Greco-Persian Wars Research Paper

The Greco-Persian Wars was a series of conflicts between several Greek city-states and the Persian Empire that lasted roughly half a decade from 500 B.C. until 448 B.C. Some of the most distinguished conflicts know to this day are Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis and Platea. Although despite the superior number and imperial resources the Persians were defeated resulting in a Greek triumph. In this essay I will be discussing the key factors which contributed to the defeat of the Persian Empire such as the weaponry used, their strengths and weaknesses and the outcome of these famous battles.
Weaponry was one of the major causes that lead to the Persian being defeated. This is because Greek soldiers started training at a very early age and were
Herodotus one of the few ancient sources we have from the time, makes the dubious claim that the army consisted of 1,800,000 troops levied in Asia, plus a further 300,000 from parts of Europe. In addition, Herodotus claims there were over 2,600,000 servants, attendant as another camp follower, giving a combined force of 4,700,000 without including the personnel of the fleet. (1954, 443-447). Yet this figure has been rejected by modern historians Herodotus does not estimate the size of the Persian army, only saying that they formed a "large infantry that was well packed” “Among other ancient sources, the poet Simonides, a near-contemporary, says the campaign force numbered 200,000, while a later writer, the Roman Cornelius Nepos estimates 200,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalries.” (Wikipedia, 2016). Although J.M. Roberts, a highly respectable source claims that “the Greeks said, and no doubt believed that the Persians came again in 480 B.C, through Thrace in millions; if, as now seems more likely, there were in fact well under a hundred thousand of them” (2004, 186). On the other hand, the Greeks army is still unknown although is estimated to be roughly around 100,000 -150,000. To this day there is still numerous amounts of speculations regarding the size of both armed forces. When these two forces met, it was a massacre. The Persians did not have the weight in their charge that Greek forces did, their
Another significant weakness was the Greeks' internal divisions. As a result of internal rivalries, some Greek states were not willing to fight against the Persians. The Persian Empire was greatly disadvantaged as many of soldiers weren’t Persian. They were drawn from all corners of the gigantic territory. Meaning in such a huge empire there were several different languages and religions, resulting in poor communication skills. As well as the lack of unity this empire had, the government was in chaos, there was a weak ruler and they had a disorganised army. Not to mention that they were extremely wealthy but recent revolts throughout the empire meant the Persian economy was suffering. One reason that the Greeks defeated the Persians in the numerous invasions is that “the Persian army under Xerxes took so long to transport their armies to Greece that the Greeks had sufficient time to prepare a defence. In addition, Greece had the advantage because it was defending its own territory, and it was difficult for the Persians to transport all their troops and ships to Greece” (Encyclopaedia Britannica.