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Persian and Greek Strategies during Xerxe's invasions
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Strategies of the Persians and Greeks Evaluate the Greek and Persian strategy in Xerxes’ invasion of 480-479BC In the years before the discovery of gunpowder, canons and nuclear weapons, ancient warfare relied on the adoption of sly and skilful tactics. This is clearly evident throughout the historical period of the “Third Persian Campaign” where Xerxes the Persian king (486-465 BC) invaded Greece seeking revenge for his father Darius’ humiliating defeat at Marathon. In the time period of 480-479 BCE, the Persians and the Greeks used a variety of techniques such as intimidation, encirclement and more importantly the extensive use of naval vessels. Much of the Greeks’ success also came about through their employment of trickery as well as their clever choice of battle sites. We are firstly told by Herodotus that Xerxes spent four long years to planning his incursions. One of his main objectives was to travel across Greece without any drawbacks; this was achieved through his implementation of “scare tactics”. In comparison to Xerxes’ Persian forces, Darius’ past army would have been seen as minute. The number of his troops was the largest ever to have been assembled in the ancient world consisting of an estimated 100 000 enslaved men from all over the Persian Empire, and most notably the inclusion of an elite corps of ten-thousand soldiers often referred to as the “Immortals”. Just knowing these statistics would have sent alarm bells off in Greece, where city states such as Thrace submitted to the Persians without any threatening any form of conflict.
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