Thermopylae

The Battle of Thermopylae took place in August-September of 480 BCE and is one of the most famous Battles in western history because of the heroic Last Stand of a handful of men.
Although the Battle was lost by the Spartans, Thermopylae was the first heroic Last Stand in history. For this reason, Thermopylae has come to symbolise the self sacrifice of a few for the greater good of many.

In 492 BCE, an earlier Persian force had attacked Greece based on overwhelming numbers, but was defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, and the Persians were forced to withdraw.
In 480 BCE, determined to defeat the Greeks, King Xerxes returned to invade Greece again, with an even bigger Persian army and navy, outnumbering the Greeks by over 10 to 1.
To enter Greece, Xerxes built a pontoon bridge across the Hellespont consisting of ships cabled together, and marched his army across from Asia Minor. His fleet closely followed the army.

The strategy of the Athenian General Themistocles, was to block this invading Persian Army at the Pass of Thermopylae, and block the Persian Navy in the Straits of Artemisium. This would prevent the Persian army and navy from invading Greece and the Peloponnese.

Persian Force:
- The size of the Persian Force is considered to have been between 100,000 to 150,000 men.
Greek Force:
- The size of the Greek Forces at Thermopylae was 7,000.

The Battle lasted for seven days. The Greeks were outnumbered by more than 10 to 1.
After three days of battle, the Greek General Leonidas, became aware that the Persian army had found a secret path and was threatening to encircle his defending army.

Leonidas sent most of the Greek army south and remained to defend the Pass to the death with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans.
They held off the Persians for two days before being annihilated to the last man.
However, despite losing the battle, the delay gave the Greeks time to withdraw and regroup at Salamis.

The Greek navy was outnumbered at Artemisium and despite the Persian navy losing considerable part of its fleet in storms, the Greeks could not hold the Straits and had to withdraw.

After winning the Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium, the Persian army occupied Greece and Athens, and Xerxes I appeared to have become victorious.
However, he needed to occupy the Pelopponese in order to complete his conquest. To succeed, he had to defeat the Greek navy based at Salamis.

Themistocles, having realised that the Pass at Thermopylae was about to be lost, withdrew the army to the Peloponnese, and the fleet from Artemisium to Salamis.
The size of the Persian Fleet did not help the Persians in the narrow strait, and after 200 Persian triremes had been lost, the Persian fleet withdrew and was routed.

Xerxes then withdrew the majority of the Persian army from Greece leaving an army of occupation in a fortified base at Plataea. The following year an overwhelming force of Greek soldiers left the Peloponnese and after 11 days routed the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea in 579 BCE. At the same time the remnant of the Persian Navy was routed at the Battle of Mycale.

Themistocles’ initial strategy of defence of the Thermopylae Pass and Strait of Artemisium had to be changed after these were lost.
However, the heroic last stand at Thermopylae gave the Greeks enough time to fall back and regroup to fight again at Salamis.
Thermopylae has come to symbolise a small force heroically sacrificing themselves in a last stand against an overwhelming force, for the greater good.
After this the Persians never invaded Greece again. Instead, it was to be the Greeks who later invaded Persia under Alexander the Great.

Pass of Thermopylae