Question

How did the Persian war affect Athens?

Answer 1

Hint: The old Greece consisted of city-states and territories. Athens was one of the major and most important states in Greece. The major war in the kingdom happened between the Greeks and Persia which occurred from about 499BC-449BC . Two discrete invasions happened in Greece during the time. This started the Greek- Persian war.

Complete answer:
The first invasion of Greece was led by king Mardonius of Persia but it failed. King Darius of Persia took the next attempt and sent ambassadors to every Greek city and they demanded complete submission. All the cities except Athens and Sparta accepted the demand. Soon after this a Persian army was sent to capture these islands known as Marathon. The battle of Marathon occurred for some days. One day as Persians were trying to leave with their ships, 10000 Athenians attacked them and killed a huge number of Persians. But in the second conflict between the Greeks and an army led by Xerxes, Greeks lost at the sea battle of Artemisium. The Persian troops took over Athens. The city was then evacuated and later captured by the Persians. The Athenian navy went to the island of Salamis and defeated the Persian fleet. Xerxes left Greece with most of his army but he made his predecessor Mardonius stay. He recaptured Athens. Then he asked them to surrender. The Athenians asked Sparta for help by threatening to agree with Persia’s terms if they received no help. Sparta assembled a great army of allies and met the Persians at the battle of Plataea, where Mardonius was killed and the Greeks had won the war.

Note: A large contingent of the Persian fleet was destroyed as a result of the allied Greek success, and all Persian garrisons were expelled from Europe, marking the end of the advance of Persia westward into the continent. Spartan leader Pausanias' violent actions in the siege of Byzantium led to a shift in the Delian League's military command from Sparta to Athens.