All language subtitles for Batailles De Legende.S01E03

Heroic music

There were 300 of them.

The proudest fighters of Greece

and the most feared.

Spartans
led by their king, Leonidas.

300 warriors who,
according to legend,

they held out for three days
against an army of 2 million men.

The army of Xerxes,
the king of kings.

Sovereign reigning unchallenged

across the vast expanses
of the Persian Empire.

At Thermopylae,
we lost,

But the glory gained
is a victory for Sparta.

and even for the world.

We know this story
in detail

thanks to the account of an ancient author.

Herodotus, the father of History.

But how much credence should we give
to his account?

Where does historical reality end?

And where does the myth begin?

Adventure music

...

Mountains
that rise abruptly

along an alluvial plain
bordered by the sea.

Hot springs
gush from the rock there.

to the delight
of the bathers

that is not deterred by the strong smell
of sulfur that emanates from it.

These springs gave
the place its name.

The Warm Gates
in Ancient Greek,

Thermopulai.

A narrow passage
located in northeastern Greece,

along the Malian Gulf
on the shores of the Aegean Sea.

A parade nestled
between sea and mountain

where the Battle of Thermopylae took place .

The Battle of Thermopylae

was not decisive.

It is a battle
with an emblematic character

given the way
the Spartans fought

facing the Persians.

It all began on the evening of August 13th,

in the year 480 BC.

On that day, the vanguard
of the formidable Persian army

who arrives from Thessaly
in northern Greece,

reached the entrance to the pass
of Thermopylae.

Facing her,

A contingent of fighters
occupies the entire width of the parade.

Heavily armed and helmeted Greeks

and firmly resolved
to hold the passage,

the only one on this steep coast

which would allow the Persian hordes
to continue south

and reach Athens.
Neighing

It's difficult to recognize the landscape
where this confrontation took place.

The shores of the Aegean Sea
are now 5 km away

from the site of Thermopylae.

2,500 years ago,

The waves came crashing
at the foot of the mountains.

Constantinos Lagos is a historian,

specialist
in military history.

For the past 15 years, he has dedicated himself
to the study of the Persian Wars.

which pitted Greeks against Persians
in the 5th century BC.

This is a reconstruction
of the landscape of Thermopylae

in 480 BC.

The sea was close to where
the battle took place, right here.

What we see here is the pass
that the Persians were crossing.

in order to be able to cross
Thermopylae.

The narrowness of this passage
is an opportunity for the Greeks.

It's a natural lock,

ideal for blocking
the Persian advance

with a
smaller workforce.

At -480,

We would have been in the sea
at that spot.

That is why, in the sources,
Persians fall into the sea.

They fall during the battle.

This shows that the passage
was not here, down below.

The written sources
that Constantinos refers to,

We owe them to a single author,
the Greek Herodotus.

His major work,
"The Stories",

It was written 40 years
after Thermopylae.

He gives a detailed and accurate account
of the battle.

However precise it may be,

Is this report
true to reality?

He conducted what is called
an investigation. Historia,

That's the root of the word,
it's the investigation.

He will conduct this investigation

with those
who experienced the event.

If we give credence to Herodotus,

It's because we
trust him, he's the only one

to have provided testimonies
from people who lived through these battles.

He should be taken with a grain of salt,
because he has a Greek look.

But it's the only source
and he has this desire for objectivity.

When he takes stock of the
forces present at Thermopylae,

Herodotus, however, puts forward
some astonishing figures.

Thus, he believes that the Persian army

it is estimated to have had
over 2 million fighters.

According to modern researchers,

We're talking about 150,000
to 300,000 fighters

front line.

This already represents
not 10 times the Athenian army,

but 10 times the total number
of men in Athens.

That's already huge.

It is also Persian propaganda
that exaggerates his strengths

so that the Greeks would submit

and do not have the ambition
to confront them.

Persia was
a true superpower in the 5th century.

The largest empire
the world had ever known.

It extends from east to west
across the borders of India

all the way to the Mediterranean.

