Jake Hamblin

Professor Curtis-Khidr

HIS1111

3 May 2021

The Persian Wars

In the 5th century BC, the Persians and the Greeks were peaceful. However, little did

people know this wouldn’t last. The Persians and the Greeks broke out into war in 492BC and

wouldn’t end until 449BC, almost 50 years. However, to understand more about the Persian

Wars, you must understand why they happened and who the people that led the nations into war

were. In 5th century BC, Darius I would take over as the King of Persia. In 492 BC, King Darius

wanted to expand his nation. So, after being shamed into it, Darius decided to invade Greece.

This single action would start 50 years of unrest in both nations, ultimately resulting in Greece

winning the wars. However, this doesn’t answer most of the questions that may be posed. Did

the Persian’s really start the war over being shamed? How did the Greeks win? Most

importantly, what happened because of the Greek win?

The Greek Empire first saw it’s rise in the 8th century BC. During it’s almost 600-year

reign, it was involved in many wars, had many different types of leadership, and encompassed

many different regions. By 600BC, Greek city-states spread from the Mediterranean to Asia

Minor and from North Africa to the Black Sea. From the beginning, as mentioned earlier, the

Greeks preferred to have city-states that they called poleis. Each poleis was independent and

self-sufficient. The Greek Empire’s population is very disputed, however, in 500BC, it was

estimated that they had around two and a half million people. Originally, the individual poleis in
Ancient Greece were based around a democracy. However, as the poleis grew, things like

consumer goods starting to grow in production. The people who benefited mostly from this

growth usually weren’t part of the old aristocracy, so, they would often use their extreme wealth

(along with the power of their military) to appoint new leaders. This spiraled into poleis’ going

from being democracies to monarchies. However, the Persians led a different type of

government.

The Persian Empire originally started in the 6th century BC. Originally, the Persian

Empire was a collection of semi-nomadic tribes on the Iranian plateau. However, Cyrus the

Great, who was a leader of one of the tribes, started to defeat kingdoms, like Babylon, Media,

and Lydia and joined them under one government. This would start the first Persian Empire. At

the height of its reign, the Persian Empire stretched from the Balkan Peninsula to the Indus

Valley. During this time, around 500BC, it was estimated that they had almost 50 million people.

The Persian Empire took a different government structure than the Greeks. They were an

absolute monarchy that often-had widespread local autonomy. Additionally, they put a strong

emphasis on religious figures being apart of the inner workings on the government. However, the

Persian Empire would get itself involved in an almost 50 year set of wars in the 5th century BC.

Before the Persian Wars started, the Greeks and Persians were mostly separate. No

fighting happened and no abnormal negative feelings were felt between the two empires.

However, this peace only lasted so long. In the 5th century BC, Darius the Great wanted to

expand the Persian Empire. His wife, Atossa, shamed him into invading the Greek Empire.

Darius the Great lost the first, the Battle of Marathon. This loss would humiliate Darius the

Great, who would die before being able to strike back. However, his successor, Xerxes wasn’t

going to let the loss go unopposed. So, in 582BC (ten years after the Battle of Marathon), Xerxes
formed an unprecedented military force. However, the size of this force had one major downfall:

it was so big that it made doing anything extremely slow. This slowness allowed from the Greeks

to prepare their defense. The Persians and the Greeks would have several wars, mostly resulting

in the Greek wins. Around 480BC, Xerxes returned to Persia, leaving his army in Greece. The

army would be defeated in 479BC at the Battle of Plataea. Following this loss, the Persians and

the Greeks continued their fighting for another 30 years, before the wars were officially ended in

449BC by the Peace of Callias.

The Persian Wars had many significant impacts on the future of both empires. However,

the questions are still posed: Why did the wars happen? Did they need to happen? These are

questions that must be asked for you to better understand both empires. In the end, the wars

didn’t need to happen. The Persian Wars were caused by Darius the Great having a hurt ego. He

tried to expand his empire, and in doing so, started something he thought it would have never

become. The wars could’ve been avoided had Darius the Great decided to remain wholesome on

the empire he had. However, these wars ended up giving a good kickstart to the Greek empire,

which could be look at as a positive attribute for the Greeks. The Greeks simply won the Persian

Wars because they made better strategical choices than the Persians did. The wars showed a

simple truth in ancient society: no matter how big or strong your empire is, the winner is always

the one who makes the better strategical choices.

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greece
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/persian-empire

https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/persian-

empire
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece