NO 300!?

WI The Spartans hadn't sent 300 warriors to the battle of Thermopylae? How would this affect the Battle of Plataea?
 
Hmmm... Now, I read a fairly detailed book about this (technically focused on Sparta, but there was a lot of info on the wars with Persia), but that was a while ago. After refreshing my memory a bit with google, I'd say not much of an effect. I think the Battle of Salamis (Athenian naval battle) was really what allowed Plataea to be such a decisive victory. It was because of Salamis that Xerxes wasn't able to push his navy forward; because he couldn't push his navy forward, he wasn't able to conquer the Peloponnesus and had to wait a year. It was the year that Salamis bought that really led to Greek victory.

From a cultural standpoint, there would be at least 2 fewer badass movies.
 
Ah, but I have read that Athens needed Xerxes to be delayed those three days at Thermopylae to get their shit together.
 
WI The Spartans hadn't sent 300 warriors to the battle of Thermopylae? How would this affect the Battle of Plataea?

Not much. There were a lot of other people at Thermopylae. Even during the last phase of the battle where the Greeks held the pass there were (IIRC) 700 Thespians there with the 300 Spartans.
 
Ah, but I have read that Athens needed Xerxes to be delayed those three days at Thermopylae to get their shit together.

It was actually the Battle of Artemisium that was more important. It was sort of a naval equivalent of Thermopylae; the Athenians used a relatively narrow area to hold against a superior Persian force. They even took place simultaneously. The basic Greek strategy was that the Spartans would hold at Thermopylae and the Athenians would hold at the Straits of Artemisium, and so they could ultimately repel the Persian assault. When news reached the Athenians that the Spartans failed, they pulled back, setting the stage for Salamis later on.
 
Not much. There were a lot of other people at Thermopylae. Even during the last phase of the battle where the Greeks held the pass there were (IIRC) 700 Thespians there with the 300 Spartans.
Exactly my point. I was wondering if the 700 Thespians could hold the Hot Gates on their own. (Could we see a "700" instead of "300"? :D:rolleyes:)
 

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Yes, but if you have 700 Thespians, how many stage arrangers/box office managers/etc. do you have in support?:)

If, on the other hand, you had 700 Lesbians, things might work out quite well. You'd just have to make sure they knew they were fighting for not merely their homeland, but their cats too.
 

yourworstnightmare

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Well, let's see. According to Herod the Greeks mustered an army of 6100 men in Thermopylae. Can't see 300 of them making that much of a different. I think it would go as OTL.
 
Despite the attested presence of Thespian allies and Helot conscripts alongside the personal retinue of King Leonidas, its always those three hundred men that get all the credit for blunting the Persian's progress through Greece.
 
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