Xerxes Plans To Conquer Greece

King Xerxes` gathering of an army, and his march to conquer Greece. King Xerxes, son of Darius, ascended to the throne of Persia after his father's death in 486 BC. After securing the throne, Xerxes began to muster forces to invade Greece. By 480 BC, the army he assembled had approximately 100,000 to 180,000 men and a fleet of nearly 600 ships, quite a large army by Greek standards. This time, instead of an invasion by sea, this massive army would cross the Hellespont, and march around the Aegean sea and conquer Greece by land. An army this size would be too hard to ferry across the sea, anyway. Crossing the Hellespont proved to be troublesome to Xerxes and his army. They tried to cross the Hellespont with a bridge of boats, but alas, the sea became rough and the bridge broke apart. When King Xerxes heard of this, he was furious, and gave orders that the sea should receive 300 lashes with whips. The sea did calm down and the second attempt to build a bridge was successful. The Greeks heard of Xerxes' army amassing and were better prepared for the invasion than in the first Persian War. Athenians and Spartans combined with about 29 other city-states, under the leadership of Sparta to oppose this powerful army, and the Athenians contributed a fleet of 200 triremes for their navy. Themistocles, an Athenian general, urged the army to stop the invasion as far north as they could. Finally, a place was chosen for the first defence of Greece. This place was Thermopylae, a pass where it was only 60 feet wide! This is only wide enough so that a single chariot could fit though the pass. The Persian army arrived at Thermopylae and the Greeks were there waiting. This battle is known as The Battle at Thermopylae. [Famous Battles] [Ancient Greece]