Ancient wars: the battle of marathon essay examples

During the ancient times around 490bc, two of the most powerful countries that lie along the Mediterranean Sea were headed to war. The Persian’s who’s vast territory stretched from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Indus River Valley was the largest army the world had ever seen during those times. The Greeks territory was quite smaller and so was its army. The Persian army easily doubled the Greeks numbers in size and a victory was all but certain for the Persian King Xerxes.

The Persians were an army made up of many different men from many conquered countries that had defeated by the armies of Persia. Their power was measured by its numbers and the ground shook while they marched towards the Greeks for what was thought to be an easy victory. The Greeks knowing that they were outnumbered knew that the only way they could win the battle was to use military tactics and the will of their highly trained soldiers. They were all that stood in the way of their city, homes and families being destroyed by the Persians and each one was ready to fight to the last man.

The Persians aligned their army with their most experienced and heavily armored soldiers in the middle. They were expecting a frontal attack from the Greeks. The Greeks knowing this sent many of their own heavily armored soldiers out to a flanking position that the Persian were unaware of. They would also attack them from the side. When the time was right, the Greeks attacked the Persian army head on and from the side which threw the Persian army immediately into confusion and panic.

The flanking army of the Greeks drove the more inexperienced army of the Persians towards the middle meeting their armies from the frontal attack. The more heavily armored and highly trained soldiers of the Greek army demolished the Persian armies pushing them back to their ships and retreating to the sea. It was a very one sided battle with over 6000 Persians dead and only about 200 Greek casualties. The Greeks defeated the most feared army of it’s time and the Persians never returned to the tiny country again.