Free Custom «The Greek and Persian War» Essay Paper

History has recorded much warfare not only in the U.S but all over the world. Most of these wars involved either two nations, empires or a combination of various nations and empires with the aim of conquering opponents. Every war experienced in the world had its own causes and effects with some of the consequences being felt by the present generation. It is however important to note that some countries and empires realized growth and development through postwar recovery and civilization. One of the wars noted in history was The Greek and Persian War.Greco-Persian wars included a series of wars that took place between a merge of Greek city states and Persia which lasted for almost a decade from 499 to 488 BC. The war was initiated by The Ionian Revolt during the reign of Cyrus the Great. He captured a number of cities including Lydia rendering all other cities supported by Lydia helpless. As a result, Cyrus went ahead to capture the helpless cities. He was cruel and inhuman during his ruling and appointed several tyrants in various regions (Cassin-Scott 3). His son strongly supported him capturing Egypt and part of Greece like the Samos Island. Persia continued to attack different cities but lost two battles consecutively to the Scythians and Naxos. These led to the revolt by those Greek cities which were occupied by Persia but lost the battle in 494 BC. This revolt, Ionian lasted for almost half a decade (Souza 9).The Greco-Persian War is considered different from previous wars encountered in between the two sides. It led to a dramatic change with regard to the scope and warfare scale. Greek cities had to devise strategies of winning the battle including formation of alliances and pooling of resources and sharing of responsibilities. The Peloponnesian War was realized after the rise of Sparta and Athens. This led advancement in warfare including war tactics and strategies. Diversification of the warfare was also attributed to availability of enough manpower and finances. Due to these developments, there was an increase in the number of casualties leading to massive disruption of Greece.

 

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Although Greco-Persian war greatly affected Greeks, the war had long lasting impact on Greek Civilization with several lessons which are quite important in the current generation with the number of wars having dropped. For instance, several transformations were witnessed that led to socioeconomic development in Greece. Many Greeks took advantage of commercial opportunities which existed during Alexander's prosperous development and advancement in warfare. This led to the formation of Koine which beat Aramaic's lingua franca. It opened several business opportunities for Greeks and promoted living standards. Additionally, many Persian rulers heavily invested in warfare leading to a rise in the appetite for military men who were later to serve in battles. This led to a huge flow of fit men from Greece to Egypt and Asia (Cassin-Scott 12). Continuous flow of military men drastically affected the population of Greece which became so depleted.Another impact of the Persian War affected both political and cultural standards of Greeks. Many kingdoms which were established by Alexander's successors adopted Greek culture and city-state model in establishing social standards and control in most of their territories. This acted as a channel towards political and cultural stability until the time of Islamic takeover and the fall of Byzantine in the 15th century which continued to use Greek and promotion of its culture.

Moreover, the spread of Greek culture meant a lot with regard to religious beliefs and practices. The spread led to the rising of cults and adoption of a state religion. Many cults which included but not limited to Jesus, Isis and Mithras grew in terms of followers and influence. Because of his authority and influence, Empire Constantine chose Christianity as the state religion because of its geographical hierarchy although he initiated Mithras. Constantine believed that he would easily use Christianity to unite his people and promote easy control of the empire.The Persian war also augmented economic growth in many cities across Greece especially after the rescue of Byzantine leadership in the 12^th century. It has been considered as the most significant economic development in the history of Greece that saw an increase in population and expansion of agricultural land which was a key tool in ensuring food security. Most importantly, development was not urban-based but across Greece (Souza 18). This led to the construction of various churches in remote areas and allowed equal growth of people regardless of their class.As noted above, there was a steady increase in population which was directly accompanied by an increase in restoration of many towns in the twelfth century. Many archeological researches have revealed that there was an increase in the number of urban homesteads in many new towns. Examples of early towns which experienced massive growth included: Corinth, Thessaloniki, Athens and Thebes. A part from promoting the living standards of Greeks, the growth in towns also attracted visitors like the Venetians with business interest leading to economic boost in Greece. Venetians were well known for their active involvement in ports and in shipping goods.It is clear that any warfare has uncountable effects with many revolving around humanity. Loss of innocent lives is very common in most wars including the Persian war. It is therefore important to explore other channels of resolving conflicts other than engaging in war. War also affects economic development of involved parties. Many institutions which promote social standards get destroyed leading to poor living standards. Unity and dialogue should be given the first priority as the basic foundation of solving our political and ideological differences. The current generation ought to learn from past events and mistakes in reaching a fair ground when dealing with both external and internal conflicts but not war.