The First Clash: The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and its Impact on Western Civilization

Description

At the dawn of the fifth century BCE, Persia stood triumphant. For more than five decades her warriors had crushed all who opposed them. No city had ever withstood a Persian siege, and all the armies of the known world's most powerful civilizations had met their ruin trying to halt Persia's inexorable march of conquest. The dreaded Persian army finally arrived in Greece, and the Athenian hoplites wondered how they would be able to resist an army of professional warriors three times their size. However, the Athenians proved victorious at the Battle of Marathon, changing the course of history and defining the tenuous relationship between East and West for centuries to come.

JIM LACEY teaches at Johns Hopkins University and has written studies about the Iraq War and other topics for the Institute for Defense Analyses. He has written for Time, National Review, and Foreign Affairs, among other publications.

"On the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the battle of Marathon, defense analyst James Lacey has not only offered a fresh appraisal of the battle, but in a larger sense demonstrated how the Athenian victory established a precedent of Western military advantage for subsequent millennia. With a fresh eye to tactics, strategy, and military organization, grounded with direct experience with troops on the battlefield, the result is not only new understanding of how the Athenians managed to win, but also a greater appreciation of the beginning of a long tradition of Western military dynamism that we take for granted today."-Victor Davis Hanson, author of Carnage and Culture and The Western Way of War "With a soldier's eye, Jim Lacey recreates the Battle of Marathon in all its brutal simplicity. This compelling and provocative read makes a potent contribution to an enduring debate."-Barry Strauss, author of The Battle of Salamis and Professor of History, Cornell University "A lively and readable account of the battle of Marathon and its significance. Jim Lacey's experience as a professional soldier gives it an added dimension, especially his ability to see the military situation from both sides."-Donald Kagan, author of The Peloponnesian War