Back Schlacht von Plataiai ALS معركة بلاتيا Arabic Plateya döyüşü Azerbaijani پلاتیا دؤیوشو AZB Бітва пры Платэях Byelorussian Битка при Платея Bulgarian Emgann Plataia Breton Bitka kod Plateje BS Batalla de Platea Catalan Bitva u Platají Czech
| Battle of Plataea | |||||||||
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| Part of the Second Persian invasion of Greece | |||||||||
 Persians and Spartans fighting at Plataea. 19th century illustration. | |||||||||
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Achaemenid Empire Greek vassals: • Boeotia • Thessalia • Macedon | |||||||||
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The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara), and the Achaemenid Empire of Xerxes I (allied with Greek states including Boeotia, Thessalia, and Macedon).
At the preceding Battle of Salamis, the allied Greek navy had won an unlikely but decisive victory, preventing the conquest of the Peloponnesus region. Xerxes then retreated with much of his army, leaving his general Mardonius to finish off the Greeks the following year. In the summer of 479 BC, the Greeks assembled a huge army and marched out of the Peloponnesus. The Persians retreated to Boeotia and built a fortified camp near Plataea. The Greeks, however, refused to be drawn into the prime terrain for cavalry around the Persian camp, resulting in a stalemate that lasted 11 days.[b][4]
While attempting a retreat after their supply lines were disrupted, the Greek battle line fragmented. Thinking that the Greeks were in full retreat, Mardonius ordered his forces to pursue them, but the Greeks, particularly the Spartans, Tegeans and Athenians halted and gave battle, routing the lightly armed Persian infantry and killing Mardonius. A large portion of the Persian army was trapped in its camp and killed. The destruction of this army, and the remnants of the Persian navy allegedly on the same day at the Battle of Mycale, decisively ended the invasion.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b Shepherd 2012, pp. 34–36.
- ^ a b Shepherd 2012, p. 78.
- ^ Fehling 1971, pp. 157, 159, 161.
- ^ Fehling 1971, p. 161.