You all know the story of the Alamo right, well there is a similar story; this story is much more important because the outcome may well have changed the fate of Europe, and possibly America. This is the story of Leonidas, one of the greatest kings of Sparta; and the battle of Thermopylae, where this noble king made a brave sacrifice. The brave King of Sparta, Leonidas, one of the greatest Greek Kings of all time, strong and wise as a leader and a fighter, sacrificed himself, along with his 300 elite Spartan guards to save Greece from the enslaving clutches that was the Persian Empire. Leonidas’ leadership as a leader and a soldier brought everyone on his side when there was a situation; from building an army, expanding territory, new laws,
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During the Persian invasion mentioned before, Leonidas had to sacrifice himself for Greece. Persian negotiators gave Leonidas a warning that stated he shouldn’t defy the Persian empire, they did this by “asking for their weapons as a sign of submission, which Leonidas said the famous historical phrase Come and get them!”(Leonidas Greeka.com) Ironically “Xerxes waited 4 days before he attacked, believing that the Greeks would surrender,” oblivious to the fact that Leonidas most likely denied his advice to give up! A fun fact was that Xerxes had such an enormous army that, “according to legend, there were so many Persian fighters that their arrows hid the sun,” another was that his army possibly consisted of 80,000 slaves and soldiers!(Moulton 1 V3) One question is that if Xerxes’ force was so huge, then how didn’t it overwhelm Leonidas’ rag tag group of warriors? According to History.com, “for two days, the Greeks withstood the determined attacks of their far more numerous enemy.”(History.com) Unfortunately, Leonidas didn’t know about a secret passage around Thermopylae, but this time it would make him pay dearly, a traitor Ephialtes told Xerxes about this passage, forcing Leonidas was forced to command most of his army to leave since Xerxes had two directions to attack him from showing the “fatal weakness to the otherwise formidable phalanx formation that proved to be Leonidas’ undoing”(History.com) Leonidas had to turn back, but it was against his culture to have himself and his Spartans live a battle without winning. So he told most of his army to go home and protect Greece, leaving “an army of Spartans, Thespians and Thebans remaining to fight the Persians,” they were obviously overwhelmed by the Persians. The reason Leonidas stayed was because he was taught, as well as his fellow Spartans, that the best death is the first one you can receive as a warrior, after all, “a Spartan
During the Persian invasion mentioned before, Leonidas had to sacrifice himself for Greece. Persian negotiators gave Leonidas a warning that stated he shouldn’t defy the Persian empire, they did this by “asking for their weapons as a sign of submission, which Leonidas said the famous historical phrase Come and get them!”(Leonidas Greeka.com) Ironically “Xerxes waited 4 days before he attacked, believing that the Greeks would surrender,” oblivious to the fact that Leonidas most likely denied his advice to give up! A fun fact was that Xerxes had such an enormous army that, “according to legend, there were so many Persian fighters that their arrows hid the sun,” another was that his army possibly consisted of 80,000 slaves and soldiers!(Moulton 1 V3) One question is that if Xerxes’ force was so huge, then how didn’t it overwhelm Leonidas’ rag tag group of warriors? According to History.com, “for two days, the Greeks withstood the determined attacks of their far more numerous enemy.”(History.com) Unfortunately, Leonidas didn’t know about a secret passage around Thermopylae, but this time it would make him pay dearly, a traitor Ephialtes told Xerxes about this passage, forcing Leonidas was forced to command most of his army to leave since Xerxes had two directions to attack him from showing the “fatal weakness to the otherwise formidable phalanx formation that proved to be Leonidas’ undoing”(History.com) Leonidas had to turn back, but it was against his culture to have himself and his Spartans live a battle without winning. So he told most of his army to go home and protect Greece, leaving “an army of Spartans, Thespians and Thebans remaining to fight the Persians,” they were obviously overwhelmed by the Persians. The reason Leonidas stayed was because he was taught, as well as his fellow Spartans, that the best death is the first one you can receive as a warrior, after all, “a Spartan