The invasion began in spring 480 BC, when the Persian army crossed the Hellespont with an army and navy of tremendous size, and marched through Thrace and Macedon to Thessaly, whose cities submitted to Xerxes.
The Persian advance was blocked at the pass of Thermopylae by small Allied force under King Leonidas I of Sparta; simultaneously, the Persian fleet was blocked by and Allied fleet at the straits of Artemisium.
The Spartans was overcome at the Battle of Thermopylae and the successful Persian push allowed their capture of Athens. The Persians burned Athens twice as well as several other Greek cities. The strategy of the Greek coalition paid off when they enticed the Persian fleet into battle at Salamis and crippled it badly enough to forestall further action at that time.
When the Persian navy was soundly defeated, Xerxes and the bulk of the Persian forces returned to the empire, leaving a portion in Greece.
Persian strategy as this point aimed at weakening the Greek coalition by offering peace terms to the Athenians. The Athenian refusal led ultimately to a confrontation at Plataea in 479 BC, in which the Persian commander was killed and the Persian routed.
After Greco-Persian Wars, Athens quickly became a military power, especially at sea. As a result of the Battle of Salamis Athens emerged with more prestige and the dominant naval power in Greece and the Aegean.
Greco-Persian war (480-479)
