BATTLE STUDIES SERIES The Pass of Thermopylae, August 480 B

The Pass of Thermopylae, August 480 B.C.

BACKGROUND

Persians

Prior to the 6th century B.C., armies were largely unwieldy masses of infantry, with cavalry and/or chariots thrown in. Maneuver and discipline were not primary qualities of armies. Cyrus the Great made concerted efforts to bring discipline and professional training to the army. This made the Persian infantry much more effective than before. The army itself was composed of foot soldiers armed with shields and short stabbing spears. Swords were there, but not common. In addition, the Persians employed cavalry, armed with both archery and lance, and chariots armed with spear and bow.

Typically, the Persians approached the enemy in a line, with predesigned gaps. Foot archers and slingers rushed through the gaps and harassed the enemy during the advance. Cavalry and charioteers would rush forth and harass the flanks and line of the enemy and return. When sufficient harassment had disordered the enemy to the commander's satisfaction, the line would advance to contact and fight. The Persians did little in the way of pre-contact maneuver, as they found that this often opened gaps in their line, exposing their flanks to the enemy. Generally, the Persian goal was to crush the enemy, or to envelope the flank and get to the vulnerable rear of the enemy.

Greeks

The Greeks at this time were not soldiers from a single country. They considered themselves to be related to other Greeks, but held allegiance to a variety of rulers, commanders, city-states, and nobles. Large armies were thus cobbled together from units which had different training methods, skill levels, arms and armor. Command structures were convoluted and put together by treaty and agreement, rather than by hierarchical authority. Despite this, they had earlier recognized the need for disciplined, coordinated action.

The armies of the Greeks were generally light on cavalry. The mountainous geography of Greece, except for the northern plains of Thessaly and Macedonia, discouraged use of cavalry. Foot soldiers were generally armed with long pikes. They also carried short swords, though these were only employed when the organized unit formation fell apart under close combat. Greek hoplites were armored with round shield, greaves, breastplate, and helmet. They usually formed into a phalanx, with the front ranks pointing their pikes at the enemy, and with ranks behind them resting their pikes on the shoulders of those ahead of them. This provides a hedge of pikes to stop the advance of the enemy and to break up the flights of enemy arrows. Phalanxes could maneuver to some extent during battle owing to superior discipline. The armies were always lined up in a single, long line with narrow gaps for lighter troops to run through. Lighter troops and cavalry guarded the flanks.

The Greeks usually sought the flattest ground they could find, avoiding rough terrain which might cause gaps in their lines. The integrity of the infantry line was paramount, as the cavalry and archers were not as effective. Interestingly, while the individual Greek was a free man, from a proud heritage and suspicious of regimentation, he had accepted the need for discipline and cooperation in battle. This made the phalanx much more flexible than might otherwise be the case, and maintained the integrity of a unit even in the fiercest of combat.

THE TERRAIN

The pass was composed of a narrow shelf along the coastline, with ravines leading up into the mountains. There were three gates through the mountains - the Western Gate, the Middle Gate, and the East Gate. The Western Gate was fairly well defended by the citadel of Trachis. An army passing through this gate would have to move very quickly or be attacked from the flanks. Harassment from even a small force would make this passage difficult or impossible. The Persians had to go through the Middle or East Gates, or be secure from harassment passing through the West Gate.

The Shelf was a narrow piece of flat ground, elevated above the coastline terrain to the north of it. Here, a relatively small force could hold off a much large force by attacking as the larger force tried to come up the slope to the shelf, or by attacking the flanks as the army tried to pass to the north, pinning them against the sea. The ravines were narrow and treacherous, and only a few led over the mountains. The winding mountain trails and ridges were known only to those who lived in them.

THE PLANS

The Persians

The Persians, under Xerxes the Great, planned to arrive simultaneously before Thermopylae on foot and before the Euboean Channel on the sea. The Persian navy would bottle up the Greek fleet in the Channel, keeping them from coming to the aid of their comrades. Meanwhile, the Persian land force would approach the pass from the west. Xerxes expected that his vast army would dishearten the Greeks, and they would simply give up or run away. He remained camped west of the pass for four days. His plan was to simply assault the Greeks in the narrow pass and crush them, opening the pass for the rest of his army.

