Why the Greeks Won the 2nd Persian War

In the second Persian war the Greeks had won event though they were greatly outnumbered by the Persians. The reason for this is the tactics the Greeks had, the weapons and protection the used and they had the advantage of the location where the battles took place. The Greeks were more organised with their fighting compared to the Persians who were sloppy with their approach in battling.

The unity within the Greeks helped them win because the army held brothers, uncles, fathers and neighbours everyone was connected; the motivation to keep the families and friends in Greece was far greater than the Persians because within the Persian army there were many different mixed nations in it as well as Persians. So there was bound to be some double crossing in the Persian army ""the maintenance of Greek unity was precarious because of thousands of personal and municipal rivalries among the Greeks, members of the league had kept the oath, "I shall fight to the death, I shall put freedom before life, I shall not desert colonel or captain alive or dead, I shall carry out the generals' commands, and I shall bury my comrades-in-arms where they fall and leave none unburied." (Website- http://bigsiteofhistory.com/the-persian-wars-the-greeks - the Persian wars/ the Greeks). The Greeks were so close knitted during the times of the Persian war so the advantage was with them instead of the Persians.

The equipment the Greeks used also played a part in their win against the Persians. They used many different weapons, armour and equipment such as; the boats (triremes) where like an upgrade form the Persians form of transport, they were lighter, faster and more manoeuvrable than the Persians. This came in good use during the salamis when the fight took place in the seas of salamis when the Persians tried to smash into the Greeks they completely missed because the Greeks dodged them quicker than the predicted. "the greatest destruction took place when the ships which had been first engaged turned tail; for those stationed behind fell foul of them in their attempt to press forward and do some service before the eyes of the king"(the histories book eight 89-90). The tactic was to sunk the boats by crashing into them this caused many casualties on the Persian side because the couldn't swim whereas more Greeks survived for that very reason "there were also Greek casualties, but not many for http://bigsiteofhistory.com/the-persian-wars-the-greeksmost of the Greeks could swim, and those who lost their ships, provided the were not killed in the actual fighting, swam over to salamis."(The histories book eight 89). The armour was also better than the Persian and had better protection. The uniform consisted of a shield made from wood with an outer layer of bronze so a spear could not penetrate it, the sarissa (or javelin/spear) used by the Greek hoplite was suited perfectly to the close formation of interlinked

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