Ch 9 Section 1 vocabulary Battle of Marathon

Ch. 9

Section 1 vocabulary • Battle of Marathon – this battle ended the first Persian War • Battle of Salamis – broke Persian naval power • Peloponnesian League – Sparta and its allies • Delian League – Athens and its allies

• In 546 B. C Persia invaded Ionia while conquering Western Asia. • The Ionian were used to a free form of government, so they started to rebel. • Ionia needed the support of a larger city-state. • Athens helped by burning down the city of Sardis, which was under Persian rule • This angered Darius and this made him committed to conquer the other Greek regions.

Darius Invades Greece • About 490 B. C. – 20, 000 Persian soldiers sailed for Greece and landed near Athens on the Plain of Marathon • The plain was a good place to wage war for the cavalry (soldier on horseback) and archers • Athens fought back with foot soldiers, but they were greatly outnumbered • Despite disadvantages, Athenians sneak attacked the Persians and won the war at the Battle of Marathon

Xerxes Attacks • Darius’ son, who continued launching attacks to defeat the Greeks • Second Persian War • They already had control over Egypt (and used their army) and Persia (they used the Phoenicians’ ships for a navy) • At Thermopylae King Leonidas and the Spartans stopped the Persians at a small narrow pass in the mountains • They held off the invaders, until a Greek traitor showed another mountain pass to the Persians • They attacked the Spartans, but they were remembered as heroes who defended the Greeks

Victory for Athens • With no one to stop the Persians from advancing, they went to attack the city of Athens • Athenian leader, Themistocles, told Athenians to flee to nearby islands • When the Persians arrived, the city was empty • Xerxes sent the navy to attack the Greek navy, but the Greek navy hid and set a trap winning the Battle of Salamis

Delian League • Athens and its allies formed an alliance • An alliance is an association of nations formed to achieve a goal • They met in Delos, so they called themselves the Delian League • Members promised to defend against Persian and offered ships and money for defense. The money was kept in a treasury in Delos. • 150 members • Athens was the most powerful member and took advantage of this by asking for money from the league to build their army. This angered the other members of the league, but Athens kept doing it. • Athens moved the League’s funds to be housed in Athens and used it to create the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena.

Peloponnesian League • The Spartans formed their own alliance with their allies that lived along the Peloponnesian Peninsula • The members of this league feared the power of Athens and its government style (democratic), as most of the Peloponnesian League was run by oligarchies. • The Peloponnesian and Delian League came into conflict in 433 B. C. and Athens placed a ban on trade with Megara (Peloponnesian League member). • Both Leagues prepared for war…

Peloponnesian War • In 431 B. C. war broke out between the two alliances • It lasted on and off for 27 years • Sparta had a strong army and Athens had a strong navy, which created a stale mate • In 421 B. C. a truce was agreed upon but it was broken a few years later • With help from Sparta the Greeks of Sicily destroyed the Athenian forces, and Persians contributed money towards this. • Athens was forced to surrender. • Peace terms were harsh and Athenians were forced to give up many things, including their democracy (which was soon restored) • The results for all city states of this war was: loss in people/soldiers, cities destroyed, governments fell, trade dropped… • Yet, the Greeks continued fighting amongst themselves and because they were distracted, they ignored the growing threat of Macedonia, a kingdom to the north that would soon unite them by force!