TEN GREAT EVENTS IN HISTORY

TEN GREAT EVENTS IN HISTORY COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY JAMES JOHONNOT 1887









CHAPTER I.

_DEFENSE OF FREEDOM BY GREEK VALOR._


1. The great events in history are those where, upon special
occasions, a man or a people have made a stand against tyranny, and
have preserved or advanced freedom for the people. Sometimes tyranny
has taken the form of the oppression of the many by the few in the
same nation, and sometimes it has been the oppression of a weak nation
by a stronger one. The successful revolt against tyranny, the terrible
conflict resulting in the emancipation of a people, has always been
the favorite theme of the historian, marking as it does a step in the
progress of mankind from a savage to a civilized state.

2. One of the earliest as well as most notable of these conflicts of
which we have an authentic account took place in Greece twenty-four
hundred years ago, or five hundred years before the Christian era. At
that time nearly all of Europe was inhabited by rude barbarous tribes.
In all that broad land the arts and sciences which denote civilization
had made their appearance only in the small and apparently
insignificant peninsula of Greece, lying on the extreme southeast
border adjoining Asia.

3. At a period before authentic history begins, it is probable that
roving tribes of shepherds from the north took possession of the hills
and valleys of Greece. Shut off on the north by mountain ranges, and
on all other sides surrounded by the sea, these tribes were able to
maintain a sturdy independence for many hundred years. The numerous
harbors and bays which subdivide Greece invited to a maritime life,
and at a very early time, the descendants of the original shepherds
became skillful navigators and courageous adventurers.

4. The voyages of Aeneas and Ulysses in the siege of Troy, and those
of Jason in search of the golden fleece, and of Perseus to the court
of King Minos, are the mythological accounts, embellished by
imagination and distorted by time, of what were real voyages. Crossing
the Mediterranean, Grecian adventurers became acquainted with the
Egyptians, then the most civilized people of the world; and from Egypt
they took back to their native country the germs of the arts and
sciences which afterward made Greece so famous.

5. Thence improvements went forward with rapid strides. Hints received
from Egypt were reproduced in higher forms. Massive temples became
light and airy, rude sculpture became beautiful by conforming to
natural forms, and hieroglyphics developed into the letters which
Cadmus invented or improved. Schools were established, athletic sports
were encouraged, aesthetic taste was developed, until in the arts, in
philosophy, in science, and in literature the Greeks took the lead of
all peoples.

6. As population increased, colonies went out, settling upon the
adjacent coasts of Asia and upon the islands farther west. In Asia the
Greek colonists were subject to the Persian Empire, which then
extended its rule over all Western Asia, and claimed dominion over
Africa and Eastern Europe. The Greeks, fresh from the freedom of their
native land, could not patiently endure the extortions of the Persian
government, to which their own people submitted without question;
hence conflicts arose which finally culminated in Persia taking
complete possession of the Asiatic Greek cities.

7. But the ties of kinship were strong, and the people of Greece
keenly resented the tyranny which had been exercised over their
countrymen, and an irrepressible conflict arose between the two
nations. The Persian king, Darius, determined to put an end to all
annoyance by invading and subjugating Greece. Before the final march
of his army, Darius sent heralds throughout Greece demanding soil and
water as an acknowledgment of the supremacy of Persia, but Herodotus
says that at Sparta, when this impudent demand was made, the heralds
were thrown into wells and told to help themselves to all the earth
and water they liked.

8. After a long preparation, in 490 B.C., an army of one hundred
thousand men or more, under the command of Artaphernes, convoyed by a
formidable fleet, invaded Greece. For a long time it met with little
opposition, and city after city submitted to the overwhelming hosts of
the Persian king. The approach to Athens was regarded as the final
turning point of the war.

9. Artaphernes selected the Plains of Marathon, twenty-two miles to
the northeast of Athens, as the place of his final landing. His
forces, by the lowest estimate, consisted of one hundred and fifty
thousand men, of which ten thousand were cavalry. To these were
opposed the army of Athens and its allies, consisting in all of ten
thousand men. The battle-ground forms an irregular crescent, six miles
long and two broad in its widest part. It is bounded on one side by
the sea, and on the other by a rampart of mountains. At the time of
the battle the extremities of the plain were flanked by swamps,
diminishing the extent of the front, and hampering the operations of
the larger army. The command of the Greek army had been intrusted to
ten generals, who ruled successively one day each. Themistocles, one
of these generals, resigned his day in favor of Miltiades, and all the
others followed his example. And so the battle was set, ten thousand
Greeks, under Miltiades, against the overwhelming hosts of the enemy.

