The document summarizes the Greco-Persian wars that occurred between 500-449 BC. It discusses key events including the Ionian Revolt, the first and second Persian invasions of Greece led by Darius and Xerxes, and the Greek victories at Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale that marked a turning point. It also describes the formation of the Delian League led by Athens in the aftermath to liberate Greek cities from Persian control and Athens' growing dominance over the league.

2. • Causes of Greco-Persian warriors. Their periodization
• Rebellion of Miletus and the Greek cities of Asia Minor
• First Persian invasions of Balkan Greece (492-490 BC)
• Campaign of Xerxes
• Organization of the Delian Symmachy (the first Athenian maritime
union). The liberation of the Greek policies of Asia Minor and the
straits from Persian domination
• Rising tension between Athens and Sparta

3. • The war of the Greeks with Persia dates from 500–449 BC. this is one
of the longest military clashes in world history. Usually in the scientific
literature it is customary to call the struggle of the Greeks with the
Persian state the Greco-Persian wars because the hostilities were not
continuous, but the outfit of military campaigns, more or less long,
fell apart. There are five such military campaigns:

4. • 500–494 BC e. - the uprising of Miletus and the Greek cities of Asia Minor
against the Persian yoke.
• 492–490 BC e. - the first invasion of Persian troops into the territory of the
Balkan Greece.
• 480–479 BC e. - Xerxes' campaign against Greece - the climax of the Greco-
Persian wars.
• 478–459 BC e. - a change in the nature of military operations, the
transition of the strategic initiative to the Greeks, the liberation of the
Greek cities of the islands of the Aegean Sea and Asia Minor from the
Persians. Strengthening Athenian military power.
• 459–449 BC e. - military expedition of Athens and their allies to Egypt and
the end of the Greco-Persian wars.

5. • Miletus, the largest Greek city in Asia Minor, was the first to rebel
against the Persians. In 500 BC. e. the Persian protege Aristagoras,
relying on the intensified anti-Persian sentiments, found it possible to
lead the patriotic forces. He resigned the power of the tyrant,
restored the functioning of polis institutions and called on the
inhabitants of Miletus to an armed uprising against the Persians. The
example of Miletus was followed by other Ionian cities, which
expelled the royal henchmen - tyrants - and the Persian garrisons
where they were. The rebellious cities entered into an alliance to
conduct a joint struggle against the Persians.

6. • Messengers were sent to all the cities of Asia Minor with a proposal
to join the uprising. This call was supported by all the cities of Asia
Minor from Byzantium and Chalcedon to Pamphylia and Cyprus.
Aristagoras, who at first found himself at the head of the uprising,
went to Balkan Greece for help. However, here his mission turned out
to be practically fruitless: Sparta refused to help, and only Athens sent
a small squadron of 20 warships (five ships were sent by the city of
Eretria).

7. • The rebellious cities created a single command. The militia of the
rebellious cities in the summer of 498 BC. e. attacked Sardis, the
residence of the Asia Minor satrap, destroyed the city, although they
could not take the Acropolis, where the satrap Artafren took refuge
with the garrison. The following year, the allied Greek fleet defeated
the Phoenician squadron near Cyprus. The uprising grew and began
to pose a serious threat to Persian domination throughout Asia Minor.
Darius understood the danger of the situation and took the most
decisive measures.

8. • The Persians managed to inflict a sensitive defeat on the Greeks near
the city of Ephesus. By 495 BC. e. the Persians gathered a huge fleet
of Phoenician ships (there were about 600 of them) and inflicted a
severe defeat on the allied fleet, drawn up to protect Miletus, at the
island of Lada. The center of the uprising, Miletus, was besieged by
the Persians, after almost a year of siege, it was taken in 494 BC. e.
and brutally destroyed, the inhabitants killed or sold into slavery.
Soon all other rebellious Greek cities were brought to submission.

9. The first Persian invasions in Balkan Greece
(492-490 BC)
• The Persians managed to inflict a sensitive defeat on the Greeks near
the city of Ephesus. By 495 B.C. e. The Persians assembled a huge
fleet of Phoenician ships (there were about 600 of them) and inflicted
a heavy defeat on the Allied fleet, built to protect Miletus, off the
island of Lada. The center of the uprising, Miletus, was besieged by
the Persians; after a siege of almost a year, it was taken in 494 BC. e.
and brutally destroyed, the inhabitants were killed or sold into
slavery. Soon all the other rebellious Greek cities were subjugated.

10. • In 492 BC. e. Mardonius sent his army across the Hellespont (modern
Dardanelles), which began to capture the northern coast of the
Aegean Sea. A fleet of supplies, equipment and provisions
accompanied the ground forces. The Persians managed to subdue the
coastal Greek cities, the southern Thracian tribes. However, near Cape
Athos, the Persian fleet got into a storm and was destroyed on the
coastal rocks. According to Herodotus, 300 ships and about 20
thousand people perished.

