Summary of Victor Davis Hanson's The Savior Generals

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The occupying Persians began the laborious task of destroying the stone shrines and temples and torching homes in Athens. They finished off a few Athenian holdouts still barricaded on the Acropolis. Meanwhile, Xerxes drew up his fleet nearby at the Athenian harbor of Phaleron.
#2 Xerxes’ invasion of Greece was a textbook example of momentum and glory, as the king had enjoyed for six months. His huge spring and summer expeditions had rolled out with little resistance, and his army and navy were not just bent on punishing the Greeks in battle, but on absorbing them into the Persian Empire.
#3 The Battle of Salamis was a huge victory for the Greeks, but it was also a sign of how divided they were as a coalition. The sea powers Corinth and Aegina were historical rivals, and yet they were both enemies of the Athenians.
#4 The salvation of Athenian civilization depended on the vision of a single firebrand, who was widely despised, and an uncouth commoner. Themistocles had previously failed twice up north at Tempe and Artemisium to stop the advance of Xerxes’ army.

Sujets

• Military
• Général

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781669373339
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Victor Davis Hanson's The Savior Generals
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The occupying Persians began the laborious task of destroying the stone shrines and temples and torching homes in Athens. They finished off a few Athenian holdouts still barricaded on the Acropolis. Meanwhile, Xerxes drew up his fleet nearby at the Athenian harbor of Phaleron.

#2

Xerxes’ invasion of Greece was a textbook example of momentum and glory, as the king had enjoyed for six months. His huge spring and summer expeditions had rolled out with little resistance, and his army and navy were not just bent on punishing the Greeks in battle, but on absorbing them into the Persian Empire.

#3

The Battle of Salamis was a huge victory for the Greeks, but it was also a sign of how divided they were as a coalition. The sea powers Corinth and Aegina were historical rivals, and yet they were both enemies of the Athenians.

#4

The salvation of Athenian civilization depended on the vision of a single firebrand, who was widely despised, and an uncouth commoner. Themistocles had previously failed twice up north at Tempe and Artemisium to stop the advance of Xerxes’ army.

#5

The Battle of Salamis was a turning point in the war. It was not just a victory for the Greeks, but also a victory for the idea that a city-state is not just a place or buildings, but a people with free- spirited individuals willing to fight for their liberty.

#6

The Battle of Marathon was a victory for the Greeks over the Persians, and it marked the beginning of the end for the Persian Empire. The Persians had tried to destroy the freedom of the Greek city-states, and it was up to them to stop Darius and his son, Xerxes.

#7

The Battle of Marathon was a fluke of sorts for Themistocles. He saw no grand strategy that had contributed to the infantry victory. He saw no way that the hoplite victory at Marathon offered a blueprint for future military success against the huge maritime resources at the king’s disposal.

#8

To the mind of Themistocles, Marathon was just a beginning of greater struggles. He understood that sea power allowed the Persians to arrive when and where they wanted, and that the young democracy at Athens was only seventeen years old.

#9

The radical Themistocles believed that the ideal of egalitarian politics would never be realized if the defense of the city rested only with a minority of conservative property owners. He wanted to pay poor people to row in the fleet, and build fortifications to protect the city.

#10

After the Battle of Marathon, each major traditional political figure who might have challenged Themistocles’ new vision was either fined, ostracized, or came under public suspicion.

#11

Themistocles was a politician who was able to build a military force ex nihilo, then craft a national defense strategy, and finally draft the tactical plan that won the war.

#12

The second Persian invasion of Greece was led by Xerxes, the young and energetic king. He had decided to draw on the entire resources of the empire to avenge his father’s failure. He intended to annex southern Europe across the Aegean as the westernmost province of Persia.

#13

The allied Greek forces that were sent to defend Greece from the Persian invasion were led by the Spartan king Leonidas. They were only prepared to defend Greece at sea, not on land. The Greeks were shocked when the Spartans insisted on defending Greece at Thermopylae.

#14

The Battle of Thermopylae was a defeat for the Greeks, but it marked the beginning of the end for the Persians. The Spartans’ king died, and the holding forces at the pass were wiped out. The Greeks were unable to stop the Persians from entering Greece, and the king supplied his forces from the earth and water of his Greek hosts.

#15

The Persians invaded Greece and quickly overran the remaining independent Greek states. The only debate among the dwindling resistance was over where and how the Greeks would fight their last stand.

#16

The Battle of Salamis was the result of a decade of reasoning by the Athenians, not prophetic hocus-pocus. The oracle at Delphi offered ambiguous advice: first, retreat before the enemy; second, trust in a mysterious wooden wall; and third, put hope in a Holy Salamis and the promise that the Greeks might one day destroy the Persians.

#17

The Greek leaders on Salamis had many options to choose from, but they all eventually decided to fight the Persians on land behind makeshift defenses. The Athenians were willing to sacrifice their city to save it.

#18

The final bad choice at Salamis was for the remaining allies to fight a sea battle. The admirals would preserve Greek unity and hope to cripple the Persian fleet, and with it any chance of escape for the massive army of Xerxes.

#19

The reconstituted Greek fleet was probably only one-fourth the size of the Persian fleet. The Greeks were waiting to take on a Persian armada of at least six hundred warships, but they could still outnumber them.

#20

The sea battle of Salamis was fought between the Persians and the Greeks. The Persians were defeated, and half their fleet was sunk. The surviving fleet headed back to Asia Minor to prepare to flee back to Persia.

#21

After the storm, the remaining Persian fleet was shattered at Artemisium. The Greeks declared victory, but the Persians returned the next spring to continue the struggle. The Greeks eventually killed Mardonius and sent the Persians back into Boeotia yet again.

#22

After the Battle of Salamis, Themistocles disappeared from accounts of the war. He did not take part in the land battle, and he may have fallen out of favor with his Athenian allies and his own countrymen, who were tired of his endless bragging about Salamis.

#23

The legendary Themistocles, in his midsixties, was found dead in Persian-held Asia Minor. The rumors flew back across the Aegean that the old man had killed himself. The story went that he was poisoned with some lethal concoction laced with the blood of a bull.

#24

Themistocles left Athens during its ascendance to join Persian service at the start of the eastern empire’s slow decline.