Between the VI and V centuries a. C., the city-states of Ancient Greece began to live its heyday, which included the political autonomy of each city. However, at the same time, in the Middle East and Asia Minor region, the Persian Empire. This expansion was directed towards the region of Anatolia (where present-day Turkey is located) and, therefore, threatened the political freedom of the Greek city-states on the east side of the Aegean Sea. The resistance that these city-states began to offer to the pretensions of the Persian Empire provoked the so-called Medical Wars, or Greco-Persian Wars.
The term "doctors" comes from "Fears", who were one of the peoples who inhabited the Iranian plains that were absorbed by the Persians at the beginning of their expansion, with the then king Cyrus I the Great. Thus, the Persians were known by the Greeks as Medes as well. Cyrus' successor, Darius I, promoted grandiose political reforms in the Empire, managing to expand it even more. It was during the government of Darius I that the system of satrapies, that is, Persian provinces spread over different regions; each headed by a chief (satrap) trusted by the emperor.
Well then, one of these satrapies, which was in Asia Minor, extended its domains to the region of Ionia, where the Greek city-states on the eastern side of Greece were established. The Persian satrap wanted to submit such cities to the dominions of the empire. However, there was a wave of revolts against the Persians that lasted from 500 to 494 BC. Ç. The revolt of these cities was supported by Athens, which was on the western side, in the region of Rile up.
Given the effectiveness of the support of the Athenians to the rebellions of Greek cities in the eastern part, Darius I decided to promote a retaliation against the Hellas, that is, the ensemble of Greek city-states as a whole, with the aim of invading and subduing all of Greece. The first action of the Persian emperor consisted of sending emissaries to propose the submission of the Greek cities to the Persian yoke. Many city-states accepted the terms of the Persian imperial proposal, but there was again resistance from Athens, which this time received the support of the powerful Sparta.
The Persian invasions began in 490 a. Ç. The defenses of Athens were organized by the general (strategist, in Greek) Miltiades and were composed mainly of hoplites, ie soldiers/citizens of Athens. The Persian invasion took place in the Marathon region of Attica. Although they took approximately 50,000 men, the Persians were defeated by the Greeks and had to retreat temporarily, especially after the death of the emperor, Darius I, in one of these battles.
Xerxes I, successor of Darius I, tried to prepare the largest force of the Persian army to, once again, try to invade Greece. The preparation took ten years. This time, the Greeks were also able to assemble large-scale strategies, given that they knew, in advance, what would be the maneuvers of the Persian army. The defenses of Athens were prepared by the general Themistocles, a military genius and a great naval battle strategist. The Greek navy became the most powerful Greek weapon at that time.
The Spartans, led by the king Leonidas, had a history of effectiveness in ground combat with infantry. The Spartan king and three hundred of his best soldiers were charged with containing the advance. of the Persian army in the pass of Thermopylae, while the Athenians prepared a counteroffensive.
In 481 BC a., Athens, Sparta, Corinth and other cities of the Hellas made an agreement among themselves so that they provided what they could for the war against the Persians. In 480, the war began with the invasion of Attica. Athens was even destroyed by the Persians, but the Athenian navy mounted its strategy in Salamina. THE Battle of Salamina it was decisive in the defeat of the Persian army. In 479, the Persians suffered another defeat in the city of Audience and also in the Naval Battle of Micale. In 478, the navy of Athens took the city of naps, in the straits of Dardanelles, recovering the wheat route that guaranteed a good part of the Greek food.
A new conflict between the Persians and the Greeks was only brought about at the time of Alexander, the Great, who destroyed the power of the last Persian leader, Darius III, and appropriated the domains of his vast empire.