The Greeks

The Greeks recognized the advantage of the shelf, and planned to occupy the high ground and deny passage to the Persians. The Greeks would stand on the high ground to negate the effectiveness of the Persian cavalry and chariots. This would also fatigue and slow the foot soldiers of the Persian infantry. The long pikes would allow the Greeks to inflict casualties before the Persians were in range of their short spears or swords. Their shields and pike hedges would aid them against the Persian archers.

THE PARTICIPANTS

The Persians

The Persians had composed a Grand Army of roughly 200,000 men from throughout their empire. At the time, this was the largest army that had ever been collected. Their training imposed heterogeneity on the army. The structure was such that Xerxes effectively had command of all of his troops through a hierarchy of sub-commanders.

The Greeks

The Greek army was led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and was composed of roughly 7,000 to 8,000 hoplites and light armed troops, which included the royal bodyguard of roughly 300 Spartans. Of these, 1,000 Phocians were set to guarding the West Gate and the Anopaea path connecting the West and Middle Gates.

THE BATTLE

Initially, Xerxes simply attacked the Greeks frontally on The Shelf. His troops, lighter armed and armored than the Greeks, suffered horrible casualties and withdrew. The next day, he threw his lighter troops against the heavy Greek force once more, and was again beaten back. With each attack, the lightly armored Persians hammered the Greeks with missiles before pressing the attack. The arrows were not as effective as the Persians might hope, as the pikes deflected many and the shields of the hoplites protected them from those that made it through. The Greek archery, while inferior in range and accuracy, was more effective simply because of the lack of Persian armor. The foot soldiers were forced to attack a hedge of pike points while trying to move uphill. On contact, the Greek greaves would protect their exposed legs, while the unshielded Persian troops could be pulled into the swords of their better armed foes. The losses these first two days were terribly lopsided. The historian Herodotus is convinced that had the Greeks had 16,000 rather than 8,000, the Persians would have been forced at this time to retreat.

However, at this time Ephialtes, a man from the region, told Xerxes about the Anopaea path. This path led up a ravine and into the mountains, then back down into the Middle gate. Xerxes sent a force of Immortals (elite Persian troops) under Hydarnes along this path. They encountered the 1,000 Phocians guarding this path in the early morning, and surprised them. The Phocians fled, and were not seen for the remainder of the battle. Meanwhile, Xerxes waited with his main force to give the Immortals time to reach the main Greek body.

Leonidas, when he heard about the Persian enveloping force, sent 4,500 to stop them and prevent more Persians from using the path. They were too late. The Persians, discovering the way open, sent more troops along the path to follow the Immortals. Leonidas, acting on an oracle that had said either a Spartan king would die or Sparta would be sacked, sent his allies away through the East Gate. He kept the Thespian troops under his command (who refused to leave), and Thebans (who were something of hostages for good behavior). When the Immortals and those who followed them arrived from the Anopaea path, the Greek force withdrew behind an ancient wall and fought fiercely hand-to-hand. According to Herodotus, their pikes were almost all broken, and many had lost their swords. They had not lost their spirit, however.

King Leonidas, in this intense fighting, fell. The Greeks and Persians began fighting intensely for his body, with the Greeks finally dragging it away. Eventually, the Persians won out over the vastly outnumbered Greek force and gained the pass.

RESOLUTION

The Greeks at Thermopylae had delayed the Persian army sufficiently for the Athenians to evacuate many of their citizens, and for the Greek states to organize a more effective defense. They had cost the Persians dearly in terms of morale, manpower, and supplies. The Persian army, already feeling the effects of overextension, pushed on to the South. At Salamis, the outnumbered Greek fleet crushed the Persian flight by forcing them to enter the strait to fight. In the strait, the Persian maneuverability was negated and their numbers did not matter. With no fleet to support his long-stretched supply lines, or to defend the sea flanks of his army, Xerxes was forced to withdraw from Greece. Had Thermopylae not take as long as hid had, the Greeks might well have fallen. Xerxes had won the battle, but lost the war.