Fifteen Decisive Battles

"The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, from Marathon to Waterloo," is the title of an interesting book by Sir E. S. Creasy, University College, London. These fifteen battles are chosen as the stepping-stones of the world's progress, for as Hallem says, "Those few battles, of which a contrary event would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes." From Marathon to Waterloo, or from 490 B.C. to 1815 A.D. is 2305 years. The fifteen battles are as follows:--

The Battle of Marathon is so called from the plain (twenty-two miles from Athens, on the coast of Attica) where it was fought.

The Persians, under Darius, had made extensive preparations to subjugate Greece. In order to test how many of the Hellenic or Greek states would resist the conquest, he sent heralds to each, demanding a tribute of earth and water. All the states complied except Sparta and Athens. In Sparta they threw the messenger of the "Great King" into a well; in Athens they cast the herald into a deep pit and bade him take his earth and water. In the Spring of 490 B.C. Darius made extensive preparations for the invasion of European Greece. Instructions were given to the various commanders to conquer all the Greek states that had not made submission, and to wreak vengeance on Athens by burning it to the ground and carrying the inhabitants into slavery Manacles were prepared and sent to the commanders for binding the slaves. The Athenians prepared for the crisis as best they could, and according to custom chose ten generals to command the army. Of these Miltiades, Themistocles and Aristides were men of great ability. It was agreed by all to place Miltiades in supreme command. He could muster only ten thousand men, while the Persians had one hundred and ten thousand. The Persian line of battle was arranged along the shore, the Greeks were drawn up across the middle of the plain. It was late in a September afternoon when Miltiades, "eager for the fray," gave the order for the onset. The Greeks advanced on a run, and the battle raged furiously. The sun was shining full in the faces of the Persians, who, after a sharp resistance, broke and fled. They were pursued to the beach, where they took refuge in their ships and sailed away. They left six thousand four hundred dead upon the field, while the Athenian loss was only one hundred and ninety-two, who were buried beneath a tumulus or mound, which still remains. Just after the battle a shield was seen raised aloft on a hill in the direction of Athens. This was a signal for the Persian fleet to sail thitherward and take the city before the return of the army. Miltiades also saw the shield, and interpreting the signal aright, marched with his army in all haste to the defence of the city. Just as he arrived there the Persian fleet came in sight; but when they were about to disembark they saw the same heroes from whom they had fled at Marathon. They turned the prows of their ships, and the AEgean sea soon rolled between Athens and her peril.

But it is not for having saved Athens that this battle ranks first in the great battles of history. It turned the tide of the Asiatic invasion. "It broke forever the spell of Persian invincibility, which had previously paralyzed men's minds. It secured for mankind the intellectual treasures of Athens, the growth of free institutions, the liberal-enlightenment of the Western world, and the gradual ascendency for many ages of the great principles of European civilization." Byron, after viewing Marathon, writes:--

A mound seems the monument most likely to endure. Pillars of bronze or iron, like those in Paris and Munich,--piles of masonry, as in Rome, have an intrinsic value which rouses cupidity, and has led to the destruction of most ancient works. But the mound of Marathon is mere earth and nothing more. Hence its materials tempt no one to plunder or remove them. Thus it has outlasted many a structure far more elaborate and pretentious. As Byron sings--