by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
Just as the 300 opened in movie theaters, the History Channel launched its 2 hour docudrama, Last Stand of the 300, which uses the same CGI effects as the movie. Whereas 300 (the movie) is based on a graphic novel, Last Stand of the 300 is based on historical facts presented with CGI reenactments and narration by famous historians. Both films are well worth viewing, but the History Channel’s presentation gives the viewer a broader perspective of the events before and after the Battle of Thermopylae–the most famous last stand in history.
In a narrow pass called Thermopylae in Northern Greece, seven thousand Greek soldiers await the onslaught of the mighty Persian (now Iran) army of over a million men. The Greeks are led by the elite Delta Force of its time, 300 Spartan warriors who are the front line at Thermopylae. The pass is surrounded by high cliffs on one side and the sea on the other. A secret path around the cliffs existed, which could be used by Persian soldiers to outflank the Spartans. In the ensuing battle, the Spartans, who used superior shields and weapons, slaughtered 20,000 Persian troops before the Persians discovered the path around the cliffs.
Before the threat by the Persian empire, Greece was a series of separate city-states such as Sparta and Athens. The Spartans lived for war. If there was no war, they fought each other. At seven years-old, the boys were separated from their mothers and sent to military training school where they learned physical toughness, battle skills, and military science. Their coming of age test required a Spartan youth to murder a slave and not get caught. By the time a Spartan man was in his twenties, he was a master soldier with superior military and killing skills. The Spartans’ prime directive was to engage in battle and kill the enemy or die trying–surrender was unthinkable.
The Greeks were led by King Leonidas – a charismatic king who was a savvy military strategist. After three days of non-stop slaughter, a spy named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing a mountain pass that led behind the Greek lines. When King Leonidas learned the Persians were about to outflank his army, he sent them home but stayed behind with the 300 Spartans. He and the soldiers knew it was a suicide mission. But the last stand would buy time for the Greek navy to play out their battles and the bulk of the Greek army to protect Athens and Sparta.
As it turned out, the subsequent Greek naval victory at the Battle of Salamis left much of the Persian navy destroyed. The long-term aftermath of the Battle of Thermopylae led to the eventual unification of Greece and preserved its democracy. The 300 Spartans who sacrificed their lives for Greece were revered as heroes and the battle was considered a brilliant strategy for a small army to beat back an overwhelming force.
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