What is the Persian War?

Answer 1

Persia, in taking over western Asia, gained control of the Greek city-states located there. When these cities revolted in 499 BCE, cities from mainland Greece intervened, which led the Persians to believe that the only way to achieve peace within their empire was to incorporate those European Greek cities within their empire.

The Persians bought compliance from some of these cities and set out to conquer the rest. Their invasion of mainland Greece in 480-479 failed, and Athens formed the Delian League of a couple of hundred cities mainly from Asia Minor and the Islands to retain the freedom they had achieved. Sporadic warfare continued until in 449 BCE the Persians gave up, agreed to stay away from the cities, and left the Greeks to go back to their usual warfare between each other.

Athens opportunistically then turned the League into an empire of its own - they ruefully realised they had traded an alien master for another master whom they had mistakenly trusted.

Answer 2

The Persian Empire took control of Asia Minor in the 6th Century BCE. Included in this were the Greek cities which dotted the Mediterranean and Black Sea coast. Mainland Greek cities supported revolutions of those 'daughter' colonies in Asia, and the Persians looked to punishing this interference, and to establish a longer term ethnic frontier by incorporating mainland Greece within the Empire.

King Darius planned this, and to punish the Athenian and Euboean assistance to Miletus which resulted in burning of Sardis, the Asia Minor province of the Empire, an amphibious expedition was sent in 490 BCE which reduced Euboea but failed in defeat at Marathon and before the walls of Athens. A second major expedition was planned but was delayed by the death of Darius and prior commitment to capture of Egypt.

However by 480 BCE the new emperor King Xerxes had assembled a new and larger naval and land expeditionary force, subverted most of the northerly Greek city states, and captured Athens after defeating an abortive attempt to destroy his fleet off the pass at Thermpopylae. His force was defeated by a sea battle - Salamis 480, the land battle at Plataia 479 and the sea-land battle at Mykale 479.

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The Athenians then established an anti-Persian alliance of the mainland and Asian greek states, which it progressively converted to an empire of its own, the proceeds from which ended up financing the great buildings of the city, and also stimulated the 27-year war between Athens and its empire and Sparta and its allies. Athens lost after the intervention of Persian money allowed Sparta to build up a navy to rival Athens'. The Persians continued to sit on the sidelines through the 5th and 4th Centuries BCE, preferring to exercise control through financial influence rather than fighting as the Greek cities weakened themselves fighting each other. This was reversed only after Philip of Macedonia and then his son Alexander gained control of mainland Greece in the second half of the 4th Century BCE, and the latter then invaded and defeated the Persian Empire. The empire was split up between Alexander's successors after his death.

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What_happened_to_Alexander_The_Great's_empire_after_his_death
In the Eastern Mediterranean 499-449 BCE.

Answer 3

1. Ionian Revolt 490-493 BCE - Persia put down a revolt by the Greek city-states within its boundaries.

2. Persuan punitive expedition 490 BCE - Persia sent and expeditionary force to punish Eretria and Athens for interfering in the Ionian revolt - this was repelled by Athens at Marathon after Eretria was captured.

3. Persian invasion 480-479 BCE - Persian invasion of mainland Greece was repelled by battles at Salamis, Plataia and Mykale.

4. Greek counter offensive 478-450 BCE - Delian League of city-states led by Athens progressively defeated Persian attempts to establish dominance over the League, defeated in several battles including Eurymedon 460 BCE and Cyprus 450 BCE.

5. Peace of Callias 479 BCE - Persia agreed to stay away from the Greek cities.

Answer 4

The Persian War lasted from 499 BCE to 449 BCE.

It compised several phases - first the Ionian Revolt, then the Persian punitive expedition against Eretria and Athens, then the Persian invasion of mainland Greece, then a series of engagements around the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean including the battles of Eurymedon 446 BCE amd Cyprus 450 BCE, with peace arranged in 449 BCE.

Answer 5

The Persian Wars lasted from 499 to 449 BCE. The comprised:

1. The Ionian revolt 499-493 BCE.

2. The punitive expedition against Eretria and Athens 490 BCE.

3. The Persian invasion of mainland Greece 480-479 BCE.

4. The Delian League resistance to Persian rule 478-449 BCE.

Answer 6

The were a series of wars from 499 BCE to 449 BCE, in which Greek city states fought to achieve and maintain their independence, and the Persians tried to incorporate them within their empire to bring peace to stop the incessant warring between the Greek cities which spilled over into the Persian Empire.

Answer 7

In 499 BCE the Greek city-states in the Persian Empire revolted against Persian rule - it was put down over six years.

As Eretria and Athens had supported them, Persia sent a punitive expedition to bring them under Persian control, but this was repelled at Marathon in 490 BCE.

Persia decided that the only way to stop these disruptions was to bring all the Greek city-states under a Persian governor. Some cities were bribed into agreement, others resisted and Persia launched a full scale invasion. This was repelled at battles at Salamis, Plataea and Mycale 480-479 BCE.

Spasmodic warfare continued for another 30 years until in 449 BCE Persia gave up and left the Greeks to return to their normal fighting each other.

Answer 8

A fifty-year war 499-449 BCE in which Persia tried to incorporate the Greek city-states within its empire to establish peace in the Eastern Mediterranean.