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Today battle : Battle of marathon 490 BC
Today battle mark the first of Greek Invasion by the Persian and also almost always looked at the birth of Western Civilization. Without this battle and the significances of the outcome, the western world could be ended up rules by the Persian, and in latter days, Arabian.
This battle also bought to a legend still around today, and have a tremendous impact on one of the modern sporting event. The Marathon.
History of the Battle : The fuse had been set about 10 years prior to said battle. When the Greek finance and help the Ionia revoke from Persian rules. After 7 hard years of fighting, the Persian have finally crushed the Ionian Revolt and in 3 years time, their eyes is now set on the Athenian who, helped orchestrated the revolt.
Fresh coming back from a regroup is the Athenian who at the most can only field a smaller but relatively effective army. With their back against the sea, it's either a war in Athens itself or they need to score a decisive outcome on the first meeting in Marathon.
Coming from s string of military success and topple the revolt is the Persian. The Persian had raise a strong army but in it the majority is levies.
Deposition of Forces :
The Greece consist of 10 Infantry column and 1000 Infantry with each column. That's totalling 10,000 for the force, without cavalry, they are positioned on the edge of wooded path to the South of City of Marathon.
The Persian does not have an exact combat number, with 600 invading galleon invading with a large formation. However, history suggested that not all of the campaign force are used to fight in this battle. Some were diverted on the eve of battle, which ultimately trigger this battle itself.
Common believe is there are 25,000 light infantry and 1000 cavalry on the beachhead.
Tactical consideration
There are only 1 tactical objective on Greece side. That is to pin the Persian Force as long as they can on the plateau of Marathon before their Spartan allied reach Greece and help out with the defences. There are no more troop and the Battle of Marathon is a tactical gamble. By drawing the enemy on a easier plateau fight rather than the defence of Athens. The Greek sort of tempting the Persian to try and destroy their force in Marathon, rather risking a fight in the city of Athens.
overall tactical objective for Greek troop are to defend the City of Marathon as long as they can.
However there are no Tactical Objective on the Persian side, they have 1 single Strategic Objective, that is Athens itself. Their goal is to wage a war in Athens and occupy the city. The plateau fight is literally a sucker fight to Persian, maybe to them, it's a chance to chalk up some victory and kill some Athenian before the main battle piece
Start of Battle : After a 5 days stalemate it's the Greece that make the first move. Even thought they are fighting in a defensive posture.
While the Greek centre make way to cover the gap between them and the Persian, the flank of the Greek force pull up on a wedge and striking the flank of the Persian, which is protected by cavalry.
With heavy flank on both Greek flank crashing on the light Persian flank of 1000 cavalry the cavalry buckle, some got grind away while some dispensed from the fight and took off, thus leaving the Persian Flank wide open
While the main body of the Persian troop hold out to the thinner line of the Greek Centre, the flank took off ensure a double envelopment from both of the Greek flank and using the Greek hoplite fix the main Persian force to engage, a simple double envelopment rolled up both Persian flank. The battle is over even before the Spartan join the fray, which is supposed to be 5 days after the start of battle.
Importance of This battle : This battle have 1 single importance toward the Ancient Greek, not only is it a victory against a superior force (Greek Troop are outnumber 1:3 and without cavalry) While it's a military victory no less, the most important aspect is the Greek hold the Persian long enough for Spartan to reinforce their defence.
OF course a win in this also mean there are more Greek troop and a more favorable situation. While it's now believe that the Persian are actually moving the bulk of the troop back into the ship in order to run them at Athens, the Persian leave a token force to try and pin the Greek Force in marathon while the bulk of the troop is re-route to Athens and try o take the undefended city.
What gone wrong with the Persian? : Basically, everything can go wrong in the military tactics front has gone wrong for the Persian.
First of all, they wait. Where the clear goal is for Persian to invade and capture Marathon, it's the Athenian job to defend, not them, everyday you wait, you let the defender growth both in number and up their fortification everyday, plus, the Persian should know the Spartan will undoubled be involve in the Invasion of Greece. Everyday the Persian wait is a day back away from the victory.
For an invasion force, you need to attack before your enemy set up credible defence.
Second of all, the Persian committed to a battle then back away the commitment and in favor fighting another battle. While there are no history recording why the Greece took the first step and make the initiation. Reason behind this, historian believe it was because on the fifth day (The start of battle) of siege, the Persian realise they are facing the whole Athenian Force there are right before them. They realise if they were to re-embark on the ship, they can most certainly get to Athens before they can return to defend their city. Thus they repack their horse (Which is the most difficult) first and repack some of the infantryman back into the ship and set sail on Athens, leaving behind a token force (25,000/200,000 invasion force) to either buy time for the Persian to get to Athens first or even try to inflict a defeat by number from the token force, which is still consider bigger than the defending force.
This idea, by itself is relative stupid. If you are to fight a battle, you move according to the plan you figure out. if at the last minutes you change your plan, you cannot really depend on your force to adjust immediately, just like that. Fight them, then you need to use your original plan and fight them on the original term, if you don't want to fight them, then disengage. No point lay out a plan to engage and then back out and leave some of the force behind......