10. The Persians, confident in their numbers, erected no
intrenchments. They did not dream of an attack from the little band of
Greeks. There is evidence to believe that they were dissatisfied with
the nature of the battle-field they had chosen, and were upon the
point of embarking to land at some point nearer the city. If this was
the case, they were very rudely awakened from their dream of security
by the movement of the Greeks.

11. On the morning of the tenth day after leaving Athens, Miltiades
drew up his army in order of battle. He was obliged to perilously
weaken his center in order to confront the whole of the Persian army,
so as to avoid the danger of being outflanked and surrounded. The
Greeks began the battle by a furious attack along the whole line,
endeavoring to close in a hand-to-hand conflict as soon as possible,
so as to avoid the deadly arrows of the Persians, and to take the
advantage of their heavier arms. The Persians were greatly astonished
when they saw this little band rushing against them with such a
headlong dash, and thought that the Greeks must have been seized with
madness. The Persian general had concentrated his forces at the
center, and at this part of the battle-field the fiery onset of Greeks
was checked by mere weight of numbers. But at length the mighty
Persian force moved irresistibly forward, forcing the Greeks slowly
backward, fighting, dying, but never yielding. Soon the Greek army
were cut in two, and the Persians marched proudly onward to assured
victory.

12. But the battle was not yet over. The genius of Miltiades had
anticipated this result. The wings of the Greek army, strengthened at
the expense of the center, fell upon the weakened wings of the
Persians with irresistable onset. The invaders were forced back step
by step, the retreat soon changing into a wild and promiscuous rout,
and two thirds of the Persian army ceased to exist as a fighting
force. The victorious Greeks now turned their attention to the Persian
center, falling upon its flanks with incredible fury. Surrounded on
all sides, for a time the Persians maintained their old reputation as
valiant soldiers, but nothing could withstand the impetuosity of the
Greeks, and soon the whole of the invading hosts were in tumultuous
retreat.

13. The victorious Greeks pressed rapidly forward to prevent the foe
from embarking, and, if possible, to capture some of the ships. But
the Persian archers held the victors in check until the flying
soldiery were embarked, and the Greeks obtained possession of only
seven vessels. But they were left in undisputed possession of the
field of battle, the camp of the enemy, and an immense amount of
treasure which had been abandoned in the precipitate flight. Six
thousand four hundred Persian dead remained on the plain, while the
Greek loss was one hundred and ninety-two.

14. All Athens hastened to welcome the brave soldiery. A Spartan
force, on its way to join the Athenians, arrived too late to take part
in the battle, and they quietly returned home. As the news spread,
loud and frantic rejoicings were heard throughout Greece, and the name
of Persia, so long a dread and a menace, lost much of its terrors.


15. But the battle of Marathon, and the victory of Miltiades, had a
wider significance than could enter into the imaginations of then
living man. It was a conflict between the barbarism of Asia and the
dawning civilization of Europe, between Oriental despotism and human
liberty. The victory rendered normal human growth possible, and, to
use the expressive phrase of the modern poet--

  "Henceforth to the sunset, unchecked on its way,
   Shall liberty follow the march of the day."

It was not for the Greeks alone, but for all ages and all peoples; and
in this Western World, when we celebrate the birth of our own country,
we should ever keep in mind the desperate struggle at Marathon, and
the valor of Miltiades and his Greek soldiery.

