There was a war with Persia in ancient Greece. Do you know why ancient Greece defeated the powerful Persian Empire?

The collision between two ancient civilizations in the East and the West.

Greece, one of the ancient civilizations of mankind, has been at war for centuries. Since 492 BC, the first large-scale international war between Europe and Asia broke out here in the history of the world-the Greek and Persian wars. The war lasted for nearly half a century, and as a result, the Greek city-state and system survived, while the Persian Empire was devastated.

In ancient Greece, due to the limitation of topography, many city-states were separated by mountains, and there was only a small amount of land transportation in the middle, so every small city-state called itself "the world". There are friends inside the wall and enemies everywhere outside. Therefore, hundreds of city-states have sprung up in the Greek headquarters, Aegean coast and islands. Among them, Athens and Sparta developed rapidly and had strong strength.

With the increase of the population of each city-state, the Greeks began to immigrate and colonize the coastal areas. At the same time, because of the limited grain production in this state, seizing the enemy's crops has become a conventional operational goal. So wars often happen in Spartan city-states. Men don't live at home, but prepare for war in barracks. Once a year, boys are brutally whipped to test their ability to endure pain. Girls must receive strict physical training, hoping that they can pass on their strong physical strength to their children so as to guard the castle in the future.

Persia was a slave country in ancient West Asia and a great empire developed through conquest. By the reign of Darius (522-486 BC), Persia had become the first great empire in the ancient history of the world that spanned Europe, Asia and Africa.

The Persian army is mainly composed of cavalry and archers, with several divisions, 1 000 men. In the middle of the 6th century BC, the Persian Empire invaded the city-states established by the Greeks on the west coast of Asia Minor. In 5 13 BC, King Darius I further controlled the Black Sea Strait and Thrace, which directly threatened the security and interests of the Greek peninsula city-states.

In 500 BC, with the help of Athens and other city-states, an anti-Persian uprising broke out in Miletus, the Greek city-state of Asia Minor. In 494 BC, the Persian Empire sent heavy troops to suppress the uprising, the capital Mile was destroyed, and some Greek city-states that sent troops to revolt with Miletus were brutally looted. The Persian Empire had a long-term ambition to invade the West, so in the summer of 492 BC, Athens and Errett helped Miletus as an excuse to launch a war against Greece.

Darius I sent Madoni uz to lead Lu Haijun, crossed the Heiles Strait and advanced to Greece along the coast of Thrace. However, most of her ships were destroyed by hurricanes in Cape atos, and the land was also attacked by Thracians, so she was forced to retreat. In the spring of 496 BC, Darius I sent Dattis and Attafi Nice to Greece for the second time, with about 50,000 troops (including nearly 400 warships). First, it captured and destroyed the city of Eretria, then pushed south and landed on the marathon plain about 40 kilometers northeast of Athens. In the face of strong enemies, the Athens government urgently mobilized all Athenian citizens to participate in the marathon; At the same time, he sent a long-distance runner, Philip Peters, to Sparta for help at night. He ran 150km in two days and arrived in Siba on September 9th. Although the Spartans agreed to send troops, they claimed that they could only send troops to help when the moon was full. In this way, the task of anti-Persian invasion fell entirely on Athens. On the morning of September 12, the marathon started. Greek infantry occupied favorable terrain. The main force is divided into two wings, and most Persian cavalry have not yet reached the battle site, pretending to attack head-on. By virtue of its military superiority, the Persian army adopted a central breakthrough tactic. The Greek China army retreated while fighting, and the Persian army advanced step by step. The Greek army suddenly launched a two-wing attack, and the phalanx with dense spears was fierce. The Persian army could not resist and retreated hastily. The Greek army pursued the victory, and the Persian army was defeated and retreated to the sea to return home. In this campaign, the Greek army wiped out 6400 enemies, seized many ships and lost less than 200 people. Marathon has become one of the examples in the history of ancient wars. After the Athenians won, they immediately sent Philip Peter back to Athens from the marathon to report the good news. He ran 42 kilometers 195 meters at once. When he arrived in Athens, he was exhausted and only shouted "Cheer up, we won!" He fell to the ground dead. Later generations held a long-distance race in memory of Marathon and Philip Peter, and named it Marathon.

