The Battle of Plataea : Greece Wins Freedom

The Battle of Plataea, fought in 479 BCE, was a decisive Greek victory during the Greco-Persian Wars. This pivotal battle saw a coalition of Greek city-states, led by Sparta and Athens, defeat the Persian forces of King Xerxes, effectively ending Persian ambitions in Greece and securing Greek independence.

Plataea : the great battle

Introduction

Some battles are decisive because of what they prevent from happening. The Battle of Plataea, which took place in 479 B.C. and was fought between the united city-states of ancient Greece and the Persian Empire, is one of these. If the Greeks had lost this battle and become merely one more province of the Persian Empire, the cultural flourishing of Greece in the 5th century B.C., might not have taken place. At the very least, a Persian victory would have resulted in a different course of history.

Background to Plataea

• (i) Plataea is not nearly as well-known as three other battles fought between the Greeks and Persians within an 11-year span. Thermopylae was a Greek defeat, and Marathon and Salamis, although Greek victories, were only temporary setbacks for Persia, which returned to the fight each time.
• (ii) Plataea, however, was decisive. It effectively ended the war and ensured Greek independence and freedom, thus making possible the Greek golden age.

The opponents

• (i) On one side was mighty Persia, a culturally sophisticated, ethnically diverse, and economically prosperous empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to the borders of modern India.
• (ii) Pitted against this colossus were the Greek city-states, a group of small, separate political entities on the mainland of Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea that shared a common language and culture.
• (iii) The largest was Athens, known for its boldness and creativity, which had begun to experiment with forms of democracy. Next was Sparta, inward-looking, suspicious, and possessed of a small but terrifyingly efficient and fanatical army. These two spent most of their time engaged in fierce squabbles with each other.

The Greek Army and its Technology

• (i) During the 6th century B.C., a military innovation occurred in Greece: the hoplite revolution, a style of fighting in which heavily armed and armored foot soldiers fought in an organized formation, carrying a heavy, circular, concave shield three feet in diameter and shaped so the hoplites could nestle their shoulders and torsos within the curve.
• (ii) The other standard piece of equipment was a long stabbing spear equipped with a bronze spearhead and a smaller bronze butt-spike that could function both as an alternate spear point if the main one broke off and for downward thrusts.
• (iii) The hoplite was a formidable opponent, protected from the front from head to toe in solid armor. Yet the weight of his shield and armor made him cumbersome, and he was vulnerable to attack from the sides and behind.
• (iv) The solution to this vulnerability was the phalanx: long rows, several men deep, with their shields close to one another or, at times, even overlapping. Fighting as a phalanx, each man in essence protected his neighbor, and as long as the phalanx kept its cohesion and no one allowed a gap to open, it was highly effective.
• (v) Some historians believe that the hoplite revolution led to a so called “Western way of war” that emphasized well-organize heavy infantry and decisive battles with the purpose of killing one’s foes and that this style of warfare accounts for much of the success of Western Europe in conquering the globe during the era of colonialism.

The Persian Army and its Technology

• (i) The Persian army Reflected the ethnic diversity of the Persian Empire, including a wide range of troop types, weapons, and armor. The bulk of the army comprised temporary conscripts, but it also included a number of more professional contingents. The Persians also employed mercenaries in their army, including large contingents of Greek hoplites.
• (ii) Among the professional soldiers were the Immortals, a well-trained, cohesive group of 10,000 elite infantry. Their shields, often made of wicker or animal hides, offered far less protection compared to the heavy wood and bronze carried by the typical hoplite, and their body armor was similarly lightweight.
• (iii) Some of the best units in the Persian army were the cavalry, considered the most prestigious arm of the military and, thus, appropriate for the aristocracy. Persian horsemen wielded light spears, axes, and swords, but their armor was relatively light.
• (iv) The principal weapon of the Persians was the bow, used by both foot and mounted archers, and Persian military tactics often featured harassing squadrons of horse archers who would charge in, release flights of arrows, retreat, and then circle back for another charge.

