1. Greek wars

2. Persian war 499-479 BC Peloponnesian war 431-404 Bc

3. The Persian problem
Leaders very good at getting money from colonies around the empire
Darius
Wrote account of how he became king
Put a tyrant in charge of Miletus
Aristagoras
Account probably just to cover up a coup
There were revolts going on in persia and he used that to cover up his murder of the heir to the throne
He said that Cambyses ii killed his brother and another lied to the Persians to get them to revolt against Cambyses, people chose the non Achaemenid to be their ruler but then Darius prayed for aid and defeated the guy
Aristagoras wanted to capture island of Naxos under Greek control and the Persians supported him but it was a disaster so instead of waiting to be fired he got all of the Greeks living in Asia Minor to revolt against the Persians

5. ionian revolt Aristagoras led a revolt Gets help from Athenians
Get control of Sardis, burn it to the ground
"Remember the Athenians"
Aristagoras wanted to capture island of Naxos under Greek control and the Persians supported him but it was a disaster so instead of waiting to be fired he got all of the Greeks living in Asia Minor to revolt against the Persians
Ionian revolt
Greeks not unified at this time so it was a little difficult to rally the forces to defeat the Persians

6. Battle of Marathon 490 BC Persia and Athens meet in Marathon
20,000 Persians 10,000 Athenians
Fierce battle, Athens pulls off the win
Persian ships go to Athens
Soldiers marched back in time to defeat Persia
6400 Persians die, 192 Athenians
Runner went to Sparta to ask for help and then back to marathon then had to run back to Athens and tell of victory and the coming Persians..got to Athens and then died (ran about 150 miles in a very short period of time as fast as he could)

8. Invasion of xerxes
Herodotus reports millions of troops sent by the Persians
Had a dream that the gods were telling him to invade
Has complete faith in his numbers
Probably around 200,000 troops
Warned to fear the Spartans but ignored because he thought they were without a leader so they will never unite and fight against enemies

10. Battle of Thermopylae Greeks knew they were outnumbered
Gave up Northern Greece so that they could have defensive position
Funneled in the Persians so not as many were fighting at once
Athenians get help from Spartans led by Leonidas
Leonidas thinks he was chosen by an oracle to go fight
Stays to give the others a chance to escape and to fulfill the prophecy

11. Greeks hold off the Persians for a long time
Use of the phalanx
Persians find another mountain pass, surround Greeks on all sides
Leonidas and the Spartans stay and fight, let other Greeks retreat
THERMOPYLAE WAS A DEFEAT

12. Persian war by sea Artemisium Some time as Thermopylae Salamis
Persians had many more ships, lost a lot to storms on the way
Moral victory for the Greeks
Salamis
Weather destroyed more Persian ships
Greeks know the area better
Greeks led by Themistocles
Made them stay and fight, Greek victory
Battle tactic similar to that of Thermopylae, get Persians into constricted area where they could not use their numbers
Themistocles fined other city-states for not helping in the battle
Triremes--3 story ships built for speed, would ram into the other ships and try to sink them

14. End of the war and aftermath
Battle of Plataea
Greeks defeat Persians, kill their general
Persia never again attacks Greek land
Athens wants to keep fighting
Liberate all of Aegean, more of Persian territory
Create Delian League to keep an army

15. Golden age of greece Led by Pericles
Won the generalship 14 times in a row
Most prominent politician for 20 years
Athens thought very highly of themselves, began to get more power
Acropolis rebuilt, new temple to Athena
Got wealth through trade
Developed the belief that the gods favored Athens and would help them in all they did
Created an empire

16. 30 year peace Athens continued to gain power, create colonies
No Greek city-states would attack each other
Allies could not change sides
Only lasted 14 years
Other Greeks began to get jealous off Athens and thought that they were destroying the idea of the city-state
Ask Sparta to help in the fight against the Athenians and their allies

17. Peloponnesian war 431-404 BC Sparta and allies v. Athens and allies
Sparta invades Athens and defeats them...bad
Athens stays behind its walls, doesn't defend land
Athens has walls to the sea from the city that they can continue to eye supply ships and vice versa
Use their naval power because that's what they were good at

18. Athenian plague All Athenians were inside the city walls
Very crowded, nice place for disease
One third of Athenians died very quickly
Athenian morale very low, eventually forced to surrender

19. End of the war
Athenians lost their navy, empire and, for a time, democracy
Greece was very weak after the war
Gave opportunity for invaders
Phillip II of Macedonia