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The Wars: This will tell you all about the different major wars fought in Greece. Before reading this I suggest you read the "Soldiers and War Techniques" section. Ok let's start with the first war known to us: The Trojan War The Trojan War is perhaps the most famous Greek war! It is a mix of mythology and fact, known only to us by Homer's Illiad and Odyssey, and the remains of a city within the Trojan region described by Homer. I will tell only the fact, and the mythology of it will be in the "Mythology" section. The whole thing startedcwhen Troy's prince, Paris, captured the wife, Helen, of the Mycenean(Greek)king, Menelaus. Then the king wanted her back, so he sent an army over seas to retake Helen at about 1200 BC. The war lasted 10 years, with neither side winning. The Greeks were about to give up, when Odysseus came up with a great plan. They would leave a huge wooden horse filled with Greek Soldiers as a sort of present for the Trojans, then left. The Trojans brought it in, and that night Troy was burnt down and it's people massacred. Helen was brought safely back to Greece!
The Persian Wars The wars between Greece and Persia last from 549 to 330 BC. The term Persian Wars is leaning more towards the invasions by Darius and Xerxes, but there were many other battles. It began when Persia took over towns formerly belonging to Lydia. Those towns revolted against Persian rule, and so Persia eneded the revolts and kept tyrants to keep the peace. Then Lydia revolted again, and Athens sent an army over to help, but lost. After that Darius was mad and sent a force to destroy Athens, but lost at the major battle of Marathon, where Athens used attacks to surround and destroy the Persians. Then after that Xerxes wanted to punish Athens, and sent a force to destroy them. The Persians had more than 100,000 troops, and was succesful, until Spartans held them off at two battles. Then the Persian army found a way around and bruned Athens, although they were beaten decisively by the Greeks. The Xerxes went home, leaving an army to finish off the Greeks. But that army was destroyed ending the major battles. There were smaller battles all around until 330BC though. The Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War was the war between Athens and Sparta. It lasted from 431 to 404 BC. The first major battle was at Mantinea. Athens and Sparta were evenly matched, but the Athenians had a new tactic. Since the Spartans moved slightly to the right when they were in a phalanx, the Athenians attacked them from the left and forced them to retreat. Then as I said before the Spartans quickly regrouped and defeated the Athenians. But even though Athens had low land power, they still had a strong navy. They sent their ships to Syracuse (a rich Spartan colony) but didn't attack. Instead they made a barrier around the colony and starved them. But Sparta had time to send their navy to destroy the Athenians. After that Sparta sieged Athens and won the war. |
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