repelled Persia in the Marathon battle, it is foreseeable that the Persians will inevitably make a comeback, so Athens began to build its own maritime power. Timmy Stockley, the chief governor of Athens, believes that the future of Greece lies in the sea. He used the income from Romanian silver mines to build 160 three-row warships and recruited sailors to drill day and night to form a powerful fleet, making Athens a The top sea power in the Aegean Sea.
Xerxes started the war to conquer Greece again for revenge. But this time the Persian Empire is coming so aggressively and hard to stop.
After conquering the hot spring pass, the Persian army drove straight into the city of Athens. Timistokli firmly believed in the power of the Athenian navy and persuaded everyone to abandon the city of Athens and fight Persia at sea. Although some people opposed this proposition, the Athens government eventually adopted his proposal. Women and children took a boat to Salamis to take refuge. All the men took a warship to the Salamis Gulf. The only hope of the Athenians could only rest on the sea.
The Persian army that went straight to Athens did not encounter resistance. When they entered the city, the city was empty. Xerxes was furious and ordered fire to destroy the largest and richest city in Greece. Just as the Persian army headed for Athens, the Persian navy also bypassed Euboea and drove to Piraeus, the outer port of Athens. They echoed the land and water, and they had the potential to swallow the mountains and rivers and level Greece.
The Greek people did not give in. They pinned their hope of victory on the sea, because the Athens Navy is a powerful force. In fact, just as the Spartans were preparing to fight the Persian army, the Greek combined fleet had already exchanged fire with the Persian navy at sea. Although Athens had the strongest navy in Greece at this time, Timistocles offered to let the Spartans be the commander of the combined fleet for the unity of the alliance. However, the Spartans were not good at commanding the navy, so they wanted to do everything. Ask Timmystocles for advice, so Timmysstocles actually holds the command of the Greek combined fleet.
In the Strait of Artemision at the northern end of Euboea, Timistacle commanded the Greek navy to successfully prevent the Persian navy from attacking in the first round. But at this moment, the news came that Wenquan Pass had fallen. The King of Sparta had been killed, and the menacing Persian army was advancing like Athens. After hearing the news, the crowd had no intention of fighting again, and they withdrew to the Salamis Strait that night, and the Persian fleet followed.
Salamis Strait is located between Salamis and the mainland of Greece. There is a small island at the exit of the Strait to the east, dividing the strait into two exits. The sea is narrow and the width is only 1200 meters. The combined Greek fleet is concentrated at the eastern end of the Salamis Strait. There are about 400 three-row warships, of which the Athens fleet accounts for 50%.
Xerxes convened an imperial meeting in the port of Falleroun, nine kilometers away from the Salamis Strait. The navy leaders from various countries who came to the war were trying to figure out Xerxes’ thoughts. Obviously Xerxes hoped to accomplish his work. In one battle, the Greek navy was wiped out in one fell swoop. Therefore, everyone said that the decisive battle in the Salamis Gulf was the best time, and only Artemisia, the queen of the Ionian city-state, put forward different opinions. The queen suggested that the Persian navy should not control the Greek fleet, but go directly to the Peloponnese and attack there, so that the combined Greek fleet in the Salamis Gulf would be torn apart. Because the Peloponnesians will definitely rush to rescue their homeland, and will never stay here to contribute to the Athenians, then the Greek combined fleet will collapse due to the departure of allies, leading to destruction.
As a Greek, Queen Artemisia really understands the mind of the Greeks, and her prediction is completely accurate. It is a pity that Xerxes did not listen to her advice. Xerxes believes that the opinions of most people are reliable, but the so-called opinions of most people are actually only suggestions after pondering his mind.
Faced with the land and water attack of the Persian army, the Greek combined fleet concentrated in the Gulf of Salamis in the south of Athens was also shaken. Everyone had no confidence in whether they could defeat the Persian army, especially after hearing the news of the loss of Athens. , Is even more panic. Allied forces were panicked. Some city-states planned to sail away from the bay to defend their hometown. The Greek fleet was in danger of falling apart. At this critical moment, Timisokly, who commanded the Athens Navy, stepped forward and suggested holding a military meeting to discuss combat plans.
