The First Clash: The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and Its Impact on Western Civilization. This item is unavailable.The First Clash: The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and Its Impact on Western Civilization

At the dawn of the fifth century BCE, Persia stood triumphant. For more than five decades her warriors had crushed all who opposed them. No city had ever withstood a Persian siege, and all the armies of the known world's most powerful civilizations had met their ruin trying to halt Persia's inexorable march of conquest. The dreaded Persian army finally arrived in Greece, and the Athenian hoplites wondered how they would be able to resist an army of professional warriors three times their size. However, the Athenians proved victorious at the Battle of Marathon, changing the course of history and defining the tenuous relationship between East and West for centuries to come.

JIM LACEY teaches at Johns Hopkins University and has written studies about the Iraq War and other topics for the Institute for Defense Analyses. He has written for Time, National Review, and Foreign Affairs, among other publications.