The Persian Wars of 512 and 479 B.C.

Persian failure was not an inevitable conclusion. At the time of the first incursions into the Greek mainland, the vitality of the Persian warrior-king Cyrus the Great (ruled 549-530 B.C.) had pushed the empire he was building to the edge of the Bosporus Straits separating mainland Greece from the Ionian Greek colonies founded centuries earlier. Ionian Greeks, like their mainland cousins, were a divisive lot, given to forming-fighting-and-reforming themselves into alliances of independent, competitive city-states. Cyrus' c

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ve horses for cavalry) were required to serve as hoplites. Urged on by Themistocles, even when he was not in power, Athens' citizenry was prepared. Guided by Hippias, the Persians landed at the plain of Marathon on the easiest road to Athens. The Athenians prepared by taking up a position in a narrow valley, Vrana, facing the Persians on the shore. The Spartans, as noted, could not depart their city in time to be there for this battle, but the Athenians did know that reinforcements were on the road. The Battle of Marathon was a decisive victory for the Greeks, but how so was more dependent upon the differing fighting styles and a piece of unintended luck than on a particular attribute of either sides' strategy. The Greek hoplites, as described, were particularly adept at close-in fighting. The Persians, by contrast, were spoiled by their numbers: the army of levied subject peoples was generally given to simply overwhelming its opponents, first with showers of arrows, then with cavalry, then with masses of infantry - none of which were particularly well-trained. Given a wide plain and room to maneuver, the Persian Army could have surrounded and swallowed whole the Athenians. Their chosen terrain at Marathon, however, wa
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Ionian Greeks, Xerxes Greek, Persian Empire, Battle Marathon, Plutarch Xerxes, Persian Army, Thermopylae Xerxes, Greece Themistocles, Athens Themistocles', Athens Sparta, ionian greeks, greek alliance, persian wars, persian army, peninsular greece, greek ships, greek army, persian front, athens eritria, persian fleet,
Approximate Word count = 3520
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)