Battle of Thermopylae

Why I chose this topic: I chose to write about the Battle of Thermopylae because I have heard so much about it, but have never really thought much about it. For example, the movie 300, this movie was a giant hit, I saw it, thought it was amazing, but never really thought about how that actually happened. It is fascinating to think that only 300 men could withstand thousands of Persian soldiers. I also chose this topic because war and war tactics have always interested me, as it does for most male teens around my age. Although I didn’t know very much about this topic at the beginning of this essay I knew a little from the movie and from past history classes. Another reason I chose this topic was because It really interested me how much better trained the Spartans where then the Persians and I wanted to find out how the Spartans got their battle tactics, and fighting skills. Lastly, I chose this topic because I wanted to find out if the Spartans actually had a giant pit of death, and if king Leonidas actually kicked the Persian messenger into the pit.

II
What I know about this topic: I don’t know very much about the Battle of Thermopylae but what I know is from the movie 300 and from past history teachers. What I know is that king Leonidas lead a suicidal mission of only 300 Spartan men into battle against hundreds of thousands of Persian warriors. Although the Spartans did not win the battle, the battle went down in the history books as the best last stand battle fought in history! The Spartans earned their spot in the history books by defeating thousands of Persians by using their greater battle strategies and much better fighting techniques. Secondly, the Spartans could have kills thousands of more Persians if it weren’t for a traitor that told the Persian king a path behind the Spartans where they could flank them and attack from both sides, in exchange for riches and power. It goes to show that greed can corrupt a person to do crazy things,