To the north, it borders the Caucasus.
To the south, it encompasses Egypt.

A centralized state,

ruled with an iron fist
by a dynasty

whose monarchs call themselves
the kings of kings.

All imperial power

struggles to stop
its expansion.

as long as there is no obstacle.

The Persians
continued their expansion

until the moment
they found themselves confronted

to men who,
rather than submit,

they wanted to live free.

These men, lovers of freedom,
are the Greeks.

Unlike the Persian Empire,

The Greek world was made up
of independent city-states.

and often rivals.

Greek politics
is chaos.

There are many city-states
that are at war with each other

and who have diverging interests.

These Greek city-states
are on both sides of the Aegean Sea.

On the European side, within the territory
of present-day Greece,

Sparta and Athens were
the most powerful.

On the Asian side in Ionia,

Miletus, Ephesus or Phocaea
have nothing to envy them for.

At the end of the 6th century
BC,

The Persian Empire expands westward
and subjugates one by one

the Greek cities
of what is now the Turkish coast.

In 500 BC,
they revolted,

refusing the authority
of the king of kings,

Darius the Great.

Two cities,

Athens and Eretria will
come to the aid of this revolt.

one year after it began.

This is not a significant help.

We are talking about a few ships
and thousands of men.

When the revolt was crushed
after 6 years of war,

Darius, king of kings

launches a punitive expedition
against Athens

who had had the audacity
to support the rebel cities.

It's a failure. They've barely arrived,

The Persians were repelled
by the Athenians at Marathon.

and must retreat
in disarray.

This Persian defeat
made Athens

a heroic, glorious city.

Everyone shared
this point of view.

Poems from that era say

"Athens shines with glory
because of Marathon."

The Persians
are not finished yet.

Darius assembles
another expeditionary force,

but this time more important
and still against Athens.

It took 10 years for
this expedition to be launched.

In the meantime, Darius died.

When the Persian army
set out in 480 BC,

It was his son Xerxes
who took the lead

and comes up against Thermopylae.

This gigantic army
is composed of contingents

they came from all over the empire.

Around the Persian fighters,

Egyptians and Ethiopians mingle with
Scythian horsemen from the Caucasus,

the Bactrians of Afghanistan

or the Hindus of northern India.

A motley collection

in which everyone brought
their own fighting culture.

its logistics and its weapons.

The Persians have equipment
that puts them at a disadvantage.

compared to the Greeks.

Their spears
were shorter.

If their spears are shorter,

This indicates that they are
less experienced in warfare.

It is more difficult to wield
a long spear with precision

than a short spear.

These Greek fighters were armed
with longer spears

who face the myriad Persians,

These were the elite troops
of the Greek cities, the Hoplites.

A hoplite is a warrior citizen
who fights for his city.

He will pay for his equipment.
In ancient times,

when the Greek city-states
were autonomous,

He is the one who will defend his city
and his political system.

This is the
main fighting type

of all cities. There are no
Greek cities without Hoplites.

The Hoplite is the one
who possesses the full set of equipment.

Pan-hoplie, that is to say,
a complete set of combat equipment.

First, weapons,
a long, double-pointed spear

often complemented
by a short sword

and protective elements
forming an armor.

Bronze leg guards
called greaves,

a breastplate,
a shield, a helmet.

Very few of these sets of armor have
survived complete to the present day.

but many elements
of it can be seen in museums.

Like the one in Mougins in Provence

who owns the largest
private collection

of ancient weaponry in the world.

This is the iconic helmet
of the Persian Wars.

The face of war
in the Greek world.

This model was used by the majority
of Greek Hoplites.

At the back, there's a neck cover
that goes quite far down here.

and which will allow the fighter
to be protected from head to neck.

From the front, there are openings

at eye level
and widening outwards.

When we're going to have

Spear blows, here,
we have finely drawn guides.

which will guide the blade
towards the outside of the eyes

and not inwards.

Some said
the helmets had melted.

because it was said that we were going to
melt and cast the bronze.

