The Power subranking score had a 6.09% weight in the overall Best Countries ranking.Īlthough there was little change this year in the 10 countries seen as being the most powerful, many shuffled positions. Your browser does not support the audio element.The Power subranking is based on an equally weighted average of scores from five country attributes that related to a country's power: a leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances and strong military. Listen to a recorded reading of this page:.Take a ten question quiz about this page.They soundly defeated the Persians causing Xerxes to retreat back to Persia. They rammed into the sides of the large Persian ships and sunk them. However, the Athenian ships, called triremes, were fast and maneuverable. The much larger Persian fleet attacked the small Athenian ships. The Athenian fleet, however, was waiting off the coast by the island of Salamis. When they arrived at the city of Athens, they found it deserted. The Persian army continued to march on Greece. The Spartans fought to the death, killing as many Persians as they could. King Leonidas told most of his troops to flee, but stayed behind with a small force including his 300 Spartans in order to allow the rest of the Greek army to escape. The Greeks held off the Persians killing thousands, until the Persians found a way around the mountains and got behind the Greeks. They decided to meet the Persians at a narrow pass in the mountains called Thermopylae. The Greeks put together a small force, led by the Spartan King Leonidas I and 300 Spartans. He amassed a huge army of over 200,000 soldiers and 1,000 warships. Ten years later, in 480 BC, the son of Darius I, King Xerxes, decided to get his revenge on the Greeks. This is the origin of the Marathon running race. The army of Athens routed the Persian army killing around 6,000 Persians and only losing 192 Greeks.Īfter the battle, the Athenian army ran the 25 miles back to Athens in order to prevent the Persians from attacking the city. The Persians had a lot more soldiers, but they underestimated the fighting capability of the Greeks. The Persian fleet landed at the Bay of Marathon, about 25 miles from the city of Athens. They boarded the Persian fleet and headed to Greece. He gathered a vast army of soldiers that outnumbered any army the Greeks could muster. Darius I, King of Persia, decided he wanted to conquer the Greeks in 490 BC.

Persian war for middle school