11. • In 491 BC. e. Persian ambassadors were sent to all the policies of
Balkan Greece demanding complete obedience (demanding "land and
water"), or at least neutrality in a future war. Many Greek policies of
the islands (for example, the islands of Aegina), Thessaly, Boeotia
obeyed this demand, Argos declared its neutrality, but the most
powerful Greek states, Sparta and Athens, categorically rejected the
demands. The Spartans threw the ambassadors into the well, offering
to take "land and water" there themselves, and the Athenians
overthrew the ambassadors from the cliff. The assassination of the
ambassadors made any negotiations impossible. The Greeks were
preparing for war.

12. • After waiting for calm weather, Datis and Artafrenes, observing
extreme caution, transported their army to the island of Euboea,
where they captured and destroyed Eretria, and enslaved its
inhabitants. After the conquest of Euboea, the Persians landed in the
northeastern part of Attica - near the town of Marathon, located 42
km from Athens.

13. • In all likelihood, the plan of military action against Athens was drawn
up on the advice of Hippias. On the wide plain of Marathon, the
Persians could calmly and conveniently position their army and use
excellent cavalry. Having a well-fortified camp, the Persians could
freely devastate the whole of Attica. From Marathon, Athens could be
attacked by land, and a large Persian fleet could round Cape Sunius
and attack Athens from the sea. It was this combined attack of the
fleet from the sea and the land army from the depths that brought
the Persians success in taking Miletus in 494 BC. e.

14. • In 490 BC f. Miltiades was one of the strategists and proposed a plan
of warfare that ultimately led the Athenians to victory. Miltiades
wanted to get ahead of the Persians and impose his offensive tactics
on them. He persuaded his fellow strategists not to sit out in weakly
fortified Athens, but to lead the entire army to Marathon and fight a
decisive battle there. September 12, 490 BC e. the famous Battle of
Marathon took place, which went down in the history of ancient
military art.

15. • Using the features of the terrain, Miltiades built a phalanx (only 11
thousand people) not in the way that was usually done by the Greeks,
1000–1200 soldiers along the front and 8 lines deep, but stretched it
by reducing the density of rows in the center so that so that the flanks
rested on the neighboring hills, which protected the Greeks from
being surrounded and attacked by the Persian cavalry. To give greater
maneuverability, the phalanx was divided into three parts: the left
flank, center and right flank, which could act independently.

16. Campaign of Xerxes
• Darius I, realizing that his military and political prestige had been
dealt a severe blow, began preparations for a new invasion of Greece
with redoubled energy. However, his death in 486 BC. e., and then the
outbreak of uprisings in Babylonia and Egypt prevented the new king,
the son of Darius, Xerxes, from completing these preparations. But,
having restored relative calm in his vast power by 483 BC. e., Xerxes
energetically began direct military and diplomatic preparations for a
decisive campaign against Greece. From all over the empire, military
contingents were drawn to Asia Minor, a fleet was built, equipment,
food and supplies were prepared.

17. • By 481 BC. e. in Balkan Greece, civil strife was stopped and a military
alliance of 31 policies of Greece was concluded at the congress in
Corinth. The armed forces and the fleet were united, exhibited in the
maximum number, the Spartan kings were placed at the head of the
combined army and fleet as the most experienced military leaders.

18. • In the early spring of 480 BC. e. began the great campaign of Xerxes
to Hellas. The Persians crossed over two pontoon bridges across the
Hellespont Strait, and the crossing was not without a curiosity: a
strong current and a wave destroyed one pontoon bridge. The
enraged Xerxes, as a typical oriental despot, who considers himself
the master of not only people, but also the elements, ordered to
punish the waters of the Hellespont with scourges, and shackles were
thrown into the water to pacify him. The builders of the bridge were
beheaded. We had to build a new bridge.

19. • The narrow Thermopylae Gorge was chosen as a new defensive line,
along which the only road from Thessaly to Central Greece passed.
Defensive structures were built here - a wall, towers (their remains
were discovered by archaeologists). A combined detachment of 7.2
thousand hoplites headed here, including 300 Spartans led by their
king Leonidas. At the same time, a strong Greek fleet of 270 triremes
took up positions near the northern tip of the island of Euboea at
Cape Artemisium.