16. But the war was not yet over. A single defeat did not extinguish
the hopes of the Persian monarch, nor exhaust the resources of his
empire. Herodotus says: "Now Darius was very bitter against the
Athenians, and when he heard the tale of the battle of Marathon he was
much more wroth, and desired much more eagerly to march against
Hellas. Straightway he sent heralds to all the cities, and bade them
make ready an army, and to furnish much more than they had done
before, both ships, and horses, and corn; and while the heralds were
going round, all Asia was shaken for three years; but in the fourth
year the Egyptians, who had been made slaves by Cambyses, rebelled
against the Persians, and then the king sought only the more
vehemently to go both against the Egyptians and against the Greeks. So
he named Xerxes, his son, to be king over the Persians after himself,
and made ready to march. But in the year after the revolt of Egypt,
Darius himself died; nor was he suffered to punish the Athenians or
the Egyptians who had rebelled against him."

17. The death of Darius gave Greece a respite, but the final conflict
was only postponed. Xerxes was weak, obstinate, and vain-glorious, but
he inherited all his father's hatred of the Greeks, and he resolved
upon one supreme effort to reduce them to subjection. For seven years
more the whole vast Persian empire resounded with the notes of
preparation. In 480 B.C., ten years after the battle of Marathon,
everything was in readiness. A formidable fleet had been built and
equipped, corn and military stores had been collected to a vast
amount, and an army had gathered which, including camp followers, was
variously estimated at from three to five millions. A bridge of boats
was built across the Hellespont, and the Oriental horde was prepared
to ravage the Grecian valleys like a swarm of devouring locusts. A
great storm arose and destroyed the bridge, and the Persian despot
ordered the Hellespont scourged with whips in token of his
displeasure. When the bridge was rebuilt, Xerxes, from a throne
erected upon the shore, for seven days and nights, watched his mighty
host pass over from Asia into Europe.

18. In the mean time the Greeks were preparing for the onset. Sparta,
true to her military organization, did little but to bring her army to
the perfection of discipline, and many of the weaker cities resolved
to quietly submit to the invaders. The Athenians alone seemed to have
fully understood the gravity of the situation. To them the rage of the
Persian king was particularly directed, for the crushing defeat at
Marathon, and Athens was more exposed than any other of the Greek
cities. During the ten years Athens raised and equipped as large an
army as her population would warrant. Every able-bodied man was
enrolled in the ranks. Food and military stores were collected, but
the chief means of defense was a novel one, and showed the desperate
nature of the conflict in which they were about to engage. Under the
wise direction of Themistocles they built a formidable fleet, so large
that in case of emergency the whole population of the city could
embark, and either remain afloat or take refuge on the neighboring
islands.

19. A congress of the cities had determined to oppose the approach of
Xerxes at some favorable place by a combined army. At the head of the
Maliac gulf there was a narrow pass, through which the Persians had to
go, the road running between a mountain and a swamp which stretched to
the sea; and at one place the swamp came so near the mountain that
there was hardly room for the road to run between. This is the famous
pass of Thermopylζ; and here it was that a small army might block the
way against any number of the enemy. Across this pass a wall was
built, and behind it was posted the Greek army under the command of
Leonidas, the Spartan king. His forces consisted of three hundred
Spartans, seven hundred Thespians, and about four thousand more from
the various Grecian cities. The Persians approached, and for four days
waited, expecting to see the Greek army disperse at the very sight of
their formidable numbers. But as they were apparently not frightened,
on the fifth day the Persians made an attack. For two days the battle
continued, inflicting great losses upon the Persians, while the little
army of Leonidas, behind their fortifications, was scarcely injured.

20. On the third morning a renegade Greek showed Xerxes a path across
the mountains where he could completely turn the Greek position. The
Persians were not slow to avail themselves of this intelligence, and
toward the close of the third day Leonidas saw the enemy descending
the mountain, ready to surround him and cut off his retreat. Acting
promptly, he ordered his allies to leave the field before it was too
late, but he, with his devoted band of three hundred, were to remain,
in accordance of a Spartan law which forbade a Spartan soldier ever to
retreat from the presence of an enemy. The seven hundred Thespians
remained with him, and the whole band was cut down, but not without
inflicting fearful loss upon the enemy.

[Illustration: THERMOPYLAE (Map)]

21. While the passage of Thermopylζ was disputed, he Greek fleet
advanced and took position in the strait of Artemisium, to prevent the
Persian fleet from advancing farther into Greek waters. During the
battle the fleets were also engaged in an indecisive conflict. A
storm, however, arose and destroyed two hundred of the Persian ships.
When Thermopylζ fell there was no longer reason for defending
Artemisium, and the Greek fleet returned to defend the approach to
Athens at the strait of Salamis.

