The Effects of Ancient Greek Warfare
In 480 B.C., the Greco-Persian wars were raging. Persia’s obvious wealth did not stop the Greeks from fighting for their own freedom. The Persians learned the the hard way that the Greeks, though small in number, were powerful. The Ancient Greeks paved the way for Western Civilization because of the battles they won, their strategic plans and organization, and their purpose for fighting.
The Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. was a pivotal moment in history for not only the Greeks in the Greco-Persian War, but also for all of Western Civilization. Themistocles, the Greek commander, developed a plan to halt the spreading Persian attacks. He lured the large ships of the Persian fleet into a narrow strait where
…show more content…
They had many different types of soldiers that they used for different purposes. For example, the hoplites were the front line and they wore protective, heavy armor. Hoplites could drive into enemy lines while the archers, causing massive amounts of damage, protected them. In addition to the hoplites, javelin throwers, archers, and slingers also helped with attacks and retreats. When useful, the military leaders would use a cavalry. Following the example of the Greeks, the U.S. troops today are protected by aerial support to engage or retreat in battle. They are also supported by a variety of differently trained soldiers. In Ancient Greece, they also started to structure their army with different command units. They began to organize their troops by electing generals for specific amounts of time to lead the armies. The state paid and trained the troops. The Greek state had a variety of intensely trained troops at their disposal and kept a reserve in their general population. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records, “Hoplites…were characteristically equipped with about seventy pounds of armor, most of which was made of bronze” (Metmuseum). Similarly, leaders in today’s Western Civilization have organized their military forces into groups such as the Army, the Air Force, the Marines, and the …show more content…
Around 500 B.C. the Greeks grew tired of being ruled by the Persians. They decided to build up their army, and fight for their liberty. Mark Cartwright, a Greek Philosophy historian, explains, “Whilst there were lengthy periods of peace and many examples of friendly alliances, the powerful motives of territorial expansion, war booty, revenge, honour, and the defence of liberty ensured that…the Greeks were regularly engaged in warfare both at home and abroad” (Cartwright). In other words, although the Greeks had multiple motives for war, they also fought mainly in defense of liberty. Similarly, in the 1700’s, the thirteen original colonies of the United States grew tired of being ruled by Great Britain, which led to the American Revolutionary War. Following the example of the Greeks, the citizens of the U.S. fought for expansion of their territory and freedom to rule themselves. McDougal Little reports, “The United States has fought wars to liberate people from oppression, gain land, and as a retaliation for attack” (McDougal). Just as the ancient Greeks, the United States has again followed their example in defending liberty while expanding their own territory. The ancient Greeks and modern Western civilization are not so different, but without the Greeks, Western civilization would be completely
His force further had innumerable archers. It was with this in mind that the Athenians made the “fateful” decision to train 40,000 men for 200 ships in 481BCE. This force was relatively inexperienced compared to the Persian contingent, which included skilled Phoenician sailors (D.S 11.18.1). The Persians had light, fast boarding ships compared to the Greeks who had stout, strongly built ramming ships (8.10,60). This would prove critical later at the crowded straits of Salamis in 480BCE. If it were not for this fleet, the “Persian conquest of Greece would have been assured.” (7.139). If Persia had control of the sea, defeat by land would quickly have followed due to the inability of the city-states to hold a united front. The halt in city-state squabbles and the creation of the Hellenic League was “no small achievement” and was to the great disadvantage of Xerxes. This clearly was a factor in the overall demise of the campaign. The construction of the Athenian fleet, advocated by Themistocles, was a precursor to this.
Promoting Greek unity gave the Greeks greater strength in numbers during the wars. Plutarch states “The greatest of all his achievements was to put an ending to all the fighting within Greece, to reconcile the various cities with one another and persuade them to lay aside their differences because of the war with Persia”. Themistocles’ relationship with naval commander Eurybiades also was very important. With Themistocles’ great foresight and decision making, the value of this working relationship with Eurybiades was the ability of Eurybiades to trust in Themistocles and his opinions. This proved very effective in the battles of Artemisium and Salamis. Thucydides praises this: “This man was supreme at doing precisely the right thing at precisely the right moment.” All of these pre-war efforts are contributions to which Themistocles played a great role in Greek victory.
The Role of Themistocles in the Greek Defeat of the Persians in 480 - 479 BC.
The reasons for the Greek victory against the Persians in 490 to 480/479 BC was a mixture of exceptional leadership, skilful tactics and strategy, superior weapons and soldiers, and Greek unity. Strong leadership was the most important aspect of the Greek defence, as without the intelligence and bravery of the leaders, the Greeks would have been easily defeated. As a result of the excellent leadership; Greek tactics, strategy, and unity were greatly strengthened. Combined with their better weapons and soldiers, the Greeks held the advantage and seized opportunities at the perfect moment. Also, with each
How: The Persian war was the prevailing force. At the point when the Greeks defeated them, they got to be overwhelming and Greek beliefs and culture was spread all through the world.