During the following 10 years, the two sides prepared for the war nervously. Persia collected a large number of soldiers and materials, built a large number of ships, erected pontoons and dug canals. In Greece, the Athens government built more than 100 three-layer paddle warships, expanded various fortifications and strengthened naval training. More than 30 city-states formed a military alliance, elected Sparta with a strong army as an ally, and were ready to resist the Persian invasion at any time.

In the spring of 480 BC, Xerxes I, the successor of Darius I, sent about 250,000 men and 1000 warships to Greece. Persian troops marched west along Thrace, occupied northern Greece, forced some city-states to surrender, conquered the hot spring pass in central Greece, and then asked China and Greece to March. The army invaded Athens, wreaking havoc and looting; Its navy bypassed Cape Sunion at the southern tip of Attica Peninsula and entered the narrow Salamis Strait. In late September, the naval battle of Salamis started, and the Persian fleet occupied an absolute advantage in number, showing a siege situation. The Greek fleet hid behind Mount Egareos, formed a two-line battle formation and bravely launched an attack. Greek warships are small in hull and can move freely, so they can attack enemy ships flexibly. The huge Persian warships broke down, were in a passive position, and even collided with each other and sank. Persian navy suffered heavy losses, and Xerxes I, a newly recruited Greek, was afraid that the rear road would be cut off and fled home in panic. Its troops retreated to northern Greece. In August 479 BC, the armies of Zhongdian, Greece and Poland held a decisive battle near Brady. Bossanyi, commander-in-chief of Sparta, led the Greek allied forces with about 654.38+ten thousand men, which severely damaged the Persian army with obvious advantages. The third Persian expedition ended in failure.

The Persian expedition to Greece failed, and there were many contradictions within the empire, so they were forced to retreat. Greece, led by Athens, gradually turned to attack and defend, and took the opportunity to expand its maritime power and establish Athens' hegemony in the Aegean Sea. In 478 BC, the Athenian fleet occupied Cestos, an important town on the northern shore of the ancient Heiles Strait, thus taking control of the main road leading to the Black Sea. In the same year (477 years ago), Athens joined a group of Greek city-states to form a maritime alliance, and seized the coastal areas of Thrace, several islands in the Aegean Sea and Byzantium, a strategic place. In 449 BC, the Greek navy hit the Persian army hard near the city of Salamis on the east coast of Cyprus, and the two sides agreed to make peace. Athens sent plenipotentiary Carias to Susa, the capital of Persia, to negotiate and sign the Carias Peace Treaty. According to the peace treaty, Persia renounced its control over the Aegean Sea, Heller and Bosphorus (the mouth of the Black Sea) and recognized the independent status of the Greek city-state on the west coast of Asia Minor. The Greek-Persian war ended here.

Persian War is a large-scale long-term war between Asia and Europe. As a result, Greece gained freedom, independence and peace, and Athens became the hegemon of the Aegean region, controlling the main road leading to the Black Sea and seizing a large number of strategic places along the Aegean coast, including Byzantium. Greece dominated the Aegean Sea, plundered coastal countries and gained great benefits. "People seem to be awakened unanimously." They followed the example of Athens, Greece, built large ships and merchant ships, actively developed maritime power, competed for maritime hegemony, dumped goods to coastal countries, opened up markets, and seized economic benefits. Fuller, an Englishman, said in Military History of the Western World: "With this war, we stood on the threshold of the western world. In this world, the wisdom of the Greeks laid the foundation for later countries. There is nothing greater than these two battles in history. They seem to be two Optimus prime, shouldering the responsibility of supporting the whole western history. "

Military art has been greatly developed in the Persian War. Greece strategically determined the decisive location and main assault direction of each stage of the war, determined the tactics according to the comparison of the war situation and combat power, and initiated the famous phalanx battle formation in the war, which had a far-reaching impact on the military in Western Europe.