22. Athens was now at the mercy of the conqueror. The Spartan army
moved off to defend their own city. It was now that the wisdom of
Themistocles showed itself. "The Athenians had no hope of being able
to defend Athens, and resolved to abandon the town, and to remove
their wives and children out of Attica to a place of safety. The whole
population, men, women, and children, sorrowfully left their homes,
and streamed down to the sea-shore, carrying what they could with
them." The fleet took them over to Salamis and adjacent islands; and
when Xerxes reached Athens he found it silent and deserted. A few poor
or desperate men alone refused to depart, and had posted themselves
behind a wooden fortification on the top of the Acropolis, the
fortress and sanctuary of Athens. The Persians fired the
fortifications, stormed the Acropolis, slaughtered its defenders, and
burned every holy place to the ground. Athens and its citadel were in
the hands of the barbarians; its inhabitants were scattered, its holy
places destroyed. One hope alone remained to the Athenians--the ships
which Themistocles had persuaded them to build.

23. The fleet was anchored in the strait of Salamis, and beside the
two hundred ships of Athens, it consisted of a large number from other
ports of Greece. Among the Greeks there were divided counsels; some
were for giving immediate battle, and some were for flying from the
thousand Persian ships now advancing upon them. Themistocles saw that
to retreat would be ruin, and he by stratagem kept every ship in its
place. He sent secret word to the Persians that the Greek fleet would
soon be in full retreat, and the Persian admiral sent two hundred
vessels to blockade the farther extremity of the strait, so that
flight was impossible.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF SALAMIS (Map)]

24. When everything was in readiness, Xerxes, from a throne built for
him on the shore so that he might be a spectator of the fight, gave
the signal to advance. At once all the long banks of oars in the
thousand ships flashed in the light and dipped in the water. But here,
as at Marathon, the way was narrow, and there was no chance for the
display of the full power of the Persian fleet. In a hand-to-hand
conflict they stood no chance with the Greeks, and Xerxes, with
despair in his heart, saw two hundred of his best ships sunk or
captured and many more seriously disabled, while the Greeks had
suffered little loss.

25. Themistocles remained all night at his anchorage, ready to renew
the conflict on the morrow, but Xerxes, fearful for the fate of his
bridge across the Hellespont, ordered the eight hundred remaining
ships to sail for its protection, while he and his whole army marched
as rapidly as possible for the same point. The number assembled to
pass back into Asia was greatly diminished from the hosts which a few
months before had so proudly marched to assured victory. Besides those
lost in battle, thousands had perished through disease and famine. But
the hope of final success was not entirely abandoned, and the Persian
general, Mardonius, with three hundred thousand of the best soldiers
of the invading army, were left to complete the conquest.

26. With the retreat of Xerxes, the Athenians returned to their city,
finding their temples destroyed, and their homes desolated, but they
immediately commenced the work of rebuilding, and, amid rejoicings and
renewed hopes, the city arose from its ashes. The clash of arms gave
place to the din of industry, and the fighting soldier was replaced by
the peaceable citizen.

27. In the mean time, Mardonius went into winter quarters in the
northern provinces, and during the winter he endeavored to effect by
negotiation and bribery what he had failed to accomplish by arms. He
succeeded in exciting the jealousy of several of the cities toward
each other, so that it was difficult to bring about concert of action,
and he succeeded in detaching Thebes entirely from the confederacy,
and arraying it against Athens. The Theban force which joined his army
became one of the most formidable foes which the allied Greek had to
meet.

28. The negotiations continued through the spring, but as summer
approached the army of Mardonius was on the move. Sparta was not ready
to meet the invader, and the Athenians once more took refuge on their
ships, ten months after their return. Mardonius took possession of the
city, and this time effectually destroyed it; but as nothing was to be
gained by a further stay, he marched his army to Thebes, which became
his headquarters. The Spartans were at length ready to march. They saw
their city menaced, and their own safety demanded that the forces of
Mardonius should be broken.

