The Battle of Marathon

The Battle of Marathon

Athens vs. Persia

Prologue


In 510 B.C. the Greek city of Athens drove out it's cruel king Hippias and established the first democratic state. The Athenians quickly rose to prominence among the Greeks and began flexing their new-found muscles.

The natural target for Athenian aggression was the vast Persian empire, who had earned Athens' animosity by conquering the Greek colonies in Ionia ( the western coast of modern-day Turkey ). In 500 B.C. Athens sent warships and soldiers to aid those colonies in a revolt against the Persians. Although Persia eventually suppressed the revolt, the Persian king Darius now realized the Greek cities could not be safely ignored.

In 491 B.C. Darius sent envoys to Athens and demanded complete surrender. The fiercely independent Athenians rejected the demand and threw the Persians over a cliff. Enraged, Darius gathered an army of 30,000 men and a fleet of 600 warships and in 490 B.C. sent them to Greece. Darius also sent along the exiled Hippias, who had fled to Persia and would serve as governor of the conquered territory.

Recognizing the danger their city was now threatened with, the Athenians mustered 10,000 soldiers, 1,000 from each Athenian clan, along with 1,000 men from a nearby allied town. Command of this 11,000 man army was given to a general named Miltiades.

In early September 490 B.C. the Persian army landed at the Bay of Marathon, 26 miles east of Athens. Miltiades moved his army to the mountains overlooking the plain of Marathon, blocking the road inland. For four days there was a stalemate as the Athenian position was too strong to be forced and the Persians were too numerous to be attacked on the open plain. Looking to break the deadlock, the Persian commander decided to load 18,000 of his men, including all of his feared Persian cavalry, back onto the ships and sail to attack undefended Athens. While that was going on the remaining 12,000 infantry would hold the Greek army in place.

The Athenians discovered the ruse, however, and Miltiades quickly organized his troops to attack the Persian holding force. The Persian maneuver had given Miltiades a great opportunity, as well as a great danger. On one hand, the Persian force on the beach was open to attack, however, if he couldn't defeat the beach force quickly, he wouldn't be able to march his army back to Athens in time. The war for Athens was now a race against time.

The Armies


Athens- The Athenian army, like all Greek armies of the time, was composed of hoplites. The hoplite was a spearman, covered in bronze armor and carrying a yard-wide shield and 8-foot spear. They fought in phalanx formation, where they would form a wall of shields and spears. The first three ranks would level their spears at the enemy, while the rear ranks held their spears up to deflect incoming arrows and javelins. The rear ranks would also push the men in front of them forwards with their shields, helping the formation push its way through enemy lines. Taken from the front, the only thing that could defeat a phalanx was a bigger and better phalanx.

Persia- The Persian way of war was to use their numbers, archers, and cavalry to overwhelm their enemies on an open battlefield. Although these tactics proved very successful in the wide deserts of the Middle East, the mountainous terrain of Greece would limit their effectiveness. The Persian army was composed of conscripts from all corners of Darius' empire, their different languages and customs limiting their unity and coordination. However, the Persian archers were known for the deadly effectiveness, and the infantry were savage and fierce.

The Battle

Miltiades divided his army into three units: the center with 3,000 men, and the wings with 4,000 men each. He planned to use his center to hold the Persians in place while his powerful wings smashed the enemy flanks. However, Miltiades was afraid that the Persians would outflank his compact phalanx, so to avoid this he took a great risk and stretched his center thin. Making the center phalanx longer and thinner violated every standard Greek battle plan, but now was not the time to be bound by conventional thought.

Stretching his center would not be the only rule of phalanx warfare that Miltiades broke that day. To keep his army from being slaughtered by the thousands of Persian archers, Miltiades ordered his men to all-out charge the last 300 yards between the armies. A phalanx usually went into battle at a steady pace to keep the formation together.

Miltiades' second risk paid-off handsomely, as Greek armor and speed kept missile casualties to a minimum. The Athenians hit the Persian lines like a freight train and the battle was on. However, Miltiades' first gamble of stretching his center, while it succeeded keeping his army from being flanked, also nearly resulted in his defeat. The Persians managed to break through the weakened Greek center through sheer weight of numbers. The full-strength Greek wings, however, broke the Persian flanks and began crushing the Persian center between them. When the Athenian center rallied and rejoined the battle, the Persian army was trapped between the sea and wall of spears. The tide of battle swung towards the Greeks an never turned back.

Aftermath

After three hours of battle the surviving Persians broke for their ships, leaving behind some 6,500 dead or dying comrades. The Greeks, by comparison, had suffered a paltry 192 casualties. Miltiades had won a great victory, but it would be in vain if Athens fell to the other Persian force sailing towards the city.

After sending a runner ahead to tell Athens of the victory at Marathon, Miltiades reformed his men and began marching back to defend the city. The runner delivered his message of victory to the Athenians, then he died of exhaustion. The rest of the Greek army didn't have it much easier, they had to make a forced march of more than 20 miles, after a long battle, in the late summer heat, and all without rest.

The Greek army reached the city and formed-up on the beach just before the Persians sailed into the bay. Upon seeing the Greeks waiting for him, the Persian commander realized his rear-guard had been defeated and lost his nerve. Rather than attempt to force a landing, the Persians sailed for home.

The battle of Marathon saved Greek culture and Western civilization from being killed in the cradle. If the Persians had taken Athens, they would have had a base for further campaigns in Greece and beyond. Without the victory at Marathon, there would never have been a battle of Salamis or Platea, no Greek golden age, none of the great scientific and social developments of the Greeks. In short, we would be living in a radically different world today.

Next Week- The Battle of Guagamela. Macedonia vs. Persia.