Battle of Thermopylae

The Battle

by Robert Markham

Xerxes had a difficult decision to make. Due to the bad weather, his supporting fleet was delayed which meant that he would have to approach the pass without naval support and would require a costly frontal assault. If he waited here too long, he would face the problem of supply. His massive army needed constant re-supplying. Without the fleet to re-supply, he would have a supply crisis given the lack of good foraging in this area. The numerical superiority of his army led him to have some hope that the Greeks might willingly allow him to pass rather than face certain destruction. Therefore, he sent them an offer allowing free passage home if they allowed him through the gates.

This Leonidas refused after a council of war with the other Greek leaders. While this was going on, Xerxes sent out scouts probing for a way around the Greek position but found none.

When Xerxes learned that his fleet had been damaged in the storm and would not reach him for a while, Xerxes decided to test the Greek defenses. On August 18, 480 B.C., the battle of Thermopylae began in earnest. Mardonius chose the Medes to assault the Greek position. The Medes were second only to the Persians within the Persian army and were considered more than equal to fighting the Greeks. Armed with wicker shields and spears a foot shorter than the Greeks, they were in for a surprise. When Leonidas observed the Persian army preparing for the assault, he hurried his force into position. His Spartan force would take the first assault. They formed two hundred yards in front of the wall with the other Greek forces deployed in a support or reserve position. Then, the Medes charged. Wave after wave of Medes hit the Spartan phalanx with the result of stacks of dead bodies in front of the bronze wall of the Greeks.

After numerous attacks, the Medes first wavered and then fled back to the Persian army. Their morale had finally snapped against the seemingly impenetrable wall of bronze shields. Mardonius then moved the Scythians and Cissians forward. He hoped that continued pressure on the Greek position would finally break the wall. For his part, Leonidas had done an expert job of rotating his force in and out of the front line, with each Greek contingent given its turn at the front. By that way, he hoped to counter the incredible pressure that the Persians were putting on the Greek position. The Scythians and Cissians had much the same luck that the Medes had had in breaking the Greek position. When the Scythians and Cissians finally broke, Xerxes could contain his frustration no longer. He ordered Mardonius to call forth the immortals, and gave instructions to Hydarnes, commander of the Immortals, to take the Greek position.

With light starting to fade, the Immortals marched into combat. The exhausted Greeks once again raised their shields and prepared to receive the onslaught. As the two armies came into contact, the discipline and skills of the Immortals threatened to break the Greek line for the first time. Slowly, amid the din of swords, spears, and shields, the Greek phalanx reinforced the weak areas and began to push back the Immortals. Under the weight and force of the phalanx, the Immortals finally gave way and fled back to the Persian army. Unbelievably against all odds, the Greeks had held the battlefield on the first day of battle, although it had been a near thing at times.

That night, Xerxes held a council of war with his generals and the plan for the next day took shape. A picked force of fighters was assembled, and promises of great wealth were given if they succeeded to take the Greek position. And so, on the second day, the Persian assaults began anew. This time they made some headway against the Greek position, but just as on the first day, the Greeks were able to use their superior weaponry and defensive position to their advantage. As the day went on, the pile of dead in front of the Greek phalanx grew, and, as it grew, so did the difficulty in getting more Persians to attack the position.

On the Greek side, casualties started to mount at a noticeable rate. As night fell at the end of the second day, the Greeks had once again proven themselves to be the dominant force. The question was now becoming whether the Persians had the will to continue the fight long enough to gain the pass. Was Xerxes willing to expend the manpower it would take to win, or would he withdraw and wait for his fleet to reform and arrive?

As the Great King pondered why fate and God had cast him into this position, the solution to his problem approached the Persian camp. It approached in the form of a Greek traitor by the name of Ephialtes. He told Xerxes of a trail through the mountains that led around the Greek position. Hydarnes was once again summoned to Xerxes and was given the chance to restore his favor with the king by leading the Immortals through the trail and trap the Greeks. Ephialtes acted as a guide for the Persians as they set off to make a night march along the trail. The Greeks would not be caught totally unaware, however. Greek conscripts from Ionian cities in Asia Minor had deserted the Persian army and crossed to the Greek side where they brought news of the discovery of the trail.

As dawn approached, so did the Immortals on the Phocians who had held the trail in the Greek rear. The Phocians were caught by surprise and fled before the onslaught of the Immortals. The path was now clear and the Greek position was in danger of being surrounded. When, soon after, messengers brought Leonidas the news of the flight of the Phocians, he immediately grasped the ramifications of the situation and called for a council of war. He was adamant that his force of Spartans would stay, but the other Greek contingents would have to make their own minds up on their plans. In the end, the Thebans and Thespians decided to stay while the rest of the Greeks marched off to safety.

As the Greek force split, Leonidas could see the Persian army preparing for another assault in front of him. This time, there would be no tomorrow. Leonidas knew that before too long the Immortals would arrive and surround the Greek position. There would be no quarter given and none asked for. The Greeks would make the Persian victory a costly one.

With less than 1,000 men remaining, Leonidas chose to deploy further forward than he had on the previous two days. He did this to broaden his line to cause more casualties, as more of line would now make initial contact with the Persians. In this position, the Persians resumed the assault. Just as before, wave after wave of attacks were repulsed, but with no reserves the Greek line began to get smaller and smaller. Before the arrival of the Immortals, the death toll on the Greeks had risen dramatically and amid the fighting, Leonidas fell. With grim determination, the remaining Greek force regained his body and then retreated to a small rise just behind the wall. Here they made their last stand, as the Immortals reached the battlefield and completed the surrounding of the remaining Greek force. Here they died to the man. Xerxes had been proven victorious but at a heavy cost.

With no land force opposing them, the Persian army flooded across Greece finally taking Athens (which had been evacuated) and destroying the garrison in the Acropolis after particularly vicious fighting. Now, only the Greek fleet was left and the Persian Empire was on the verge of final victory when the battle of Salamis reversed that. At Salamis, the outnumbered Greek fleet defeated and scattered the massive Persian fleet that opposed it. Xerxes watched from the shore as the tide of the war turned on September 23, 480 B.C. Worried of being trapped in Greece with his Hellespont bridges very vulnerable, he retreated to Asia Minor leaving a sizeable force in Greece under the command of Mardonius. The next year, he would face another Spartan led army on the field of battle. This time, the Spartan king, Pausanias, would be victorious, as Mardonius would die on the Plataea battlefield and Persian dominance would be ended in Greece.

It would, however, be the epic stand of the Spartans that would be burned into the memory of the Greeks. Here the brave Leonidas and his men would be remembered.

Battle of Thermopylae

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