Battle of Thermopylae The 300 Spartans 480 B.C.E

Emperor Xerxes Xerxes was the son of Darius & the grandson of Cyrus the Great and the last great ancient ruler of Persia Although he was schooled in mathematics, literature, & philosophy his father Darius was grooming him to by a military leader

Emperor Xerxes As a young boy he learned military tactics as well as how to fight hand to hand His father once put him in a courtyard with only a spear and a lion. He would either kill or be killed

King Leonidas Leonidas was King of the city state of Sparta He heroically led the 300 Spartans against the Persians He became a unifying figure in Greece by uniting the city states and creating nationalism in Ancient Greece

Story of the Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae starts with a man named Xerxes Xerxes is the King of Persia He is trying to conquer the world and expand the empire that Cyrus the Great & Darius had created

Persian Revenge For Xerxes this is also payback/revenge for the Ionian Revolt Xerxes is trying to do what his father Darius could not do at Marathon He plans the battle of Thermopylae for over 10 years

Persian Military The Persian Military was the largest fighting force assembled at that time in history They had already conquered the Egyptians and wanted the lands of Ancient Greece Xerxes himself was leading the Conquering of Greece

Persian Military Forces AT Thermopylae Historians believe that Xerxes brought about 300,000 men plus 1000 ships to conquer Greece The army was led by the Immortals which was the personal guard of Xerxes When his army went into battle formations there were so many men and animals that the ground shook

The Persian Army Assembles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-WXgcX0eLc&feature=youtu.be The Persian Army Assembles

Assembling an Army Xerxes assembles his giant army & navy in modern day Turkey and marches and sails 800 miles to Greece In August of 480 B.C.E. he reaches a narrow pass called Thermopylae This is where King Leonidas have set up fortifications to stop the Persian Military

Thermopylae Pass Thermopylae Pass is a natural place to defend Greece for Leonidas and his small force of men The pass at its widest point is about 200 yards wide On Southside of the pass is Mount Kallidromo which stood about 5,000 ft tall The base of the mountain is about 400 ft of shear vertical rock

Thermopylae Pass On the North side is a 300 foot cliff that sits hanging over the Aegean Sea This was a natural bottleneck between the Northern part of Greece and the mainland of Greece There was no other way to get to Greece than to go through Thermopylae Pass

Why Thermopylae Pass ? King Leonidas chooses Thermopylae pass because he can stack his men at the entrance of the pass and use the Spartan Phalanx battle Tactic He does not have to worry about the Persians coming to either side of them because the Sea is on one side and the Mountain on the other

Why Thermopylae Pass ? The Spartans simply jam up the front of the pass The strength of the Persian Army becomes a weakness because the Persians can only fit so many warriors in the pass

Why Thermopylae Pass ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK6QLligHrc&feature=youtu.be

The Phalanx Battle Strategy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3QOgvam0N4&list=UUPsn1kPoAqrVYAkBtUvtq3w

Democracy is Young At this point in Ancient Greece Democracy is very young Democracy is a government where every citizen gets to vote for representatives and every citizen has a voice in decision making It is a basic idea that America shapes it’s government with today

Turning Point for Ancient Greece The Battle of Thermopylae marks the beginning of something never seen before in Greece The people of Greece have been fighting each other in a civil war for so long (Greeks vs. Spartans) This marks the 1st time in Ancient Greece’s history that all of Greece will team up & unite to fight the Persian Empire

Turning Point for Ancient Greece By joining together Greece was turning away from the thought that they were all separate city states They instead were beginning to become nationalistic They were devolving one Greece instead of individual city states

Day 1 of the Battle of Thermopylae The Battle starts with Xerxes sending one of his generals to demand the surrender of the Spartans The general tells the Spartans that they are heavily outnumbered and if they don’t surrender they will all be killed

Negotiating a Surrender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ponIqkWmKCo&feature=youtu.be

Day 1 of the Battle of Thermopylae Xerxes has so many archers that if they don’t surrender now the archers will blot out the sun with arrows To which one of Leonidas captains replies “Than we shall fight in the shade” Xerxes general returns to his side and orders the archers to fire Millions of arrows rain through the air but they do almost no damage because of the armor that the Spartans wear

We Shall Fight in the Shade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6sR_mGm7W4

Spartan Armor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxkmLk4YfkQ&list=UUPsn1kPoAqrVYAkBtUvtq3w

Day 1 of the Battle of ThermopYLAE Xerxes then sends his infantry at the Spartans Thousands of Persian warriors charge over & over but because of the Phalanx they cannot break through the Spartans lines The Spartans are slaughtering the Persians who are not prepared for this kind of battle

Day 1 of the Battle of Thermopylae The Persians are built for speed They don’t wear any armor because they are used to fighting in an open battlefield where they use their speed to get to the sides of their enemy

