina and Salamis. The Delphic oracles had said that the wood walls would be the saviour of Greece. Themistocles believed that these wood walls were the ships of the Greek fleet. The Acropolis had wooden walls and some people barricaded themselves inside. The Acropolis was raided by the Persians and all within were killed.

Athens was destroyed. Many Greeks wanted to get in the ships and flee but Themistocles convinced them to stay and fight. Some wanted to fight the barbarians at the Isthmus but Themistocles pointed out that the Greek ships would perform better in smaller, narrow straits than in the open sea. He devised a plan to lure the Persians to the narrow straits around Salamis. A slave was sent to King Xerxes to tell him that the Greeks planned to flee at night. Upon hearing this he sent guards to watch the exits from the bays of Salamis.

Themistocles appears to have chosen the time for the battle as judiciously as he had the place. (4) He waited until the seas and the weather was perfect for the Greek fleet but was a burden to the Persians. The Greek ships were small and lay low in the water. The Persian ships were difficult to manoeuvre in the swell and breeze that occurred at the time chosen for the battle.

Thus the Greeks were able to use their skilful boatman ship and defeat the Persians. After the Greek victory at Salamis, Themistocles and Aristedes put their differences aside. They needed a way to get Xerxes to go home. There was consideration to destroy a bridge at Hellespont, that Xerxes had spent a considerable amount of time and money building. Themistocles decided to leave the bridge intact, but sent a warning to Xerxes that it was going to be destroyed.

When Xerxes heard this he withdrew immediately. He left behind a contingent of men under the leadership of Maridonis. There were two more battles; at Mycale and Platea. The Greeks won both these battles and secured many pole is and the Aegean Sea. (4) Plutarch, Themistocles – 14 The Persians did accomplish what they had initially set out to do. They had gained their revenge and destroyed Athens.

The Greeks however defended themselves admirably against the large Persian force and forced the withdrawal of the barbarians. The Greeks had used all available resources; soldiers, ships, and local knowledge. Luckily for Greece, Themistocles used his genius for good not evil. He was the one man who was able to effectively use all of Greece and his own resources to their maximum potential.

So although the Persian force was many times larger than the Greek force Themistocles was able to use the courage and wisdom of his men to their full potential. The combination of five things gave Greece the advantage it needed to defeat the Persians. The union; the local knowledge of the terrain and the seas; the superior one-on-one combat abilities of the soldiers; the psychological strength of men fighting for their countries freedom and the tactics and strategy used by the leaders. I have to wonder though if the outcome would have been the same if it wasn t for Themistocles!