Leonidas And The 300 Analysis

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Leonidas and the 300 fought the Persians at Thermopylae even though they knew they would lose because they were born and trained to fight and wanted to protect their city state. Leonidas and the 300 chose to confront the Persian army at Thermopylae because they thought their Hoplite Phalanx was superior, Sparta was focused on being the most powerful military, And the persians were trying to take their land.
Leonidas and the 300 chose to fight the Persian army at Thermopylae because they thought their hoplite phalanx was superior. “The hoplite, went into battle in a tight-knit block, eight or more ranks deep, with men close on his left and right. Together the warrior and his comrades constituted the phalanx… Fighting men acted as a body, not …show more content…

“Some of whom claimed to be descendants of those very heroes, fought in the phalanx. The answer begins with the need to reconcile the...competitiveness of the Greeks, so powerful a force in [the Iliad], to the practicalities of fighting in the real world.” (Victor Davis Hanson, Green book, pg. 49). Greeks were very competitive natured, so they tried to win all the battles they could and especially wanted to beat Persia because they were trying to take over Greece. They also wanted to defeat Persia because Persia was the biggest fighting force at the time. “[At Thermopylae] the Persians moved against the Greeks, and the Greeks, fighting city by city in relays, for two days threw them back.”(Victor Davis Hanson, Green book, pg. 53). The Greeks wanted to beat the persians because the Persians were destroying all of the cities that did not accept Persian rule. “It is also said, however, that Leonidas himself sent most of [the other Greeks] away as he was worried that all of them might otherwise be killed.”(Victor Davis Hanson, Green book, pg. 32). The Spartans hated the Persians so much because the Persians were almost the opposite of the Spartans. The Spartans took a stand by themselves and sent the other Greeks home because they knew they would die, but they wanted to die in glory protecting their

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