A Greek Victory at Thermopylae

Some historians Believe that a spy or double agent told the Persian army at Thermopylae about a back way in. So, If this spy was caught or for some reason didn't give the information could the Greeks have had a victory or at the very least dragged it out longer and if they had what would be the concequences?
 
Some historians Believe that a spy or double agent told the Persian army at Thermopylae about a back way in. So, If this spy was caught or for some reason didn't give the information could the Greeks have had a victory or at the very least dragged it out longer and if they had what would be the concequences?
A decisive victory for the Greeks. A huge marale loss for the Persians. I really don't know much about this period so that's all I could muster up.
 
I don't buy the story about the traitor, it's just too pat. If you are going to spend a few days in a region with an army of tens of thousands, your own guys are liable to do some reconnaissance. No path that can hold thousands of soldiers is going to be that secret.

However, if, for some reason, the Persians really can't find a way asround Thermopylae, the blocking force could well hold them off a few more days. No more than that, certainly - there are limits to what human flesh will bear, and the intensity of fighting in that defile must have been insane. And even then, there is at least the chance that, with enough time to be frustrated, the Persians would try a different approach, maybe Inchon them. A heroic story no doubt, but it doesn't work as anything other than a delaying action.
 

Prefrence

Banned
Remember, the Greek fleet had to hold (in the end they did better than the land forces, but retreated when there was no point to fight as the line had broken at thermopalye)

Or you could have the 1,000 greeks stationed in the route around thermopalye simply not desert.
 
However, if, for some reason, the Persians really can't find a way asround Thermopylae, the blocking force could well hold them off a few more days. No more than that, certainly - there are limits to what human flesh will bear, and the intensity of fighting in that defile must have been insane. And even then, there is at least the chance that, with enough time to be frustrated, the Persians would try a different approach, maybe Inchon them. A heroic story no doubt, but it doesn't work as anything other than a delaying action.

This. However, if the Persians have to kill their way through a phalanx one Greek at a time, what do their losses look like?
 
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