479 BCE.
After defeating the Greek navies at Artemesium, the Persian army moved to Athens and occupied it.
The sea battle of Salamis had defeated the Persian fleet, but the Persian invasion army remained. By winning the land battle at Plataea and simultaneously the sea-land battle at Mycale, the Persian invasion was repelled.
The Persian Empire recruited Greek city-states. A third of its navy at the sea battle of Salamis was from Greek city-states in Asia Minor. A third of its army at the land battle of Plataea was Greek.
After destroying Persian sea power at the battle of Salamis, they were able to defeat their army, and so end the attempt by the Persians to incorporate the cities of mainland Greece into the Persian Empire.
The southern Greek city-states assembled their army at Plataia and defeated the Persian army and its central Greek allies. Simultaneously the Greek coalition fleet cornered the remnants of the Persian fleet where it had taken refuge at Mycale in Asia Minor. This ended the Persian invasion and temporarily liberated the Greek city-states in Asia Minor from Persian control.
The southern Greek alliance led by Sparta defeated the Persian expeditionary army and its Greek allies.
An alliance of southern Greek cities led by Sparta, which defeated the invading Persian army and its Greek allies.
A coalition of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army and its Greek allies outside the Greek city of Plataea in 479 BCE. The defending Greek army of armoured foot soldiers kept to the rough ground to negate the Persian cavalry, then engaged and defeated the unarmoured Persian infantry. At the same time a Greek fleet swooped on the remnants of the Persian fleet at Mycale and captured it. This combined action ended the invasion of mainland Greece by the Persian king Xerxes.
Retreat of the Persian army.
It was the Battle of Thermopylae in the Second Persian War. The Greeks won. Shortly after Thermopylae the Athenian Navy defeated the Persian Navy at Salamis, and in the next year the Persian Army was defeated by a combined Greek Army at Plataea.
After the Persian navy had been defeated in 480 at Salamis, the Greek cities were able to concentrate and defeat the Persian army, ending the invasion of peninsular Greece.
Salamis was the crucial battle in repelling the Persian invasion, as destruction of the Persian fleet ended the threat of a Persian amphibious invasion of the Greek city-states, who kept their armies at home to protect their cities, allowing the Persian army to pick them off one at a time. When the Persian fleet was destroyed, it enabled the armies to concentrate the following year and defeat the Persian army at Plataea. Destruction of the Persian fleet also stopped it being able to protect the resupply ships which sustained the Persian army, and as a result half of the army was sent home as it could not be sustained during the coming winter, which made the Greek armies' task easier at Plataea. Plataea was a straightforward battle where Greek armoured soldiers fought the unarmoured Persian in rough country where their cavalry could not support them and was a straightforward victory. Thermopylae was a holding action to force a sea battle to destroy the Persian fleet. The sea battle failed and the Greek force was withdrawn, with a touch of heroics by the Spartan and Thespian contingents protecting the withdrawal and dying in the process. Take your pick.
Ancient sources give a wide range of figures. The most realistic is 90,000 plus 40,000 Greek allies.
The Persian navy was defeated at Salamis and Mycale which removed that threat. The Persian army defeat at Plataea which finally collapsed their invasion of Greece when the land threat was also removed.
The Persian navy was defeated at Salamis and Mycale which removed that threat. The Persian army defeat at Plataea which finally collapsed their invasion of Greece when the land threat was also removed.
The turning point was the defeat of the Persian fleet at Salamis the year before, which saw the naval threat to the Greek cities ended and enabled them to send their armies to Plataea to unite instead of being kept at home trying to defend their cities, and half the Persian army sent home as there was no food for it in the winter without a fleet to supply it. Plataea saw the defeat of the reduced Persian land force and ended the invasion.
The southern Greek navies combined to defeat the Persian navy, removing the amphibious threat to the city-states and allowing them to combine their armies and defeat the Persian arm the following year at Plataea. It also disrupted the Persian sea supply line, casing them to send half their army home, helping to facilitate the land victory at Plataea.