20. • The defense of Thermopylae has become a symbol of the merciless
and sacred struggle for the independence of Greece. In the combat
episode at Thermopylae, the best aspects of the Greek military
organization appeared in all their splendor. A huge Persian army for
four days stormed the Greek positions, defended by a small
detachment. Things got to the point that, frightened by the heroic
actions of the Greeks, the Persian soldiers refused to go on the attack
and, by order of the king, they were driven forward with whips.
Xerxes was forced to bring into battle his famous guard, the so-called
"immortals", which was done on very rare occasions.

21. • In Central Greece, a select corps remained, led by an experienced
Mardonius.
• Mardonius withdrew his troops to Boeotia, friendly to the Persians,
reorganized them and in the spring of the next 479 BC. e. recaptured
and sacked Athens. Near Cape Mycale, a reserve army and fleet were
being prepared, which were supposed to insure the actions of
Mardonius. In 479 BC. e. the Greek allied command developed a plan
for a combined strike and destruction at the same time of both the
land army of Mardonius in Boeotia and the reserve base at Mycale.

22. • The allied Greek militia under the command of the talented Spartan
commander Pausanias gathered in Boeotia and, near the city of
Plataea, forced a decisive battle on Mardonius (479 BC). The Battle of
Plataea, one of the largest land battles of antiquity, is an example of
the military art of Ancient Greece.

23. • Mardonius had a select 70-thousandth army, the Greek allied militia
was no less. During the battle, examples of military cunning, tactical
talent and skillful maneuvering of large masses of infantry were
shown. Both commanders - Mardonius and Pausanias - lined up
troops in fortified positions, and each sought to lure the enemy out of
the fortifications, forcing them to strike the first blow.

24. • The cavalry of Mardonius managed to find and fill up the sources of
water supply of the Greeks, intercept the wagons with food and
thereby put their army in a difficult position. Unable to remain in his
fortified positions, Pausanias makes a risky and completely
unexpected maneuver for the enemy. In the dead of night, he ordered
his center, consisting of the hoplites of the allied cities, to withdraw
from their positions, retreat 20 km to Plataea and gain a foothold
there.

25. • The battles at Plataea and Mycale were a brilliant end to the intense
struggle of the Greeks with the army of Xerxes. After her death, the
great king no longer dreamed of conquering free Hellas, the military
power of the Persian monarchy was so shaken that the king had to
think about how to keep his state from disintegration.
• There was a radical turn in the hostilities of the Greek policies with
the Persian state. The strategic initiative passed to the Greeks. Having
repulsed the attack on Balkan Greece, the Greeks set themselves new
tasks: the liberation of the cities of the western part of Asia Minor
and the straits from Persian rule.

26. Organization of the Delian Symmachy (the
first Athenian maritime union).
• The liberation of the Greek policies of Asia Minor and the straits from
Persian domination
• The repulse of the Persian invasion became possible thanks to the
unification of the Greek policies and, above all, Sparta, Corinth and
Athens. This joining of forces was caused by the mortal danger from
• Persia. But after the decisive victories of the Greeks in 480-479. BC e.
and the elimination of the Persian threat, disagreements began to
appear between the allies on a number of military-political issues.

27. • Sparta weakened its activity, in fact, withdrew from the all-Greek
union created in Corinth in 481 BC. e. On the contrary, Athens
became the center of gravity for the remaining members of this
union, and new members also sought to enter it, mainly from among
the liberated island and Asia Minor cities.

28. • The Allies preferred to contribute an appropriate amount of money,
allowing the Athenians to spend it on the maintenance of additional
contingents of Athenian hoplites and naval crews. Athens, thus,
received at its disposal significant financial resources (460 talents) for
the maintenance of an impressive fleet and land army (up to 200
triremes, 40 thousand crew and rowers, 10 thousand hoplites and 1
thousand horsemen). Therefore, the Delian Symmachy is usually
called the First Athenian Maritime Union.

29. • After the brilliant victory of Cimon at the Eurymedon, the power of
Athens and their predominance in the Delian League increased.
Attempts by two islands - Naxos (469 BC) and Thasos (465 BC) - to
leave the union in protest against the strengthening of Athens were
decisively suppressed. Sent Athenian squadrons tore down the walls
of their city fortifications, the cities of the allies reimbursed the
expenses incurred by the Athenians, they were forbidden to have
their own fleet and forced to pay additional amounts to the allied
treasury.

30. • Kimon (Greek Κίμων; Kímon) (512 BC - 450 BC, Kitia, Cyprus) was a
military leader and politician of Athens during the Greco-Persian
wars.
• The son of Miltiades and Hegesipila, the daughter of the Thracian king
Olora, belonged to the aristocratic family of Philaeides. As an ordinary
soldier and commander-in-chief, he participated in many battles
(including the battle of Salamis and the battle of Eurymedon). After
the expulsion of Themistocles in 470 BC. became the main politician
of ancient Athens.