Why did Xerxes retreat such a large portion of his forces after

>>2539825
if you have soldiers across the hellespont you have to send food to feed them

>>2539825
they gave up, more or less

after salamis the phoenicians just kinda sailed home, and without them the persian fleet would be easy pickings

ALSO xerxes claimed victory because he technically accomplished what he set out to do, which was raze athens

>>2539825
Why could the Greeks not simply eat Salamis?

Why was phalanx such a big deal? How could greeks wreck persian shit so effectively just by aligning men in one line?

>>2539842
He had control of Macedonia, Thessaly and beoetia, surely he could find enough food to feed at least a force to perform a siege on Athens while the rest went home.
>>2539849
Wouldn't the Egyptian ships be able to block off access to the sea at least?
>>2539850
Dirt tastes bad

>>2539862
The persian army was organized primarily on speed, with light infantry and cavalry being its main forces. Meeting a massive, deep wall of thick bronze shields and 6 foot spears that could cut off the only way through mountainous greece was something the persians had no idea how to circumvent

>>2539862
persian amry was like... 75% archers
archers suck cock vs heavy infantry most of the time.

the arrows bounced off the armour anyways

>>2540449
And then reflected back at the archers!

>>2539862
Greeks were mostly heavy infantry spearmen, while Persians were light infantry+light cavalry centered.

Armors were only for noble Persians.

>>2540541
oh yess!

its a gigantic country which needed his presence, the entire armed force was focused on defeating the greeks and it failed

it was not a stable empire, like they never are
if you show weakness

you cant take years long holiday in greece while your empire just idling waiting for your vengeance to be done
not to mention another defeat could mean the entire thing collapse

>>2539865
>He had control of Macedonia, Thessaly and beoetia, surely he could find enough food to feed at least a force to perform a siege on Athens while the rest went home.

Not really. You have some estimates that the force he raised was as large as THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF GREECE; you do not have enough excess local agricultural production, especialyl once he comes in and starts smashing shit with his army, to live off the land.

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>>2539825
>trusting smelly Greek propaganda

>>2539865
Why didn't they just soak it with olive oil then?

>>2540895
That's why I said he should've left a small force to siege the city
They were hardly weeks away from surrendering