Precipitating events

• (i) Conflict between Persia and Greece arose with the revolt of some eastern Greek cities that had been absorbed by the Persian Empire. Although the insurrection was crushed, the rebels had received some aid from the Greek mainland. The Persian king viewed this aid as unwarranted interference and launched a punitive expedition in 490 B.C.
• (ii) At the subsequent Battle of Marathon, the Persians suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of the Athenians. Although Marathon was important for stopping this first Persian invasion and for demonstrating the superiority of the hoplite style of warfare in hand-to-hand combat, from the Persian perspective, it was a minor setback for a small expeditionary force.
• (iii) The Persians recognized that they would have to send another army to crush the Greeks, but internal politics delayed their return for 10 years. In 480 B.C., a massive land and sea invasion force crossed the Hellespont, led personally by Xerxes, king of Persia, intending to overwhelm and subjugate the Greeks.
• (iv) The Greeks attempted to stop the Persians by occupying the pass of Thermopylae, whose narrow confines nullified their superior numbers as a factor. It was a good strategy, undone when a traitor showed the Persians an alternate route through the mountains. Although a rear guard of 300 Spartans volunteered to stay and hold off the Persians while the others escaped, they were slaughtered, fighting to the last man.
• (v) The Battle of Thermopylae vividly demonstrated the bravery of the Spartans, but it did nothing to stop the Persian advance, which reached central Greece. The Athenians were forced to flee their city, and the Persians occupied and burned it.
• (vi) The Greeks recycled their Thermopylae strategy at sea, opposing the Persian navy in a narrow strait between the mainland and the island of Salamis. The resulting naval battle was a success for the Greeks, and a significant portion of the Persian fleet was destroyed. Yet the victory of Salamis did not end the invasion and left the real threat to Greece, the vast Persian land army, untouched and still occupying central Greece.
• (vii) What Salamis did accomplish was to complicate supplying the huge Persian army. Accordingly, Xerxes decided to return to Persia with many of the conscripts, while leaving behind the best elements of his army to complete the conquest of southern Greece. The general in charge of this task was Mardonius, an experienced military commander.

The Battle

• (i) Mardonius chose the 10,000 Immortals, as well as large infantry and cavalry contingents, as his army. The resulting force was, in many ways, more dangerous than the bloated force that had invaded Greece, and it was still much larger than any army the Greeks could collectively muster.
• (ii) Mardonius camped for the winter, during which he made several attempts to break up the Greek alliance by exploiting traditional rivalries and suspicions. This strategy almost worked, but most of the Greeks united and marched north against him.
• (iii) Mardonius took up a position along the Asopos River, near Thebes, which had thrown in its lot with the Persians out of jealousy of Athens. The best modern guess is that probably 80,000 to 100,000 Greeks squared off against about 100,000 to 150,000 Persians, Thebans, and other pro-Persian Greeks.
• (iv) Mardonius made the first move, sending some elements of his strong cavalry forces to harass the Greeks and search for a weak spot. During this clash, the popular leader of the Persian cavalry, a man named Masistos, was unhorsed and killed when an arrow killed his mount. After some bitter skirmishing over the body, the Persians retreated, leaving the trophy in the hands of the Greeks.
• (v) After a week or so of standoff, Mardonius began sending elements of his cavalry on raids behind the Greek line, harassing their supply trains and eventually capturing one of their key water sources. Running short on food and water, the Greek commanders decided to pull back during the night to a well-watered and more defensible area called “the island.”
• (a) But the Greeks bungled the retreat. One contingent refused to obey the orders to leave, thus, once the Greeks finally began to move, they were strung out.
• (b) Seeing an opportunity to destroy them, Mardonius ordered a general advance, and the Persians and their allies swept forward. Almost unintentionally, the main battle was joined.
• (vi) The battle came down to a savage close-quarters shoving match in which desperate Persians grabbed and broke the Greeks’ spears. In this melee, the heavier armor of the Greeks gave them an advantage. Mardonius and his bodyguard were killed, along with many of the best of the Persian troops. The battle turned into a rout, with the triumphant Greeks chasing and slaughtering the defeated Persians.

Outcomes

• (i) On the same day as the Battle of Plataea, a naval battle against the remnant of the Persian fleet also gave victory to the Greeks, and this moment marked the end of the Persian threat. The war would continue for decades, but it was the Greeks who were on the offensive.
• (ii) The victory at Plataea ushered in a period known as the Pentekonteia, a 50-year period regarded as the golden age of Greece that ended when they once more fell prey to their old rivalries, resulting in the disastrous 30-year Peloponnesian War.
• (iii) To commemorate Plataea, the Greeks melted down some of the Persian weapons and used the bronze to erect a column at Delphi. It was stolen 800 years later by Constantine and moved to Constantinople, where it decorated the horse-racing arena. It can still be seen in Istanbul, and it still legibly bears the names of the 31 Greek cities that united to fight the Battle of plataea.

Conclusion

The Battle of Plataea concluded with a decisive victory for the Greek coalition forces over the Persian army. The disciplined and strategically adept Greek hoplites, under the leadership of Pausanias and Aristides, successfully routed the Persian troops commanded by Mardonius. This victory effectively ended the Persian ambitions in Greece, securing Greek independence and marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars. The success at Plataea not only safeguarded the Greek city-states from foreign domination but also set the stage for the flourishing of Greek culture and political life in the ensuing years.

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