29. With the aid of their allies they put into the field an army, the
largest that the Greeks ever mustered, variously reported as numbering
one hundred thousand to one hundred and ten thousand men. These were
under the command of the Spartan king, Pausanias. In September they
set out for Thebes, and in a few days came up to the Persian army,
which was stationed at Plataea, a short distance from Thebes. Here
Mardonius had established a fortified camp to which he might retreat
if defeated on the field. For eleven days the two armies confronted
each other, neither anxious to strike the first blow. Then the supply
of water for the Greek camp gave out, and Pausanias fell back to a
better position.

30. This movement threw the Greek army into disorder, and the three
main divisions became separated from one another. Perceiving this the
next morning, Mardonius hastened with his Persians toward the higher
ground, where the Spartan troops might be seen winding along under the
hillside, for from the river-banks he could not catch sight of the
Athenians, who were hidden among the low hills which rose from the
level plain.

31. The last momentous strife had now begun. It was the custom of the
Spartans before beginning a battle to offer sacrifice, and to wait for
an omen or sign from heaven on the offering. Even now, when the
Persians had advanced to within bow-shot and were pouring flights of
arrows upon the Spartans, Pausanias offered sacrifice. But the omens
were bad, and forbade any action except in self-defence. The Spartans
knelt behind their shields, but the arrows pierced them, and the
bravest men died sorrowfully, lamenting not for death, but because
they died without striking a blow for Sparta. In his distress
Pausanias called upon the goddess Hera, and the omens suddenly became
favorable, and the Spartans with their Tegean allies threw themselves
upon the enemy.

32. But the disparity of forces rendered the attack desperate.
Fifty-three thousand Greeks in all were opposed to the overwhelming
numbers of Mardonius. The Athenians were engaged elsewhere and could
afford no assistance. The Persians had made a palisade of their wicker
shields, behind which they could securely and effectually use their
bows and arrows. By the first fierce onset of the Greeks this palisade
went down, but the Asiatics, laying aside their bows, fought
desperately with javelins and daggers. But they had no metal armor to
defend them; and the Spartans, with their lances fixed and their
shields touching each other, bore down everything before them.

33. The Persians fought with almost Hellenic heroism. Coming to close
quarters, they seized the spears of their enemies and broke off their
heads. Rushing forward singly or in small groups, they were borne down
in the crush and killed; still they were not dismayed; and the battle
raged more fiercely on the spot where Mardonius, on his white horse,
fought with the flower of his troops. At length Mardonius was slain,
and when his chosen guards had fallen around him, the remainder of the
Persians made their way to their fortified camp, and took refuge
behind its wooden walls.

34. In the mean time the Athenian army had been confronted by the
Persian-Theban allies. Here it was not a conflict between disciplined
valor and barbaric hordes, but between Greek and Greek. The battle was
long and bloody, but in the end the defenders of Greek liberty were
victorious over those who would destroy it. The Theban force was not
only defeated but annihilated, and then the Athenians hastened to the
support of Pansanias. While the Spartans were the best-drilled
soldiery in Greece for the field, they had little skill in siege
operations, and the wooden walls of the Persian camp opposed to them
an effective barrier.

35. While the Spartan force was engaged in abortive attempts, the
Athenians and their allies came up fresh from their victory over the
Thebans. Headed by the Tegeans, they burst like a deluge into the
encampment, and the Persians, losing all heart, sought wildly to hide
themselves like deer flying from lions. Then followed a carnage so
fearful that out of two hundred and sixty thousand men not three
thousand, it is said, remained alive.

36. Thus ended this formidable invasion, which threatened the very
existence of Greece. The great wave of Oriental despotism had spent
its force without submerging freedom. Thenceforth the wonderful Greek
energy and creative power might be turned away from matters military
and expended upon the arts of peace.

37. The Athenians returned to their city and found everything in
ruins. Fire and hate had destroyed home and temple alike. All the
accumulated wealth of generations was gone. Nothing was left but the
indomitable energy which had been tested on so many trying
emergencies, and the wonderful skill of eye and hand which came of
inherited aptitude and long personal experience. Upon the old site a
new city grew in a single generation, marvelous in its splendor of
temple and palace, so light and airy, yet so strong and enduring, that
after the lapse of twenty-five centuries the marble skeletons, though
in ruins, stand, the admiration of all men and of all ages.