User blog:GunsnadGlory/Common Misconceptions of History: Thermopylae.

Ok, so I've noticed- not so much here- but generally online, people have a LOT of misconceptions about history.

So I'll be creating blog posts about common misconceptions about said history.

Let's start with the battle of Thermopylae! Now, I've noticed a bunch of very, very common misconceptions about this quite famous battle. Let's start, then! TL;DR.
 * 1) Misconception the First: The 300 Spartans fought with almost no backing from other Greeks states, against an army of millions.
 * 2) *Yeah, no. Depending on your source, there were between 6000 and 20,000 Greek soldiers here. Historians nowadays prefer the second figure. The Spartans fought alongside them, and well, but they were only distinguished in the final action, which I'll explain later. In fact, the Greeks were quite ordered, and rotated the contingents from each city out of line, to rest them. They were up, also, against between 100,000 and 200,000 Persians- so yes, badly outnumbered, but not anything near the 4 million stated by some comtemporaries of the battle. The Roman empire at it's height had about 5 million people. That was a 1,000 years after Thermopylae, and their empire was larger than the Persian one. I sincerely doubt that Xerxes could raise an army of more than about 5% of the the population.
 * 3) Misconception the Second: Thermopylae was a strategic blunder by the Greeks.
 * 4) *Thermopylae was strategically brilliant for the Greeks. They found terrain where an army outnumbered 10-1 could easily hold off their opponents. The plan was for the first forces to hold off the Persians to force them to take another path, allowing the Greeks armies to marshal and fight off the invaders. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and this is no different. The Greeks couldn't know that a traitor would reveal a path to the Persians to surround the Greeks. Even then, their strategy was brilliant. At this point, the 300 Spartans did distinguish themselves, ordering the other Greeks to fall back while they held the pass long enough to cover their getaway. Most of the Greeks obeyed- not all. Demophilus, commander of the Thespians, informed Leonidas of the Spartans that he could get stuffed, and his 700 troops fought to death along with the 300 Spartans. This was somewhat surprising, because those 700 hoplites were damn near the entire Thespian army. Forget the 300. Remember the 700.
 * 5) Misconception the Third: Thermopylae was anything less than an unmitigated disaster for the Greeks.
 * 6) *Bet that surprised you, huh? Well, yeah. The result of Thermopylae was that the Greeks lost tremendous amounts of land and several months or even years to prepare. Had it not been for Platea, Western civilization would never have emerged. If the Greeks had held out for a few weeks, then the Persians would have run out of supplies, and would have had to have taken another path. Instead, they held out for 3 days.
 * 7) Misconception the Last: Thermopylae was the most badass last stand of all history.
 * 8) *Nope. Just no. Stop. Let's consider some of the others, ok?
 * 9) *#Saragarhi. 21 Sikhs stand against 10,000 Afghan rebels. Result: 21 Sikhs dead, along with no less than SIX HUNDRED Afghans. The last of the Sikhs to survive was the signals officer. After requesting permission from the British to join in the fight, following the deaths of all his comrades, he held out so well that the Afghans eventually burnt down the signals office with him inside. Mortally wounded and trapped in the burning office, he didn't stop firing and shouting the Sikh war cry till he died. Upon hearing of this, the British Parliament rose to honor their memories. The cavalry- in the form of reinforcements from nearby fort- arrived too late to save them, but they remain military heroes of both the British and Indian armies to this day.
 * 10) *#Camaron. 65 members of the French Foriegn League trying to defend a position against thousands of Mexicans. After brutal fighting over days, just 6 were left, and were out of ammunition. Now, any normal soldier would at this point come out with their hands up. Not them. Led by their last surviving officer, they charged, bayonets fixed, against machinegun and rifle fire. 3 were hit by bullets and kill instantly- the others were wrestled to the ground and told to surrender. So any normal soldier would surrender now, right? Not these. They demanded to be allowed to keep their weaponry, and to be allowed to take the corpse of their officer back to their own lines, with an escort. The Mexican general acceded, asking himself "What can I deny to men like these?"
 * 11) *#The Last Stand of the Swiss Guard. 189 Swiss against 20,00 soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire. Given the opportunity to flee, they refused, instead forming a fighting square and holding off the enemy long enough for the Pope to escape. They killed huge numbers of the Germans. 42 of them survived. I still have this theory that Switzerland was made neutral at the Congress of Vienna not for the protection of Switzerland, but for the protection of the others! Lesson here- Mess ye not with the Swiss.
 * 12) *#Stamford Bridge. Army of 5,000 Saxons. One man successfully held em of for hours, until one bright Saxon had the brilliant idea of stabbing him from under the bridge he was standing on.
 * 13) *#The Battle of Wizna, WWII. A polish army of around 700 holds out against a Nazi army over 60x their size for no less than 3 days. Keep in mind that these were all conscripts, with no armored vehicles, no air support, nothing but some rifles and very little ammunition. This is one of the greatest stands of history.
 * 14) *#Hastings, 1066. Not the battle itself, but the stand of the Huscarls. The English soldiers broke and ran after the death of Harold, and the thousands of Normans were left facing just the few dozen bodyguards of Harold, the Huscarls, who refused to budge from the corpse of their King. They were finally cut down after killing dozens of Norman knights and footsoldiers.
 * 15) *#Shiroyama, 1877. The last Samurai rebellion against the government. 400 samurai against an army of no less than 30,000 soldiers, with machine guns, artillery, you name it. After days of constant shelling, firing, Just 30 Samurai were left.Rather than surrender, they charged the enemy lands, cutting down enemies left and right, causing massive casualties before finally falling.
 * So, yeah. Let's be honest, Thermopylae wasn't that great. No one's doubting their bravery, but frankly, any of the above was way more badass, way braver.

'''Don't. Believe. Anything. In. The. Movie. 300.'''