In response to the vacillating situation in the military, Timmy Stockley pointed out that in the narrowIn sea battles, the combined fleet can still win more with less. If you withdraw from the Salamis Gulf and fight the powerful Persian fleet on the open sea, the combined fleet will inevitably be destroyed. Although what he said was quite correct, he was isolated at this time. In the face of the powerful Persian fleet, almost all admirals advocated withdrawing from the Corinthian Gulf to preserve the Peloponnese. Facing the situation where it is difficult to sing alone, Tiramistokli said: "In this case, the Greek Navy will withdraw from the alliance!" This trick still works, because without the participation of the powerful Athens Navy, the Greek combined fleet is equivalent to disbanding. .
Although the situation was temporarily stabilized, the hearts of the people were still unstable. Timistokley secretly used a trick. He sent someone to reveal the news to the Persians, saying that the Greek coalition warships wanted to escape, so Xerxes ordered The Persian fleet blocked the exits at both ends of the Samis Gulf. Facing the blockade of the Persian fleet, those ships that wanted to leave had to stay, and had to fight the Persians again with all their heart.
Xerxes is determined to win this naval battle. He handed over the command to Queen Artemisia, and he set up a tent on a hill near Salamis Bay and watched the battle leisurely. The person standing next to him was holding paper and pen. This is a historian who has prepared. To record the glorious victory of the Persian Navy!
Salamis
The biggest paddle boat battle in the history of the Aegean Sea broke out. The bow of a Greek warship has a huge spire several meters long, wrapped in bronze. When the warship rushes toward the enemy ship at full speed, the spire can break through the side of the opponent, and once the enemy ship enters the water, the enemy ship will lose its combat effectiveness. Compared with the Greek warships, the Persian three-row paddle warships are taller, larger and faster, and doubled in number, with nearly 800 ships.
Faced with the Persian fleet that rushed into the Salamis Gulf, the Greek fleet split into two groups and suddenly launched an attack, taking advantage of its small agility and moving freely in a narrow bay. Fighting with the Persian navy in battles and collisions, repeatedly attacking the Persian fleet. The Persian forward fleet could not resist and was forced to retreat, and the Persian warships behind did not know the battle. They beat the drums and rushed forward. Because it was a good wind, the full-sailed support fleet rushed into the Gulf just in time and retreated. The forward ships collided head-on and huddled in the narrow sea. The Greek navy took advantage of the momentum, and the Persian navy suffered heavy losses. Queen Artemisia commanded the fleet on the flagship, and found that her fleet was cut to pieces. Knowing that the defeat was set, she had to direct the flagship to rush out of the melee.
Xerxes, who was watching the battle on the hillside, saw that the Greek navy was beginning to gain the upper hand, he began to regret it. When he found that the battle was becoming more and more unfavorable to the Persians, he began to pray to God to reverse the situation; when Greece When the cheers after the victory rang through the sky, he began to lose his soul: "The elite men and soldiers under me have become women, but women have become men!"
This naval battle in Greece lost less than 50 ships. At the cost of the ship, nearly 300 Persian warships were sunk. The Persian navy suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and the wreckage of warships and drowned soldiers were washed by the tide into the bay on the opposite shore of Salamis, which filled several kilometers of beaches. The reality of failure forced Xerxes to start thinking about the future of the expeditionary force. The navy was defeated, and the army's logistics supplies were lost. The Greek navy might take advantage of the victory and hit the Hellesbon Strait to cut off his return. So he ordered the remaining warships to quickly withdraw to the Hellesbon Strait. A few days later, he left some of his troops to continue fighting in Greece, and he led the rest back to Asia Minor. The naval battle of Salamis was a typical battle in the history of naval warfare in the world, where less than the number was defeated, and the weak was defeated by the strong. It was also the turning point for Greece's transition from defense to offensive, and since then it confirmed the status of Athens as a power in the Aegean. In the second year, the Greek coalition forces with Sparta at the core completely defeated the Persian army in Plataia, and the initiative of the war fell completely into the hands of the Greeks.
This is the legend created by the Athens led by the navy. The Athens Navy and the Spartan Army have become the ceiling of combat power among many Greek city-states. After repelling the Persian invasion, Athens and Sparta each wooed their allies and started for 26 years. The Peloponnesian War.
In the future, I will talk about how Athens and Sparta fell.
