What was the cause and effect of the battle of thermopylae?

Answer 1

The Greeks had to break the Persian naval power as it threatened the Greek cities, whose armies remained at home protecting them rather than concentrating against the Persian army. The Persian fleet also protected their resupply fleet. As the Persian fleet had better and more ships, the Greeks decided to engage in narrow waters to negate that advantage. They selected the chanel in the Malian Gulf and blocked the land route opposite it at the pass of Thermopylai with a small land force to force the Persians to try to outflank the land blockage with an amphibious move. The combined Greek fleet lay in wait, ready to pounce.

The Thermopylai pass was held for three days, during which there was escalating naval action in the strait, however the Greeks failed to destroy the Persian fleet, so the Greek ships retired to Salamis island opposite Athens.

The blocking action was therefore over, and the Greek armies withdrew. The Spartan and Thespian contingents remained in the pass to cover the withdrawal and were slaughtered.

Answer 2

The Persians with overwhelming numbers (1,800,000) defeated the Greek Forces (7,000) but suffered a great loss of around 20,000. Not all the Greeks were slaughtered at Thermopylae, 4,700 Greeks left on the third day after the Persians discovered a passage leading behind the Greek defenses and 1 Spartan was dismissed to tell the main Spartan army about the battle. The battle delayed the Persian army long enough for the Greeks to finish their religious festival and send their entire armies to combat the Persians.

Realistic View:

Though there were claims of the Persian army being bigger, the above figure is just the soldiers, the army including the slaves, ship crews and European infantry would total the figure to 2,641,610. The idea that the lone 300 Spartans faced the entire Persian army is complete fabrication, although on the third day, of all the 4,700 Greeks that fled, every Spartan chose to stay and fight. Along with some Thespians and Helots the Spartans moved to the wider part of the pass in an attempt to slaughter as many Persians as possible. King Leonidas fell in this struggle. The Greeks then retreated to the hill behind the pass and made their last and final stand.

The idea of an army at 2,641,610 in Ancient Days being able to fit in the Thermopylae is utter nonsense. Modern Scholars have attested that it numbered at 250,000. The Persians eventually won, and overrode the Greeks. Diodorus suggests that it was Leonidas and his 300 Spartans (amongst a few thousand helots and other Greek allies) were the men that did the most in the Persian Wars, this is partially true as Leonidas and his men provided time for the festival to finish and giving Athens time to launch a decisive naval strike at the Battle of Salamis leaving Xerses's forces in ruins. Xerxes then left one large force in Greece while he retreated to Asia. The force was brutally overrun by a fully assembled Spartan army in 479 BC that wreaked havoc and slaughtered many, ending the Persian Campaign in Europe. This final ending was named "The Battle Of Platea".

Another View:

It is better to go beyond the folk-myth to reality.

The outlandish numbers of Persians given represented the levy of the Persian Empire. The numbers actually selected from this array would have concentrated on the soldiers most likely to be able to stand up to Greek armoured infantry and left the African knife men and other handicaps behind. How could such a massive gaggle of ill-assorted people be supported in a poor country such as Greece, which could barely feed itself?

Modern assessment, partly based on the command structure, rests on about 180,000 Persians. And half these went home during the winter as they could not be fed by their supply fleet after they lost sea control after a naval defeat at Salamis and could not import food for them.

The biggest threat was the Persian navy which threatened amphibious landing against the Greek cities, and these cities kept their armies at home for self defence. Their plan was to defeat the Persian navy to remove this threat, and allow them to leave home and unite their ground forces. They defended the pass at Thermopylai to force a sea battle to destroy the Persian amphibious threat. Holding the pass at Thermopylai was designed to get the Persian fleet to try to turn the position and so run into the waiting Greek fleet.

The Greek fleet was in fact defeated in the adjacent strait of Artemesion, so there was no further reason to hold the pass, and the 5,000-man holding force went back to their cities. The Spartans continued to hold the pass to let these forces get away into the walls of friendly cities before the Persian cavalry broke out and slaughtered them in oprn country - a noble sacrifice by the 2,300 Spartans and 700 Thespians (the 400 Thebans were also kept there as the Spartan commander Leonidas suspected them of treachery - they declared their hand by quickly surrendering to the Persians, while the Spartans and Thespians fought to the death to let the other city contingents get away safely).

So the defence at Thermopylai turned out to be unimportant, other than in a Propaganda sense. The later battles of Salamis, Plataia and Mycale did the job.

Answer 3

To force the Persian fleet into a sea battle to try to turn the block to its army at the Thermopylai pass.

Thermopylai was held for three days while the sea battle went on in the adjacent channel at Artemesion. The sea battle was lost by the Greek navies which retired to Salamis to try again there, and the pass was evacuated as there was no further need to hold it.

Answer 4

It was a holding action to force the Persian fleet to engage the Greek fleet in the hope of destroying it. The Greek fleet lost and was withdrawn. The force at Thermopylai was then also withdrawn.

Its significance is symbolic - when the withdrawal was ordered the Spartan contingent selflessly continued to hold the pass to the death to let the other Greek contigents escape.

Answer 5

A small force frrom Greek city states held the pass leading to southern Greece. The Persians quite naturally pushed them aside.

Answer 6

They stayed behind as a rear guard to let the other Greek contingents withdraw the impending persian breakthrough and so died selflessly protecitng their allies escape.