The third things the Persian done wrong is, they did not try to capitalise the situation and try to establish a longer line, thus envelope the Greek using their superior number but rather fight a front on war with flank weaker than the Greek.
While the Greek Troop are fighting for everything, their troop are fighting to conquer, the Greek have everything to lose if they lost this battle but there are nothing lost in Persian term as there are more Persian where they are coming from. The morale is different between the 2 case, and the will to fight is different. Especially when the Greek are better armoured than the Persian soldier, you do not go fight a grinding battle with enemy in better armor and better motivation. You round them over, and fight them on all size, the Persian have the necessary number to do that but they didn't. This is a probably carry over by the unclear objective of the man. Which contributed by the 2nd problem.
The forth and last things gone wrong was, The Persian let the Greek Take control of the battle and from the Greek initiate an attack, from that moment on, all Persian did was reacting to the Athenian move. Again, this is the golden rule of battlefield, if you are a smaller guy, you need to lead your bigger partner to dance, not the other way around. You let the smaller guy initiate action first, all you can do is to react to their move, not making your own move.
In short, if Persian want to win this battle, they should fight with their original plane, and attack immediately. Overwhelm the Greece and attack, attack, attack. It does not matter if Athens itself is unguarded, you face the whole Greek army there, if you defeat them, Athens will still continue to be unguarded, you do not need to take advantage of this and move back most of the troop.
If you want to fight, commit everything you got, if you don't want to fight, take everything back where it belong. No point doing this half arse.
Legend of Marathon : This battle give birth to a legend that although it's not true in itself, it's create a very profound effect toward the later generation. And even today, the legend is being keep alive on many of minor sporting event and one giant sporting event called "the Olympic"
Legend has it, after the Greek defeated the Persian on coast of Marathon. The Persian heading for Athens next, unless somehow the news of the defeat going back to Athens before the Persian Arrive, the Athenian may surrendered under the pressure of the Persian Force, so after 3 days of fighting, the Greek send their best runner Pheidippides to run from Marathon and back to Athens before the Persians arrive. He did the 26 modern mile journey in 3 hours and tell the news to the empire, afterward, collapse and died on the spot.
This event is untrue as Pheidippides did not run the marathon length after the battle. HE did, however, run to Sparta and ask for help before the start of battle and the Greek force are marching in extreme speed aimed to go back to Athens to defend the unguarded city. However, when the word comes out, people mixed up the 2 event and the legend was born.
Although untrue, when the first ever Olympic game were being organise, organiser from Greek were trying to include a event so significant to Athens so to boost the popularity of the event, and ultimately choose the Marathon Legend.
Today battle mark the first of Greek Invasion by the Persian and also almost always looked at the birth of Western Civilization. Without this battle and the significances of the outcome, the western world could be ended up rules by the Persian, and in latter days, Arabian.
This battle also bought to a legend still around today, and have a tremendous impact on one of the modern sporting event. The Marathon.
History of the Battle : The fuse had been set about 10 years prior to said battle. When the Greek finance and help the Ionia revoke from Persian rules. After 7 hard years of fighting, the Persian have finally crushed the Ionian Revolt and in 3 years time, their eyes is now set on the Athenian who, helped orchestrated the revolt.
Fresh coming back from a regroup is the Athenian who at the most can only field a smaller but relatively effective army. With their back against the sea, it's either a war in Athens itself or they need to score a decisive outcome on the first meeting in Marathon.
Coming from s string of military success and topple the revolt is the Persian. The Persian had raise a strong army but in it the majority is levies.
Deposition of Forces :
The Greece consist of 10 Infantry column and 1000 Infantry with each column. That's totalling 10,000 for the force, without cavalry, they are positioned on the edge of wooded path to the South of City of Marathon.
The Persian does not have an exact combat number, with 600 invading galleon invading with a large formation. However, history suggested that not all of the campaign force are used to fight in this battle. Some were diverted on the eve of battle, which ultimately trigger this battle itself.
Common believe is there are 25,000 light infantry and 1000 cavalry on the beachhead.
Tactical consideration
There are only 1 tactical objective on Greece side. That is to pin the Persian Force as long as they can on the plateau of Marathon before their Spartan allied reach Greece and help out with the defences. There are no more troop and the Battle of Marathon is a tactical gamble. By drawing the enemy on a easier plateau fight rather than the defence of Athens. The Greek sort of tempting the Persian to try and destroy their force in Marathon, rather risking a fight in the city of Athens.
overall tactical objective for Greek troop are to defend the City of Marathon as long as they can.
However there are no Tactical Objective on the Persian side, they have 1 single Strategic Objective, that is Athens itself. Their goal is to wage a war in Athens and occupy the city. The plateau fight is literally a sucker fight to Persian, maybe to them, it's a chance to chalk up some victory and kill some Athenian before the main battle piece
Start of Battle : After a 5 days stalemate it's the Greece that make the first move. Even thought they are fighting in a defensive posture.
While the Greek centre make way to cover the gap between them and the Persian, the flank of the Greek force pull up on a wedge and striking the flank of the Persian, which is protected by cavalry.
