Essay on Greek Unity – 20 marks

How much evidence is there of Greek unity during the Greco-Persian

Wars? You may use Sources A and B as a starting point, you should
justify your response.

In the beginning, Greece was incredibly disunified in all ways, all states were
for themselves and were going to fight on their own agenda, however after
much arguing and hesitation they decided to come together and fight the
Persians as one in Salamis. In all honesty, the Greeks really had no choice since
the Persians had gathered the largest army and many hundreds of ships.

Themistocles realised that the Greeks could not gather enough troops in time
to fight the Persians and their many warriors, therefore with much deliberation
he convinced the Athenians to construct a fleet of 200 triremes, with money
from a silver mine in Attica. Achieving unity was no easy task when word got
around that Xerxes was indeed planning an invasion of the Greeks. By the time
the Persians were reaching the mainland, half of the Greek states had already
surrendered to them fearing whatever consequences could occur if they did
not. This shows a sense of cowardice from the Greeks, and not at all unified in
any shape or form.

However, for the sake of unity, Themistocles agreed to serve under Eurybiades
even though he had far more knowledge and experience in this realm. In order
to prevent the Persian army from moving down Greece's coast, the Hellenic
League used both its land and marine forces. The army would close off
Thermopylae's narrow pass, while the navy would close off the Straits of
Skiathos. The Persian army would have to flee once it ran out of supplies if the
Persian navy could be kept separate.

Themistocles now deceived Xerxes with a clever trick. He dispatched a trusted

slave into the Persian camp, claiming that the Greek navy was in disarray and
about to abandon its position. Xerxes bought the story and sent his fleet into
the straits. Expecting the Greek navy to retreat, the Persians were caught off
guard and rammed by the Greeks. Many attempted to flee, but their path was
cut. Between 200 and 300 triremes were lost. Xerxes then exacerbated the
situation by executing some of his fleet's captains for cowardice. Many of the
other captains were enraged, and they sailed their ships back to Egypt and
Phoenicia. Olmstead asserts that this, together with the defeat at Salamis,
denied Xerxes access to his fleet and prevented him from invading the
Peloponnese.

Many of the Greek states were terrified of fighting and wanted to hide away to
protect themselves from whatever was coming. Furthermore, many of the
states had no trust in each other, showing us that they were all separated and
disunified. Although once the battle began, for the sake of survival they all did
come together and fight, then later formed the Delian league. Despite the
evidence found beforehand, this shows us a completely opposite side to the
Greeks and shows that they are united on all fronts in situations where it is
vital.

All in all, although we see that Greece is entirely disunified there is evidence
and a valid reason as to why they won in the Greco-Persian and that they are
unified in some respect. The Greeks won the Persian War for several reasons,
including superior weapons, better leadership, a stronger sense of purpose
than the Persians, and better use of Greece's unusual environment. These
elements, though, wouldn't have been enough if the Greeks had broken apart.
Herodotus expressed it plainly when he declared that the Greeks battled to
defend their nation whereas the Persians fought out of fear of retribution. This
explains their remarkable degree of unity.