BC490-471 Darius and Xerxes of Persia

In the twenty years from 490-471 BC Darius I of Persia (pictured) had been previously defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon in 491 BC by a Greek army led by the Athenian general Miltiades.

Darius I died in 486 BC and was succeeded by his son, Xerxes.

Xerxes I, sent a much more powerful force by land. After being delayed by the Spartan King Leonidas I at Thermopylae, Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under Themistocles they defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanius, defeated the Persian army at Plataea.

The Athenian fleet then turned to chasing the Persians out of the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BC they captured Byzantium. Athens had enrolled all the island states and some mainland allies into an alliance, called the Delian League, to fight the Persians. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation after it, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power.

By 480 BC, Gelo, the tyrant of Greek Syracuse, backed by support from other Greek city-states, was attempting to unite the island under his rule. This threat could not be ignored, and Carthage in alliance with Persia, declared war on Greece.

Carthage fielded its largest military force under the leadership of general Hamilcar. En route to Sicily, Hamilcar suffered losses due to poor weather. Landing at Panormus (Palermo), he was then defeated by Gelo at the Battle of Himera and died. This loss severely weakened Carthage, and the old government of entrenched nobility was ousted, replaced by the Carthaginian Republic.

BC230-211 Great Walls and Hannibal's Elephants

In the twenty years from 230-211 BC there were two amazing events. The Chinese started building the Great Wall of China and Hannibal of Carthage (pictured) crossed the Alps with elephants.

It was a period that saw the start of two wars -- the Second Punic War started in 218 BC and the First Macedonian war started in 215.

In 221 BC Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, attacked Saguntum in Spain, a city allied to Rome, precipitating the Second Punic War. The war had three prongs. Italy, Spain and Sicily.

Hannibal's crossing of the Alps caused him to lose many men and war elephants. He surprised the Romans by invading Italy from the north. Leading a large army of mercenaries composed mainly of Gauls, Hispanics, Numidians, Hannibal defeated the Roman army in several battles -- spectacularly at the Battle of Cannae -- but he never achieved his ultimate goal -- breaking the link between Rome and its allies.

Hasdrubal, Hannibal's younger brother, was in charge of Spain. He defended the Carthaginian colonial cities in Spain against Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus -- a young Roman commander --and attempted to bring his mercenary army into Italy to reinforce Hannibal, but was utterly defeated and killed at the decisive Battle of the Metaurus before he could do so.

In Sicily, where the Romans held military supremacy, the third war arena went badly and finally the war was taken to Africa.

While contending with Hannibal in Italy, and his brother in Spain, Rome became embroiled in yet another war. The First Macedonian War started in 215 BC and came about when Philip V of Macedon allied himself with Hannibal.

Rome dispatched forces across the Adriatic and -- aided by allies from the Aetolian League and Pergamon -- skirmished with Macedonian forces and seized minor territory along the Adriatic coastline. Rome was simply displaying a show of force to discourage Macedon or any of the Greek city-states from allying with Carthage.

The First Macedonian War ended indecisively in 202 BC with the Treaty of Phoenice.