11-28-2007, 11:19 PM
Hi gang
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The reason why the Persians failed in Greece was imo because they had switched to cavalry at that time, which was pretty useless in Greece. Furthermore, of course, the Greeks had an excellent heavy infantry force which were also in a larger number than the Persian Immortals as only heavy Persian infantry force (which also left without fighting a major battle). The Ionian Greeks should have been defeated because of the cavalry the Persians were able to field in western Asia Minor.
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I think the reason that the 480-479 campaign failed was logistics, The Persians were facing real supply problems and Mardonios risked a major battle.
He might better have retired further north to be closer to supplies of controlled areas and waited for the Greek alliance to fragment, perhaps a few well-placed bribes and promises to speed this up.
The early phases of Plataea showed that the Persian army had tools to get the better of the Greeks.
I don't think you can say that cavalry are useless in all of Greece - they had a decisive impact in battles after the 480s - that Alex chap did well with them.
And Xenophon tells up parts of Asia Minor were no good for cavalry.
I think the sources show Persian heavy infantry losing to Greeks after a tough fight (where they lose), the key for a Persian general in this period would be to avoid the heavy infantry conflict being decisive in any given battle and use his other arms to win a set-piece battle.
>>>>
The reason why the Persians failed in Greece was imo because they had switched to cavalry at that time, which was pretty useless in Greece. Furthermore, of course, the Greeks had an excellent heavy infantry force which were also in a larger number than the Persian Immortals as only heavy Persian infantry force (which also left without fighting a major battle). The Ionian Greeks should have been defeated because of the cavalry the Persians were able to field in western Asia Minor.
>>>>>>
I think the reason that the 480-479 campaign failed was logistics, The Persians were facing real supply problems and Mardonios risked a major battle.
He might better have retired further north to be closer to supplies of controlled areas and waited for the Greek alliance to fragment, perhaps a few well-placed bribes and promises to speed this up.
The early phases of Plataea showed that the Persian army had tools to get the better of the Greeks.
I don't think you can say that cavalry are useless in all of Greece - they had a decisive impact in battles after the 480s - that Alex chap did well with them.
And Xenophon tells up parts of Asia Minor were no good for cavalry.
I think the sources show Persian heavy infantry losing to Greeks after a tough fight (where they lose), the key for a Persian general in this period would be to avoid the heavy infantry conflict being decisive in any given battle and use his other arms to win a set-piece battle.
David F Brown
