Leadership and battle strategy in the Persian War Essay

Leadership and battle strategy in the Persian War - Essay Example The thesis statement encompassing this paper is the "leadership and battle strategies in Persian Wars". The Persian wars started with a series of battles within the Greek states, predominantly on the part of Persia against several Greek cities in view of the Persian King's strategy of expanding his kingdom and rule. The Persians waged a war against the Athens and Erectia because of the support these states provided to Ionians and other Greek cities in their fight against Persia. The Persian leader at that time was King Darius I, the Great King of Persia who succeeded in seizing control of almost all the Greek states other than the Athens and Strata (Pomeroy 187-188). The preeminent of all the battles fought in the Persian war was the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC that shaped the destiny of Greek empire. This war not only determined the extent of influence exerted by Persia or Athens politically, but also the prevalence of democracy in Greece. The history of Greece would certainly have been different had the Persians won the battle of Marathon against the Athenians. The Athenians were not as strong as Persians with regard to the infantry, war resources and weapons. The Persians were great in number as compared to the Persians, but were endowed with war discipline and an effective military system along with an efficient leadership. Weir propounds that the strategy Greeks employed in their war with Persians was to evoke insurgency among the people who were inside the Persian Empire so as to subvert their strength. The Athenian commander, Miltiades, had also once remained a Persian commander who betrayed the King of Persia. The Greeks, at that time, also excogitated an effective military system that enabled their soldiers to move about the narrow mountains swiftly. They had also developed in terms of weapons, shields and armors that were used by the fighters in the course of war. The primary weapons that the Greek army mostly carried were spears while short swords were also kept as secondary weapons of war (11). The use of traitors in a battle against the enemy seems to be the most eminent strategy engaged by leaders even in the ancient Greece. Miltiades who once happened to be a tyrant in Greek states and also a commander of Persian army, joined hands with Athenians after his partition with the King of Persia. He proved to be one of the prominent leaders in the series of Persian wars who played an effective role in motivating the Athenians to drive the Persians out of the state. When faced with the dilemma of attacking the powerful Persian army, the Athenian leaders had different opinions as to risk a fight or not. Some leaders were in favor of fighting the Persians in an open attack while others were reluctant of taking the risk. The thing that was at stake was not only the lives of Athenians, but also more importantly, the emerging democracy that had the ability to free the Greek world from the claws of tyranny. Miltiades, who was strongly against the Persians, incited the commanders to attack the Persian infantry so as to defend the democracy of Athens (Weir 10). Miltiades also persuaded the other Athenian leaders to go in the favor of attack in order to save Athens from the tyrannical rule of the King Darius as in Persia. Persians had to confront the two strongest opponents of all the Greek States viz. Athens and Strata as a consequence of attacking Athens. Darius, the Great