Day 1 of the Battle of Thermopylae Because of the Thermopylae pass they cannot do that and Leonidas is just slaughtering them At the end of the 1st day Leonidas and the Spartans have killed thousands (10,000) of Persians with just 300 men

Day 1 of the Battle of Thermopy The night ends with hurricane like winds & rains pounding down on Aegean Sea destroy hundreds more of Xerxes ships The Spartans cheer as they have totally throttled the Persians on day 1 of the Battle of Thermopylae

End of Day 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swTHQRwrlcA&feature=youtu.be

Day 2 of the Battle of Thermopylae Xerxes has had enough of the light infantry get kicked around by the Spartans He starts day 2 by sending in his heavy infantry and personal guard unit called the Immortals

The Immortals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzoAp9jX_as&feature=youtu.be

Day 2 of the Battle of Thermopylae All 10,000 of the Immortals silently slam into the Spartan Phalanx The Immortals are held up by the Spartan Phalanx as they are built for speed and stealth

Day 2 of the Battle of Thermopylae Xerxes also uses animals from his Kingdom that are unknown to the Spartans to try to attack They too are slaughtered by the Spartans Day 2 goes to the Spartans

Xerxes Turns to Animals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCc_krpnjHs&feature=youtu.be

Day 3 of the Battle of Thermopylae Day 3 starts with a Greek scout going to Xerxes and informing him that there is a pass high in the mountains that will allow the Persians to sneak to the back of the Spartan force Xerxes seeing how he has been crushed for the last two days decides to use the pass

The Secret Pass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij31N-qzVs4&feature=youtu.be

Day 3 of the Battle of Thermopylae One of King Leonidas lookout informs him that the Persians have found a secret through the mountains and are coming with 10,000 men Leonidas knowing that the Persians will rain arrows from the top of the mountain knows that his time as come He sends Herodotus to tell about the last stand of the 300 Spartans

Herodotus Leaves to Tell the Story of the 300 Spartans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b8T4s6ZD5w&list=UUPsn1kPoAqrVYAkBtUvtq3w

Day 3 of the Battle of Thermopylae Xerxes 10,000 archers get to the top of the mountain and begin to rain arrows at the Spartans Xerxes ground soldiers attack from the front Early in the battle King Leonidas is struck by an arrow and lies dying as he watches his Spartans die one by one Within 2 hours every Spartan is dead

Xerxes Burns Athens to the Ground After Xerxes kills all Greek soldiers holding the pass he marches through to Athens Herodotus has convinced the Athenians to abandon Athens because he knows Xerxes is coming Xerxes reaches Athens and fulfills his promise to his father Darius and burns it to the ground in revenge

Cultural Perspective of Thermopylae The Greek city states of Athens & Sparta put aside their differences and battled Persia as a unified country King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans become a legend in Greek society and Leonidas becomes a unifying historical figure for all of Greece

Cultural Perspective of Thermopylae Thermopylae was the beginning of Greece moving away from being individual city states into a nation that had a sense of being one country Now everybody in every city state is proud to call themselves a GREEK!

Democracy If the Persians would have won that battle that would have been the end of Democracy Democracy is one of the basic ideas that the United States bases their government on today If democracy would have been crushed that day the world would be a far different place today

Important Points 6.H.2.1- The Persian invasion of Greece influenced the different Greek city states to band together to fight a common enemy (Persia) 6.H.2.3- Sparta became a dominating war culture because of the battle tactics they employed. They used the Phalanx so that few soldiers could defeat large armies 6.H.2.4- King Leonidas became an immediate legend that everyone looked up to. He became the key figure that unified city states into one united country of Greece 6.G.1.1- The Thermopylae Pass could not have been a better place for a few men to take on a huge army. Because of the sea on one side and the mountains on the other Thermopylae was a huge protection path for Ancient Greece 6.C&G.1.1- All of Greece’s newly founded Democracy was in trouble if Xerxes was not stopped. Democracy is what the United States Government is today The 300 Spartans have become legend that everyone basis heroism and bravery upon

Essential Standards 6.H.2- Understand the political, economic and/or social significance of historical events, issues, individuals and cultural groups. 6.G.1- Understand geographic factors that influenced the emergence, expansion and decline of civilizations, societies and regions (i.e. Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas) over time. 6.C&G.1- Understand the development of government in various civilizations, societies and regions.

Clarifying Objective 6.H.2.1- Explain how invasions, conquests and migrations affected various civilizations, societies and regions 6.H.2.3- Explain how innovation and/or technology transformed civilizations, societies and regions over time (Battle Tactics) 6.H.2.4- Explain the role that key historical figures and cultural groups had in transforming society 6.G.1.1- Explain how the physical features and human characteristics of a place influenced the development of civilizations, societies and regions (natural barriers).

Clarifying Objective 6.C&G.1.1- Explain the origins and structures of various governmental systems (e.g., democracy, absolute monarchy and constitutional monarchy).

Essential Question?? Why did civilizations choose to live near natural barriers?