Persian Wars

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Persian Wars 500 BC–449 BC, series of conflicts fought between Greek states and the Persian Empire. The writings of Herodotus , who was born c.484 BC, are the great source of knowledge of the history of the wars. At their beginning the Persian Empire of Darius I included all of W Asia as well as Egypt. On the coast of Asia Minor were a few Greek city-states, and these revolted (c.500) against Darius' despotic rule. Athens and Eretria in Euboea (now Évvoia) gave the Ionian cities some help but not enough, and they were subdued (494) by the Persians. Darius decided to punish Athens and Eretria and to add Greece to his vast empire. In 492 a Persian expedition commanded by Mardonius conquered Thrace and Macedon, but its fleet was crippled by a storm.

A second expedition, commanded by Artaphernes and Datis, destroyed (490) Eretria and then proceeded against Athens. The Persians encamped 20 mi (32 km) from the city, on the coast plain of Marathon. Here they were attacked and decisively defeated (Sept.) by the Athenian army of 10,000 men aided by 1,000 men from Plataea. The Athenians were heavily outnumbered, but fought under Miltiades , whose strategy won the battle. They had sought the help of Sparta, by way of the Athenian courier Pheidippides, who covered the distance (c.150 mi; 241 km) from Athens to Sparta within two days. The Spartan forces, however, failed to reach Marathon until the day after the battle.

The Persians did not continue the war, but Darius at once began preparations for a third expedition so powerful that the overwhelming of Greece would be certain. He died (486) before his preparations were completed, but they were continued by Xerxes I, his son and successor. The Athenians were persuaded by their leader Themistocles to strengthen their navy. In 480, Xerxes reached Greece with a tremendous army and navy, and considerable support among the Greeks. The route of the Persian land forces lay through the narrow pass of Thermopylae . The pass was defended by the Spartan Leonidas ; his small army held back the Persians but was eventually trapped by a Persian detachment; the Spartan contingent chose to die fighting in the pass rather than flee. The Athenians put their trust in their navy and made little effort to defend their city, which was taken (480) by the Persians.

Shortly afterward the Persian fleet was crushed in the straits off the island of Salamis by a Greek force. The Greek victory was aided by the strategy of Themistocles. Xerxes returned to Persia but left a military force in Greece under his general, Mardonius. The defeat of this army in 479 at Plataea near Thebes (now Thívai) by a Greek army under the Spartan Pausanias (with Aristides commanding the Athenians) and a Greek naval victory at Mycale on the coast of Asia Minor ended all danger from Persian invasions of Europe. During the remaining period of the Persian Wars the Greeks in the Aegean islands and Asia Minor, under Athenian leadership (see Delian League ) strengthened their position without seeking conquest.

Greek-Persian wars Conflicts that dominated the history of the eastern Mediterranean in the first half of the 5th century BC. In 499 BC the Greek cities of Ionia in Asia Minor revolted from the Persian empire. With some short-lived support from Athens and Eretria, they captured and burnt the important city of Sardis, but gradually the Persians regained control, the Greek fleet being finally crushed at Lade in 494. In 490 a Persian expeditionary force sailed across the Aegean. The capture of Eretria - the first goal - was achieved after a week-long siege and with help from Eretrian traitors. The Persians then landed in Attica but after a defeat at MARATHON they were forced to withdraw to Persia.

In 480 a much larger invasion force threatened Greece, advancing along the northern and western shores of the Aegean. A small Greek army and a large Greek fleet were positioned respectively at THERMOPYLAE and Artemisium, but despite vigorous fighting on land and sea the Greeks were forced to withdraw to the Isthmus of Corinth. With central Greece lost, the Athenians evacuated their city, while the Greek fleet, at THEMISTOCLES' urging, lured the Persians into battle off SALAMIS. In these narrow waters the Greek warships had the advantage and won a decisive victory which caused the Persian king XERXES to withdraw to Asia. Mardonius, his second-in-command, remained to continue the campaign with the army. In 479 Greeks and Persians met at Plataea. The Greeks were eventually successful, the Spartans and their Tegean allies ensuring victory when they overcame the élite Immortals (the Persian royal bodyguards) and killed Mardonius. Meanwhile a Greek fleet was winning another great victory off Mycale in Asia Minor. Soon afterwards some of the Greeks formed the DELIAN LEAGUE to be the instrument by which they would continue the war against the Persians.

Persian Wars (499–479 bc) Conflict between the ancient Greeks and Persians. In 499 bc, the Ionian cities of Asia Minor rebelled against Persian rule. Athens sent a fleet to aid them. Having crushed the rebellion, Persian Emperor Darius I, invaded Greece but suffered a defeat at Marathon (490 bc). In 480 bc, his successor, Xerxes, burned Athens but withdrew after defeats at Salamis and Plataea (479 bc). Under Athenian leadership, the Greeks fought on, regaining territory in Thrace and Anatolia, until the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431 bc).

Persian War, 1856. The Crimean War ended in March 1856 but a new war with Persia followed in November after the shah had seized Herat, a disputed city in the north-west of Afghanistan. Sir James Outram led a punitive expedition of 6,000 in January 1857. Peace was signed on 4 March whereby the shah withdrew from Herat and promised not to intervene in Afghanistan.

J. A. Cannon

Persian wars See GREEK-PERSIAN WARS.