At the Battle of Marathon, 10,000 Greek citizens defeated the numerically superior Persian Army. How did the Athenians win, and why did they get involved in this war?
In 499 BC, the Greek Ionian city-states rebelled against Darius I (Emperor of Persia) of the Achaemenid Empire. By 494 BC, the Ionians were defeated. Darius was furious at Eretria and Athens, who had assisted the Ionians, and decided to invade Greece and punish the two cities. After capturing the group of islands in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, the Persian army sailed to Eretria and conquered it. Immediately afterwards, the Persian garrison reached mainland Greece and camped at Marathon, preparing to face Athens. While the Athenians were overwhelmed by the Persian attack, the Athenian statesman Myrtíades believed that the army should not stay in Athens, but should be surprised in the Persian camp. So an army of 10,000 men (1,000 men per Athenian tribe) marched towards Marathon. Everything is ready for the famous Marathon Battle.
How effective was the Persian army before the Battle of Marathon?
As far as the army is concerned, it is divided into regular army (standing army) and reserve army. The former consisted of 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 immortal armies that made up infantry. The name "Immortal" derives from the fact that their strength remains constantly at ten thousand, since after each battle, their numbers are immediately replenished by new recruits. There was also a special immortal army, consisting of 1,000 soldiers, who usually served as the king's bodyguard.
Reservists were recruited only during periods of mass mobilization, such as the war against Greece. Each city of the vast Persian Empire contributed to the army, mainly infantry, which meant that each division was organized in the traditional way and fought using tactics with which they were already familiar. The heterogeneity of the weapons, the fact that most of the soldiers spoke different languages, the different ways of fighting, and the lack of training were the weaknesses of the Persian legions. Commanding an army in battle must have been a nightmare for the Persian generals, as the army had no advanced tactical and maneuvering experience, and even their loyalty was questionable.
Herodotus did not provide information about the manpower of the army fighting against Athens. However, the number of their ships indicates that the total strength of the Persian army was about 150,000 (but not all of them participated in the Battle of Marathon).
During the Greek campaign, Darius I did not personally lead the army. Leadership was given to Admiral Datis and his nephew Artavonis.
What was the state of the Athenian army?
When the Athenians learned of the Persian invasion, they immediately turned to Sparta for help. However, the Spartans invoked an ancient law and rejected the Athenians' request outright.
But a few days before the Battle of Marathon, the Athenian army was reinforced by 1,000 soldiers from Platia. The Platyans expected that after the war, the Athenians would protect them and escape from the Thebes who ruled their region. Nevertheless, the numerical superiority of Persia remained a major problem, which created three difficulties for the Athenians who had been chosen to lead the Athenian army:
(1) What should the elite Achaemenian cavalry do?
(2) Persian archers and their number of arrows. How to solve this last few hundred meters?
(3) Athens could not line up as many soldiers as Persia did. (The battles at this time are not the same as the battles in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period in China, they do not have strategy books such as Sun Tzu's Art of War, do not need too many tactics, and finally they are all lined up, hand-to-hand combat, and hard-hitting.) So the number of soldiers is crucial)
The first problem was solved by Lady Luck, who, while planning a trip to Faroe and destroying Athens, put all the cavalry on their warships and sailed with the wind.
On the second question, Miltiades decided to sprint the last 200 meters (the range of the Persian arrow) to limit the casualties caused by the arrow. For the first time in military history, a force was crossing the battlefield at such a rapid pace.
The third problem is probably the one that bothers Miltiades the most. He needed to cover the same front as the Persian army and suppress the numerical superiority of the enemy infantry. Traditionally, the Persians deployed their most elite troops in the center of the formation, while the rest of the army was deployed on the flanks. Therefore, Miltiades chose to strengthen the Greek flank and tried to encircle the Persian center from the flank.
How did the Battle of Marathon unfold?
Phase I: The battle begins at dawn, the Greeks accept the battle formations and march towards the enemy front. They dared to attack because they had intelligence that the Persians had decided to board their cavalry ships. When the Greeks reached 200 meters from the Persian army, they began to frantically run towards the enemy front to avoid huge losses from persian arrows. This strategy seems to have worked, as there were no reports of casualties at this stage.
The Greeks attacked early in the morning, much to the surprise of the Persians. However, the Athenians quickly advanced towards their front, which once again shocked the Persians. The conflict across the front line was intense. The athenian army's superiority in close combat led to the rapid dissolution of the Persian flank and escape. However, the numerically weaker Center of Athens also began to retreat. The Persian central forces also frantically pursued them, unaware that their flanks had been destroyed.
Stage 2: After destroying the Persian flanks, the Athenian flank formed a phalanx of 9,000 men and turned to attack the enemy's central rear. The Persians found themselves surrounded on both sides. As the Persian army scattered in terror, the army was in disarray and wailing. In an attempt to escape, a large number of people fell into the swamps of the battlefield, some drowning and some dying at the hands of the Greeks.
Stage III: The third phase of frenzied pursuit struck all the way to the Persian camp and Persian ships. However, the Athenians captured only about 6 of the 600 Persian ships, spartans sent two thousand reinforcements, and the war was over, leaving only the Spartans silently admiring the Athenians' highlights.
After three hours of fighting, the Battle of Marathon ended at approximately 08:30. The Greeks lost only 192 and the Persians 6,400.
After the battle, the Persians began to sail towards Fariro, attacking the undefended city of Athens. However, the Greek army had managed to reach Fariro within 8 hours. When the Persians saw Miltiades and the Athenian army waiting for them, they were discouraged and decided to return to Asia by boat. Darius I's campaign failed to capture Athens.
The defeated Persians began to realize how difficult it would be to conquer Greece. Darius I was depressed, but his son Xerxes I avenged his father and launched the Second Hippoc War, which was rare in ancient European history. Of course, this is an afterthought.
At the same time as the end of the war, Miltiades ordered Felipides, who was good at long-distance running, to return to Athens to report the victory, and he ran 42 kilometers in one breath, and when he arrived in Athens, he only shouted: "We are victorious!" Athens is saved! "He died of exhaustion. Later generations set up the marathon long-distance running as a sport to commemorate the marathon battle and the feats of Felipides.
Marathon shattered the myth of Persian invincibility, an achievement that provided vital confidence to the Greeks who once again fought the Persians in Salamis and Platia. This meant that many of the commanders who served in Marathon had participated in later battles and understood the persian minds that, in the long run, would lead Alexander the Great in conquering Asia, eventually leading to the decline and fall of the Persian Empire.
The marathon was the catalyst and much of the reason behind the Athenians who thought they were on a par with the Spartans – which allowed them to flourish. If the marathon fails and Athens is annihilated, the Western democracy, culture, art, and philosophy that developed from this historical period may be lost, and today's Western world may be very different.