Thermopylae

It’s been said by some that most people are basically good.  I agree with talk show host Dennis Prager and don’t believe that is the case.  Man is a warlike being; history has shown that.  Just one example from my lifetime:  I was born during World War II.  Since then, we’ve had Korea, Vietnam, the Israel wars of 1967 and 1973, the Argentina-British war in the Falklands, the Gulf War of the 1990s, the Yugoslavia civil war, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.  Since 2022 we have a new war in Europe with Russia and Ukraine, the current Israel-Hamas war, and on and on. There has hardly ever been a long period of peace. These are just some examples, there are many other wars around the globe, especially in Africa, such as in Sudan and Nigeria.

Thermopylae

Ancient history is a story of endless wars.  Nothing has changed.  There have been consequential wars in antiquity that are discussed to this day.  I’m speaking of the Greek period, and specifically, the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and Thermopylae, the famous Last Stand of the 300 in 480 BC between the Greeks and Persian Empire.  Famous Roman Empire battles such as the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, Marathon and Thermopylae are studied in modern military academies to this day.  At Cannae the Roman Army was annihilated by Carthage and their brilliant military commander, Hannibal.  Over 50,000 Romans lost their lives in one day. The most devastating loss of life in Roman history. A killing field like no other. The Greeks were the best fighters of their day.  Soldiers were trained to fight their entire life.  It was the Greek custom that a boy would be taken at the age of seven to live with other boys in a military camp where they were put through some of the toughest physical and mental tests.  The best of the best were the Spartans. Here is a short two-minute video explaining what happened in Thermopylae.

 

The Spartans trained full time for combat.  Most men were soldiers for most of their lives.  To make up for the loss of such large number of men, the Spartans enslaved their neighbors, the Helots.  The enslaved Helots provided the manual labor needed for Spartan society.  The Spartans lived in constant fear of a Helot rebellion.

 

Persian Empire

The phrase, united we stand, divided we fall, is very appropriate in the ancient Greek world.  The many Greek city-states were all independent and fought constant wars with each other.  On top of all the Greek fratricide, their biggest collective threat was from the enormous and powerful Persian Empire; an empire that spanned from Persia to India to the gates of Europe.  It was no secret that the Persians wanted to expand even further to Europe.  Greece was their target.  In 490 BC the Persians, under king Darius the Great, suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon; twenty-six miles outside of Athens.  Darius sought revenge for the Marathon loss and planned a second invasion but died four years later in 486 BC.  His son Xerxes took up the challenge and sent an army of 80,000 to 100,000 to conquer all of Greece.  Greeks were divided, some favored the Persians, and indeed many Greeks fought their fellow Greeks on the side of Persia.  But Greece, in general, wanted to form a coalition to resist the Persians.  The Spartans were asked to lead the resistance.

 

The Greeks knew that the best route for the Persians was through the narrow passage at Thermopylae.They also knew that they were seriously overpowered by the Persians and stood little chance of stopping them. The best they could do was to slow them down at the narrow pass of Thermopylae.  This is where 300 of the best fighters stood against the enormous Persian onslaught.  The Spartans, led by their charismatic and brilliant commander, king Leonidas, were spectacular in their stance but knew that it was only a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed and killed.  They welcomed the challenge.  This ferocious last stand was so inspiring to the Greeks that even though the Persians were able to reach and sack Athens, a year later, in a counter offensive,  the Greeks were victorious at the battles of Plataea and naval battle of  Salamis. The Battle of Thermopylae not only inspired Greece but has been an inspiration to the rest of the world for 2,500 years. 

In the ancient Greek world, war was meant to be a way of life.  Human dignity was considered little.  The society was taught that death in battle was the ultimate sacrifice for the state and should be promoted. Women were prized for their ability to produce future fighters.  Men who fell in battle were considered heroes.  Men who survived a defeated battle were scorned.  That is what wars were like and still are.  Take, for example, the Russian war with Ukraine.  The Russians want Ukraine as theirs; they care little for the human cost.  This mentality is mainly due to tyrants and the monarchy form of government where all you need to start a war is the order of one man, such as Putin of Russia, Kim Jung Un of North Korea, or any ruling monarch, such as Henry VIII of England for instance who had his closest advisors, even his wives killed at will.  George Patton, the brilliant American general of World War II was quoted as saying: don’t cry for a fallen soldier but be glad such a man lived.  In World War II and the invasion of France on D-Day, men were dropped off ships in some cases in 8 feet of water with their full battle gear and charged open ocean cliffs with German machine guns blazing; over 3,500 were killed that day.  War is hell.

 

History has shown that no matter how mighty an empire is, it will eventually collapse or is conquered.  The little Greek city-states not only resisted Persian conquest but eventually conquered it in 336 BC, 144 years later in the name of Alexander the Great and Greek unity.  This should be a lesson to us, but few will notice it.  United we stand; divided we fall.  No empire has ever been reborn after collapsing.  In the last 100 years we’ve seen seven empires fall:  German Empire, Ottoman Empire, the Japanese Empire, the British Empire, the Austria-Hungary Empire, the French Empire and the Soviet Union.

This piece was inspired from the reading of Paul Cartledge's book cited below.  Cartledge is a history professor at the University of Cambridge in England and an expert in Greek history.  In my reading of history, especially ancient and Roman history, the British excel at every level.  

 

An addendum on the Persian Empire:   Founded by King Cyrus the Great around 550 BC.  They subsequently  conquered the Babylonian Empire after the Babylonians had conquered and taken hostage the Jews of Israel, leading to the 70 years of what became the Biblical Babylonian Captivity.  It was King Cyrus who released the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild their cities.  Only about ten percent returned to Israel.  King Cyrus is mentioned in no less than 30 times in the Bible. The first time 150 years before his birth, in Isaiah 44 and 45.  The Jewish return to Israel started in 539 BC.  They immediately started the reconstruction of the temple but met strong opposition from the local populace.  In 538 BC construction was halted and did not resume until 520 BC.  The new temple was completed and dedicated in 515 BC.  In 70 AD the Romans destroyed the second temple after a Jewish revolt that started in 66 AD and was not crushed until 71AD.

 

Recommended reading:

 

The End of Everything, Victor Davis Hanson, Basic Books, 2024

A War Like no Other, Victor Davis Hanson, Random House, 2006

Thermopylae, Paul Cartledge, The Overlook Press, 2006