In reality, most helmets

and archaeological pieces
are being hammered.

The hammering action

will allow the metal to be stretched

And above all, it will help
to consolidate and solidify the bronze.

They stretched the metal to
make the helmet lighter.

If it exceeds a certain weight,

It can cause neck problems .

This allows you to modify
and adapt each helmet

depending on each soldier.

Dimitris Alexandrou works

for the main
archaeological museums of Greece.

In his workshop,

He seeks to uncover the
manufacturing secrets of ancient armorers.

by recreating their tools
and reproducing their actions.

At the base of a helmet,
there is a bronze plate

which will have to be hammered home
for hundreds of hours.

We start
hitting like this in a circle.

until we obtain
this result.

To achieve this shape,
80,000 hammer blows are required.

This type of anvil is used

And we hit in a circle like this.

Once completed,

Dimitris' works are
exhibited in various museums.

This experimental practice allows
archaeologists and historians

to better understand the use
of equipment by the Hoplites.

The Greeks' equipment
was ergonomic.

They had studied the human body.

They followed the anatomy of the skull
to construct their helmet.

The helmet became
an extension of their body.

That's why
they were so well protected.

and that they had few deaths
during the fighting.

That's how
they won in the end.

Wearing helmets and covered
in ergonomic armor,

Hoplites were
heavy infantry units,

ideal for holding a position.

That is precisely what they intend to do
against the Persians.

The Greek hoplites,
with their defensive equipment,

will be able to hold
a pass for a long time

facing Persians who will be unable
to deploy their forces.

They had learned the lesson
of Marathon.

Never send the cavalry
into this kind of terrain.

They will not be able to use
their firepower.

all their archers,
their javelin throwers.

It's an impenetrable wall; they'll have to
be moved by hand-to-hand combat.

On the morning of August 14, 480,

Xerxes sends a scout
to observe the Greek camp.

What he reports to his king
surprises him greatly.

The Greeks do gymnastics

And most importantly,
they comb their hair.

Not understanding,

Xerxes consulted an expert.

He was a former king of Sparta,
Demaratus,

who was in exile with him.

Démarate told him: "Be careful
, they are the best on the other side.

They would rather die
than surrender."

These warriors, ready to die
, who paint their hair,

They are Spartans.

The most feared Hoplites
in all of Greece.

If the Spartans paint themselves

before they die,
because they know they are going to die,

It's because they want
to make beautiful deaths.

The more beautiful the corpse, the better.

The more respectable the man will be

who will have died.

Why did Xerxes fight
Sparta and not Athens?

as he comes to avenge
his father Darius,

beaten 10 years earlier
by the Athenians at Marathon?

This is
the first time in their history,

The turbulent Greek city-states
united in the face of the threat.

The size of the army
assembled by Xerxes

suggests that
he wants to conquer all of Greece.

The Greeks said to themselves:
"Now,

"He threatens us all."
The cities send ambassadors

on the Isthmus of Corinth
to decide what to do.

At the conclusion of this congress,
a panhellenic union was founded.

31 city-states
pledging to unite their forces

against the Persian invaders.

Persians whose army is advancing
from the northeast,

skirting the Aegean Sea
to rush towards Athens

and beyond to the Peloponnese.

At sea, a fleet
of 1,200 ships accompanies him.

following a parallel path.

Far fewer
in number,

The Greeks have only one solution.

Utilize the country's rugged topography

to block Xerxes' advance at all costs .

At sea,
it's Cape Artemision

which offers
the best configuration.

A narrow passage between
the island of Euboea and the mainland,

at the entrance to the Malian Gulf

where the Persian fleet will not be able
to deploy its full power.

Directly opposite, to the west,

an unmissable parade
on the road south,

Thermopylae.

This is where the Greeks will have to
send their fleet and army.

Land operations

and the maritime operations
are combined

And those at sea need
to know what is happening on land.

and vice versa.

According to Herodotus,
271 warships

half of which
is supplied by Athens

they head north to
cut off the route of the Persian fleet.