The Persian Wars (499-479 BC) put the Greeks in the difficult position of having to defend their country against a vast empire with an army that greatly outnumbered
Should college athletes get paid? Yes And more Students will get involved in more sports even though others that don't make the team will get jealous. Because not everyone gets a full ride scholarship to play a sport for a collage. But I think College athletes should getting paid for not everyone can pay for college. Not everyone gets a full ride scholorship to college
The Battle of Salamis was the icing on the cake for the Greeks. They were able to defeat the larger Persian fleet by dictating the terms of the battle. They choose a location that favored their smaller swifter ships instead of the much larger, heavier Persian ones. The Greeks were able to maneuver and ram the Persians at will and had most of the Persian fleet in check by nightfall. The funny thing about it is that Xerxes had a throne set up for him on the island of Salamis to watch the battle. After the Greeks victory here they had control of the seas. This restricted the Persian fleet from keeping the army supplied and protected. Xerxes took the remaining elements of his fleet and headed back to Asia after the battle.
An important contributing factor to an army's success is armor for defense. An army can have skilled soldiers, but cannot be successful without the right armor. Roman and Greek armies wore similar types of armor. The Roman and Greek foot soldiers wore a square breastplate on their torso. While the Romans only wore one greave on their left leg, Greeks wore greaves on both legs. A greave was a sheet of metal worn to protect the legs (Horsepower: Harnessed…). Soldiers wear greaves even in current day. Recently, the greaves have been upgraded to protect the legs from ‘Improvised explosive devices,’ such as those in Iraq (Frost, Quad Guard). Roman soldiers wore a helmet that protected the neck, and came around to protect their face. The Greek’s helmets were more full and protective than the Roman helmets. Greek helmets covered their entire head and only left small
Moreover, in the Battle of Thermopylae, Persian forces led by Xerxes outnumbered the Greeks yet again. However, the militant Spartans took up arms and were able to defeat the large Persian army. Thermopylae allowed the Greek forces to come up with various tactics and strategies in order to defeat Persia. Next, the Battle of Salamis was a naval battle between several Greek city-states and Persia. This battle forms the turning point of the Greco-Persian Wars since it ultimately “saved Greece from being absorbed into the Persian Empire and ensured the emergence of Western civilization as a major force in the world.” The ending of the Battle of Salamis left the Persian army trapped in Greece, which paves the way for the final battle of the war, the Battle of Platea. In the battle, the “Greek army came and defeated the weakened Persians, the Persian Wars were over”. The mark of the ending of the Greco-Persian wars gave way to Athens arising from the ashes as the dominant and central city-state of Greece, which then provides political and cultural advancements during its golden age.
The pre-eminence of the Greek soldier proved decisive in the Battle of Marathon. Although only ‘citizen soldiers’, the Greek hoplites were far more disciplined than their Persian counterparts and also better protected, with their bronze-visored helmets, solid bronze breastplates, shields and javelins. The Persians on the contrary were generally lightly dressed, with wicker shields and bows and arrows and sometimes had body armour of scales sewn to leather vest. Herodotus states that the Persians were “deficient in armour, untrained and greatly inferior in skill”. This crucial element destabilized the Persian assault as they fell at the hands of a much more skillful, better equipped and tactically superior Greek army. With their unprecedented use of battle strategy and intimate knowledge of their surroundings, the Greeks were able to defeat their Persian enemy.
To get vaccinated or to not get vaccinated is a very important issue that is now back on the rise. The target group for this paper would be young mothers and college aged adults. The purpose of this paper is to describe and demonstrate how the Health Belief model can be used to teach a person the importance of vaccinating themselves and their children. As a new, young parent many people do not know the benefits of vaccines and they don’t understand the harm they put themselves and their child in if they remain unvaccinated.
The Persian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Greek states and the Persian Empire from 500-449 BC. It started in 500 BC, when a few Greek city-states on the coast of Asia Minor, who were under the control of the Persian Empire, revolted against the despotic rule of the Persian king Darius. Athens and Eretria in Euboea gave aid to these Greek cities but not enough, and they were subdued by the Persians. The Persians became determined to conquer Hellas and make Athens and Eretria pay for helping the Ionian cities. In 492 BC, the first Persian invasion had its fleet crippled by a storm before it could do any damage. King Darius sent another Persian expedition in 490 which destroyed
In early fifth century BC Greece, the Greeks consistently suffered from the threat of being conquered by the Persian Empire. Between the years 500-479 BC, the Greeks and the Persians fought two wars. Although the Persian power vastly surpassed the Greeks, the Greeks unexpectedly triumphed. In this Goliath versus David scenario, the Greeks as the underdog, defeated the Persians due to their heroic action, divine support, and Greek unity. The threat of the Persian Empire's expansion into Greece and the imminent possibility that they would lose their freedom and become subservient to the Persians, so horrified the Greeks that they united together and risked their lives in order to preserve the one thing they all shared in common, their
I will be explaining the following; Queer Theory, Radical feminism, sex=gender, biology is not destiny, youth non conformity, hegemonic masculinity, transgender and gender based harassment. I have used these six concepts because they highlight how sexuality and gender are constructed by society. This construction causes a heterosexual norm, which some people do not identify under. I have focused on Queer Theory because it depicts what is considered ‘normal’ regarding gender and sexuality. I also chose Radical theory to show how the construction of gender and sexuality can have a negative effect on women.