The War-Changing Battle of Thermopylae

In August 480 B.C.E a peaceful and silent mountain pass called Thermopylae located in the southern part of Greece was about to turn into a blood-stained boneyard of Persian and Greek soldiers. In the mountain pass stood the Spartan military which was full of soldiers who were the ultimate hoplites, who devoted their lives to training as heavy infantry. The Spartan government had 4 main parts, a citizen assembly with limited power (ex - they could refuse war), a powerful council of elders, five "ephors", who were elected executive officers and two hereditary kings. The Spartan military was led by a man named Leonidas, The Greek forces included 300 Spartans and their helots with 2,120 Arcadians, 1,000 Locrians, 1,000 Phocians, 700 Thespians, 400 Corinthians, 400 Thebans, 200 men from Phlius, and 80 Mycenaeans. The Battle of Thermopylae was a battle in the narrow pass of Thermopylae located in Greece.

The battle was between the Spartans led by Leonidas against the Persian army led by King Xerxes I of Persia. The battle of Thermopylae was the first battle between the Persians and Greeks during the Persian invasion. The battle took place in 480 B.C.E around August or September. The Persians, if they won, would gain control of Boeotia. Although the Persians won the battle, the Greeks still succeeded in delaying the Persians by using their strongest formation known as the Phalanx formation, and by doing so they gave other cities time to prepare, and they cost the Persians lots of loss in manpower.

The end result of the Battle was somewhat to be expected, the Persians had beaten the Spartans and Greeks after three days of vigorous battle. Since the Persians won they gained control over Boeotia. Boeotia lies to the north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It also has a short coastline on the Gulf of Euboea. Boeotia is a strategic place to take because it has a coastline on two sides of it so the Persians only need to worry about being attacked from two instead of all four side. King Xerxes made his camp in the region of Malis called Trachinia while the Greeks occupied the straits. These straits would, in general, call Thermopylae (the Hot Gates) by the Greeks, but the natives call them Pylae (the Gate). The main part that leads to the Greeks defeat was when a traitor told Xerxes of a path above Thermopylae, the path would make it so Xerxes could send troops behind the Greeks.

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The battle was taken there for the Greeks defence and if the Persians one, they would have a great holding point against other Greek armies. After this news, Xerxes decided to send some of his best troops on the overpass. By the dawn of the Third day, Leonidas had realised that he was betrayed by one of the greeks. With the Spartans/Greeks being surrounded Leonidas said that anyone who didn't want to die to leave then. The factor is that the Spartans had 300 men + 6000 others (approx). Herodotus said that there were around two million Persians but most people deny that and say that the Persians had somewhere between 70,000-300,000 as a modern estimate, but most sources normally say that there was around 100,000 Persian soldiers.

There are 4,000 estimated casualties on the Greeks side according to Herodotus'. The significance of the Persians obtaining the straits is quite significant. They wouldn't have to worry about being attacked from the coastline which was on two sides, also, Thermopylae was more towards the bottom of Greece so they could easily go after the other bottom parts that were cut off from the rest of Greece.

The Greeks held off the Persians for so long due to their Tactical planning (using a very narrow path) and their strong formation known as the phalanx formation. The reason the phalanx is so strong is soldiers made up a closely packed rectangular formation of shields and spears. Once the phalanx was formed the soldiers would advance slowly toward the opposing enemy, knock off blows with their shields.

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