With heavy flank on both Greek flank crashing on the light Persian flank of 1000 cavalry the cavalry buckle, some got grind away while some dispensed from the fight and took off, thus leaving the Persian Flank wide open
While the main body of the Persian troop hold out to the thinner line of the Greek Centre, the flank took off ensure a double envelopment from both of the Greek flank and using the Greek hoplite fix the main Persian force to engage, a simple double envelopment rolled up both Persian flank. The battle is over even before the Spartan join the fray, which is supposed to be 5 days after the start of battle.
Importance of This battle : This battle have 1 single importance toward the Ancient Greek, not only is it a victory against a superior force (Greek Troop are outnumber 1:3 and without cavalry) While it's a military victory no less, the most important aspect is the Greek hold the Persian long enough for Spartan to reinforce their defence.
OF course a win in this also mean there are more Greek troop and a more favorable situation. While it's now believe that the Persian are actually moving the bulk of the troop back into the ship in order to run them at Athens, the Persian leave a token force to try and pin the Greek Force in marathon while the bulk of the troop is re-route to Athens and try o take the undefended city.
What gone wrong with the Persian? : Basically, everything can go wrong in the military tactics front has gone wrong for the Persian.
First of all, they wait. Where the clear goal is for Persian to invade and capture Marathon, it's the Athenian job to defend, not them, everyday you wait, you let the defender growth both in number and up their fortification everyday, plus, the Persian should know the Spartan will undoubled be involve in the Invasion of Greece. Everyday the Persian wait is a day back away from the victory.
For an invasion force, you need to attack before your enemy set up credible defence.
Second of all, the Persian committed to a battle then back away the commitment and in favor fighting another battle. While there are no history recording why the Greece took the first step and make the initiation. Reason behind this, historian believe it was because on the fifth day (The start of battle) of siege, the Persian realise they are facing the whole Athenian Force there are right before them. They realise if they were to re-embark on the ship, they can most certainly get to Athens before they can return to defend their city. Thus they repack their horse (Which is the most difficult) first and repack some of the infantryman back into the ship and set sail on Athens, leaving behind a token force (25,000/200,000 invasion force) to either buy time for the Persian to get to Athens first or even try to inflict a defeat by number from the token force, which is still consider bigger than the defending force.
This idea, by itself is relative stupid. If you are to fight a battle, you move according to the plan you figure out. if at the last minutes you change your plan, you cannot really depend on your force to adjust immediately, just like that. Fight them, then you need to use your original plan and fight them on the original term, if you don't want to fight them, then disengage. No point lay out a plan to engage and then back out and leave some of the force behind......
The third things the Persian done wrong is, they did not try to capitalise the situation and try to establish a longer line, thus envelope the Greek using their superior number but rather fight a front on war with flank weaker than the Greek.
While the Greek Troop are fighting for everything, their troop are fighting to conquer, the Greek have everything to lose if they lost this battle but there are nothing lost in Persian term as there are more Persian where they are coming from. The morale is different between the 2 case, and the will to fight is different. Especially when the Greek are better armoured than the Persian soldier, you do not go fight a grinding battle with enemy in better armor and better motivation. You round them over, and fight them on all size, the Persian have the necessary number to do that but they didn't. This is a probably carry over by the unclear objective of the man. Which contributed by the 2nd problem.
The forth and last things gone wrong was, The Persian let the Greek Take control of the battle and from the Greek initiate an attack, from that moment on, all Persian did was reacting to the Athenian move. Again, this is the golden rule of battlefield, if you are a smaller guy, you need to lead your bigger partner to dance, not the other way around. You let the smaller guy initiate action first, all you can do is to react to their move, not making your own move.
In short, if Persian want to win this battle, they should fight with their original plane, and attack immediately. Overwhelm the Greece and attack, attack, attack. It does not matter if Athens itself is unguarded, you face the whole Greek army there, if you defeat them, Athens will still continue to be unguarded, you do not need to take advantage of this and move back most of the troop.
If you want to fight, commit everything you got, if you don't want to fight, take everything back where it belong. No point doing this half arse.
Legend of Marathon : This battle give birth to a legend that although it's not true in itself, it's create a very profound effect toward the later generation. And even today, the legend is being keep alive on many of minor sporting event and one giant sporting event called "the Olympic"
Legend has it, after the Greek defeated the Persian on coast of Marathon. The Persian heading for Athens next, unless somehow the news of the defeat going back to Athens before the Persian Arrive, the Athenian may surrendered under the pressure of the Persian Force, so after 3 days of fighting, the Greek send their best runner Pheidippides to run from Marathon and back to Athens before the Persians arrive. He did the 26 modern mile journey in 3 hours and tell the news to the empire, afterward, collapse and died on the spot.
This event is untrue as Pheidippides did not run the marathon length after the battle. HE did, however, run to Sparta and ask for help before the start of battle and the Greek force are marching in extreme speed aimed to go back to Athens to defend the unguarded city. However, when the word comes out, people mixed up the 2 event and the legend was born.
Although untrue, when the first ever Olympic game were being organise, organiser from Greek were trying to include a event so significant to Athens so to boost the popularity of the event, and ultimately choose the Marathon Legend.