The ground troops set
out towards Thermopylae.

There are critics
of this strategy

who refuse and drag their feet.
What excuse?

They will take it?
The holding of the Olympic Games

to say
that there are gods to fear

and they are more to be feared
than the invaders.

We honor the gods
and we will go and confront our adversaries.

In ancient Greece,

The Olympic Games are more
than just a sporting competition.

They have a religious,
sacred character.

And above all, they constitute
a period of truce.

during which the cities are
forbidden to take up arms.

Armed with this argument,
the reluctant cities

obtain that the contingent
which goes to defend Thermopylae

that is, a small contingent,
barely 7,000 fighters

of which only 300 were Spartans.

However, it was a king of Sparta
who commanded the expedition.

It is very interesting to note

that the Greeks recognize Sparta
as the preeminent power.

No one tries to argue
against the fact that a king of Sparta

lead the Greek army.

This king of Sparta is Leonidas.

He is the one who stands
at the head of the Hoplites

at the entrance to the parade when
Xerxes' army appears.

The battle
does not begin immediately.

For four days, the fighters
will remain in their positions.

Xerxes seems convinced
that he won't even have to fight.

When Xerxes asks the Greeks

To surrender their weapons, Leonidas
would have responded with a laconic statement.

a very short, very impactful sentence .

He reportedly replied "Molon labê",
"Come and get them".

Leonidas belongs to one
of the two royal dynasties of Sparta.

He is believed to be a descendant
of the demigod Heracles.

However,
he was not destined to be king.

He ascended to the throne in 489
BC.

by imprisoning
his predecessor, his half-brother.

Despite this
questionable power grab,

Leonidas seems to inspire
profound respect

both to the citizens of Sparta
and to those of other cities.

Leonidas has a strong personality.

He is not just a king,
he is a leader of men.

The Spartans follow him
as their king.

but above all because
of his personality.

Leonidas, our heroic king,

was a pure product of the
Spartan political-educational system.

Like all male children
in Sparta,

As a child, Leonidas
had to submit to agoge,

the terrible Spartan education.

We're going to get these kids
used to it from the start.

to live in adversity.

We're going to deprive them of shoes.

so that they get used to walking
barefoot in all circumstances.

We're going to give them a garment
that's too cold in winter.

and too hot in summer.

An education based
on bullying and deprivation

whose ruins of the ancient city
still bear the marks.

As seen here, in front of the temple dedicated
to the goddess Artemis

where an initiation rite took place
that the Spartans had to undergo.

These young Spartans

will be brought in front of the temple

and will have to go and get
some cheese from inside the temple.

The problem is that on the road
and in the temple, men

armed with whips will beat them

and prevent them
from reaching the cheeses.

These men must go through,
endure the blows

and collect the cheeses
to bring them back to their community.

They are taught that it is
through effort and suffering

that one acquires an important social status
in the city.

The goal of education

is to make young people
more resilient so that they can

to act more effectively in war.

The goal is to turn them into
effective warriors.

After 4 days
of negotiation and observation,

The fighting begins.

On this first day of battle,

Xerxes launches a frontal assault.

Opposite them, Leonidas positioned
his 300 Spartans in the first line.

They occupy the entire width
of the pass,

protected on their left
by the mountain slopes

and on their right,
by the sheer drop of the cliff

surmounted by the remains
of an ancient fortification.

One of the main strengths
of the Persians is their archers.

It is likely that the assault
began with a barrage of fire.

raining arrows down
on the Greeks.

An episode mentioned
in Herodotus' account.

Someone makes a remark

according to which the arrows launched

The Persians have so many
that they block out the sun.

The Spartan Dienekes remarks:

"So much the better,
we'll fight in the shadows."

Xerxes orders the infantry to charge.

I'm sure the Greeks will crumble
at the first sign of trouble,

He ordered that
these arrogant Spartans be brought to him alive.

