Battle Of Thermopylae (480 BC) — The Victory Of 300 Troops

The book “A History of War in 100 Battles” records the most famous battles in world history. The battle of the greatest disparity was the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans fought against 10,000 Persians.

Causes of Greco-Persian Wars

In the 5th century BC, the Persian Empire was under the rule of Cyrus the Great, becoming a powerful nation in Western Asia. With his strength, Cyrus deployed his troops to conquer all over the world and establish an empire as large as 2 million square kilometers.

In Europe, Athens (Greece) at this time was only a small nation, but it supported the people of West Asia in their rebellion against Persian dominance. This angered King Darius I, and this man decided to direct his conquest to Europe, starting with Athens.

In 490 BC, the Persian fleet with 600 ships and about 100,000 troops led by two generals, Datis and Artaphernes, attacked Greece.

After initial victories, the Persians reached the field of Marathon. At the Battle of Marathon, the Persians were defeated by the Athenians, this battle was recorded in world history as a classic battle.

To announce this historic victory, a soldier had to run 42 kilometers from the Marathon field to Athens. The Marathons were born.

In 486 BC, the Persian king Darius died of illness, leaving it to his son Xerxes to conquer Greece for revenge. Xerxes ascended the throne to carry out his father’s will, preparing to attack the Greeks.

The Famous Historic Battle of Thermopylae

To prepare against the invasion of Persia, 30 small countries of the Greek federation, together with Sparta and Athens, held a conference to form a military alliance. Sparta had the largest military force, so they take responsibility for this alliance.

In the spring of 480 BC, 10 years after the Battle of Marathon, Xerxes commanded more than 100,000 troops and more than 100 warships to attack Greece. The Persians captured northern Greece and then moved south to reach Thermopylae.

The commander of the Greek army, the king of Sparta named Leonidas, decided to block the Persians at the entrance to Thermopylae. The reason why King Leonidas chose this gateway was that there was only a small road to enter, it was so small that only a carriage could pass, one side of the road was a mountain, and the other side was an abyss. To reach Athens, the Persians had to cross this small road.

To block the Persian army, King Leonidas only had 7,000 troops, of which 6,000 were located at this narrow gate, the remaining 1,000 troops defended the small road behind Thermopylae to launch a surprise attack on the rear of the Persian army.

The Persians arrived on the Thermopylae Pass, and with their large numbers, Xerxes thought that this battle would not take much effort.

According to ancient history, the Persian army had more than 1 million troops to attack, but today’s analysis shows that the Persian army had between 7 and 30,000 troops, according to the book “A History of War in 100 Battles”. the Persian army had 100,000 men, and the Greek army only 7,000.

During the fifth century BC, the world population was over 110 million people. The Persian Empire had 50 million inhabitants or 44% of the world’s population. Only a Persian empire with a large population could mobilize tens of thousands of troops.

When Xerxes ordered an attack, before the power of the Persians, the Greeks were not afraid, they relied on the difficult terrain to stop the Persians.

Because the road was too small, one side was a mountain, and the other side was an abyss, the Persians could not promote their advantage of large numbers, and every time they entered, they were repelled.

Xerxes then used 10,000 of his famous and invincible Immortal Legion as the core and marched in with his army, but still could not penetrate the Greek defenses. After 7 days of fighting in the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persians suffered many casualties.

Strangely, the Greeks were not afraid, but the Persians themselves were horrified because the Greeks were determined to fight to the death on this small road leading south. The Persians lost a lot in the battle of Thermopylae; even King Xerxes’ two brothers, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, were killed in battle.

When the entire Persian army had run out of options to attack and was completely helpless, a captured prisoner named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks. He showed Xerxes a shortcut that could go through the mountains to the back of the Greek army.

The Persian army took a shortcut and then suddenly attacked the Greeks. King Leonidas was beaten upside down, but he calmly resisted the Persians.

The situation at that time was very unfavorable for the Greek army; if they kept resisting, they would easily lose. But if they retreat, the Persians would pursue them, and they would also be completely annihilated. Moreover, the Persian army would then enter Athens and slaughter the Greeks.

In the face of an urgent situation, King Leonidas planned for an elite army of volunteers to stay to block the Persian army so that the whole army could withdraw to Athens, preparing for the Greek people to withdraw.

Even though he was the leader of the Greek alliance, he could be protected, but King Leonidas volunteered to stay with the suicide troops, and the 300 elite Spartans also decided to stay. The king ordered the remaining troops to retreat to Athens.

900 Helots and 700 Thespians expressed their desire to stay and support King Leonidas to prevent the Persians at the battle of Thermopylae, but King Leonidas decided to keep only 300 elite Spartans with him; the rest had to withdraw to preserve strength for future battles.

The Greeks withdrew, and the Persians pursued but were stopped by 300 Spartan warriors. According to the book “A History of War in 100 Battles”, at that time there were 10,000 Persian troops against the Greeks. The warriors of Sparta bravely resisted the larger army, repeatedly repelling the Persians. King Leonidas suffered many wounds but still fought with his sword until his last breath.

After King Leonidas died, Spartan warriors still bravely resisted the Persians to protect the King’s body; they pushed them back three more times until the last man fell.

With only 300 elite soldiers, the Spartans army stopped the advance of the Persian Empire army in the Battle of Thermopylae. Why were they able to do that?

In 480 BC, Xerxes and the Persian Empire’s army invaded Greece. The king of Sparta, King Leonidas, and his 300 guardsmen stopped thousands of Persian troops on the first day. With only a small number of troops, how could they stop such a powerful and large army at the Battle of Thermopylae?

The Pass of Thermopylae Was a Strategic Position

The Spartans were famous for their phalanx formation, an impenetrable wall. But with only a few hundred troops, it was still impossible to fight against the tens of thousands of Persian troops. Understanding this, King Leonidas chose a narrow corner at Thermopylae Pass to deploy his army. This pass has a high mountain slope on one side and a deep sea on the other. The position of the army was just enough for 300 troops to be arrayed, and there was no way to attack the sides, the weak point of the phalanx formation. Thus, the Persian armies had no choice but to attack directly. In addition, the defensive position was also on a twisty road, which made it impossible for the Persians to use a large number of troops, which created pressure on the Greek soldiers.

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Battle Of Thermopylae (480 BC) — The Victory Of 300 Troops — Look Back In Time (prismofhistory.com)