Was king Xerxes a wise leader?

Answer 1

His rule of the Persian Empire was effective, but he had the problem of the mainland Greek city-states supporting revolutionary activity in the 180 Greek city-states in Asia Minor which were inside the Persian Empire. His solution was to bring those city-states in Europe under control of his empire and appoint a Persian provincial governor to supervise them and maintain peace amongst the Greeks who were habitually at war with each other - these wars were also spilling across into his empire.

He sent out emissaries with handsome bribes to bring the cities to agree to this - some agreed but as the southern cities refused, he led an expeditionary force into Greece to bring them to heel, also using the armies of the submissive Greek cities as part of his force. The outcome was disastrous defeat of his forces at Salamis, Plataea and Mykale, and the expedition was withdraw. Then followed sporadic warfare for 30 years, carried on by his successors until they gave up and left the Greek cities to go back to their usual warfare with each other, while Persia concentrated on protecting its borders.

That seemed like a wise idea by Xerxes - to impose peace, as the Persians had done in Asia, but it turned sour. Was Xerxes' ambition to force peace on a people with a long history of fighting each other wise, or just a good idea?