The Persians were light armored and lacked training, they were no match to the Greeks disciplined phalanx
Athens won a crushing victory killing more than 6000 men and only losing less than 200 men
The battle took place in a plain north east of Athens called marathon
Ionia of the coast of Anatolia is a place where Greeks have been long settled, however around 546 B.C. the Persians conquered the area.
Later the Ionian Greeks revolted in an attempt overthrow the Persians.
Athens and Eretria sent soldiers and ships to their aid, however the Persians were successful and took over Ionia in the battle of lade.
The Persian king darius I vowed to destroy Athens and Eretria for standing against him.
After crushing the Ionian revolt, king darius I sent …show more content…
his ships across the Aegean Sea under the command of Datis and Artaphernes to take over Cyclades and from there attack Eretria and Athens.
The Persians were successful in taking control of Cyclades and then proceeded to Eretria.
The Persian army then sailed to Attica landing near the town of marathon
The Athenians and their allies the Plataea marched to marathon.
At first, there plan was to contain the Persians in marathon by blocking the exits.
After five days of using this tactic, the Athenians decided to attack.
The Athenian army, led by the Athenian general Miltiades who decided to attack with a new tactic.
Miltiades had his troops stretch out in a line as long as the Persian army.
This tactic weakened his center but strengthened the wings.
The Athenian hoplites were effective against the lightly armored Persian soldiers.
Athens won a crushing defeat, killing over 6000 Persians and losing less than 200 men.
According to legend the Greek messenger herald pheidippides ran from marathon across rough terrain to Athens bringing news of Athenian victory against Persia, after he delivered his message, he supposedly dropped dead.
Winning this war gave great confidence to Athens.
It allowed Athens to defeat Darrius's son Xerxes ten years after the battle of marathon in the battle of
Thermopylae.
After defeating the Persians for the second time, Athens emerged as a leader in the Dylan league, it began to use its power to control other league members, and moved the league’s headquarters to Athens. Herald pheidippides brave act inspired the modern day marathon which is ran across the globe.