Taking A Closer Look At The Battle Of Marathon
The battle of Marathon was in September of 490 BCE between Greece and Persia. This battle also shows that thinking outside the box and not following the normal ways of fighting can help you survive and win. The Persian’s set their sights on Athens because they had an alliance with Athens to help them defeat Sparta. When they “signed” their alliance with Athens they asked for earth and water, which really meant that Athens would belong to Persia. Athens was unaware of what they were really signing so when they said they don’t need Persia anymore. This infuriated Darius and wanted to burn Athens to the ground. They would have to decide first of all weather they would go in for an amphibious campaign or a land campaign. Athens was their main
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Which the Athenian army would take positions in the Vrana valley because Miltiades knew that was the only way to get to Athens. So using METT-TC they would set up in the valley like a corkscrew on a bottle. The phalanx being their tactics they knew they could defend it from there because of the steep mountains protecting their flanks from the Persian cavalry. The Persian army would start with firing a barrage of arrows at the Greek army which would do little damage to them because of their heavy shields protected them from the waves of arrows. Next the Persians would send light infantry into the valley but the phalanx once and using the terrain would prove to be paramount and the Athenians were able to push them back. Miltiades would now have to make a move to be risky which was he had to push out of the valley. He then thinned out the center to reinforce the flanks which he did this to try to cover from side to side of the valley but this is also why he had to push out. The reason is if he didn’t do that when the center would get hit it would flex and if broken they would be surrounded and then defeated. This was risky for Miltiades to do this but he thought about his flanks most of all because he knew that was his weak area. When they came out of the valley to face the Persian force the Athenians starting running about 400 meters which would make them exhausted wearing 70 pounds worth of gear. They stopped about 100 meters and reestablished their phalanx. When the Persian infantry started to attack which was pushing the thinned out center of the Athens force back. At first it seemed like the risky move they made was not going to pay off. The heavily armored flanks were winning because it was common practice for the Persians to put their best fighters in the center and their weaker ones on the flanks. This would be
Which the Athenian army would take positions in the Vrana valley because Miltiades knew that was the only way to get to Athens. So using METT-TC they would set up in the valley like a corkscrew on a bottle. The phalanx being their tactics they knew they could defend it from there because of the steep mountains protecting their flanks from the Persian cavalry. The Persian army would start with firing a barrage of arrows at the Greek army which would do little damage to them because of their heavy shields protected them from the waves of arrows. Next the Persians would send light infantry into the valley but the phalanx once and using the terrain would prove to be paramount and the Athenians were able to push them back. Miltiades would now have to make a move to be risky which was he had to push out of the valley. He then thinned out the center to reinforce the flanks which he did this to try to cover from side to side of the valley but this is also why he had to push out. The reason is if he didn’t do that when the center would get hit it would flex and if broken they would be surrounded and then defeated. This was risky for Miltiades to do this but he thought about his flanks most of all because he knew that was his weak area. When they came out of the valley to face the Persian force the Athenians starting running about 400 meters which would make them exhausted wearing 70 pounds worth of gear. They stopped about 100 meters and reestablished their phalanx. When the Persian infantry started to attack which was pushing the thinned out center of the Athens force back. At first it seemed like the risky move they made was not going to pay off. The heavily armored flanks were winning because it was common practice for the Persians to put their best fighters in the center and their weaker ones on the flanks. This would be