On this narrow battlefield,

The gigantic Persian army cannot
unleash its full power

and breaks against the wall of spears
and shields of the Hoplites.

This works in favor

The Greeks, it's their experience
in war

and it's the fact
that they are capable

to take cover
behind a wall of shields

and to have few losses,
unlike the Persians.

On guard!

1st line, launches from a high position.

This impenetrable wall of shields
is the phalanx.

In a phalanx formation!

A tight, perfectly coordinated combat formation

that the Greeks developed
and that they alone master.

Vincent Torres
studies the history of gesture.

Specialist in the phalanx,

He seeks to reconstruct
the movements of the Hoplites.

during a combat phase.

Press the fingertip firmly. Caution.

On guard! In phalanx formation!

In this position,
the left-hand fighter's shield

wraps the shield
of the neighbor on the right.

The two shields are linked.
If I push, I push both.

When there is going to be
an impact with another line,

even if the spears
don't touch me

And as I pass between them,
I will push two fighters aside.

If, thanks to my training,
I manage to push,

the second line
will come and push

and become denser,
and then the third line.

When the training progresses...
Gentlemen.

Forward march!

One, two, three. One, two, three.

In this training program,

The one who is most exposed
is the leader.

All the people on the right
have their sides exposed.

Only one person is on display;
this is the place of honor.

This is where Leonidas stands
at Thermopylae.

One by one,
the waves of Persian assault

crash
against the Greek phalanxes

who will not give
an inch.

Exasperated, Xerxes orders
the elite of his troops

to move up to the front line.

Xerxes sends the immortals,
his personal guard.

They go everywhere the king goes.

They are called immortals,
because if one of them dies,

He will always be replaced.
They are the elite of the elite.

And in this respect, they are no better
than the other contingents.

The immortals embody
the power of the king of kings.

The entire empire fears them.

And 10,000 of them
failed to dislodge the Spartans

who hold the pass.

For Xerxes,
it was a personal humiliation

and a perilous situation.

Xerxes nearly fell off his seat three times .

That means
the power is faltering.

He's even afraid that, ultimately,

The Greeks broke through his army
and reached him.

The battle
thus lasted all day.

The Persian units are repelled.

without a fight
from the Greek phalanxes.

When the fighting stops,

The Persian army left behind
a large number of dead.

The Greeks, almost none.

The battle
resumed the following morning.

The Greeks
are rotating their staff.

You don't have the same soldiers
from morning till night.

This allows
the Greeks to rest,

as long as the Persians
do not break their lines.

Herodotus' account
does not provide details of the battles.

on the second day of the battle.

He simply states, "The Persians
were no happier."

Herodotus also mentions a tactic
used by the Spartans

which consists of simulating
a retreat in order to be able to kill

as many Persians as possible.

You don't simply have
an unbreakable line,

at certain times,

This line seems to give way,
but it's a feint.

It's simulated, it's a trap.

This Spartan maneuver,

Another ancient author,
Xenophon, described it in detail.

This is the Lacedaemonian conversion.

To be fully effective,

It must be executed
in a perfectly coordinated manner.

The Hoplites
first broke through the shield wall,

the front-line fighters,
turning their backs on the enemy,

they move to the rear of the phalanx
by slipping between the ranks.

The second line follows
suit, and so on.

until the phalanx
is reconstituted with its back to the enemy.

At the moment when the enemy

He's changing his troops; that's
where they're going to simulate a retreat.

And the guys facing them think
they have to attack.

because they are showing their backs.

That's when they rush forward
and lose their ranks.

that the Spartans turn around
and close their phalanx.

Phalange!

We do it slowly,

But they will do it quickly;
these movements are ingrained.

and bam,
impact the opposing formation.

This maneuver, says Xenophon,
is impossible to accomplish

in the urgency of the battle.

Except for Greeks raised
under Spartan laws.

The unique characteristic of Sparta

lies in the fact
that the citizen soldiers

are men who wanted
to specialize their activities

in the political
and military sphere.

Sparta, the warrior city,

possesses a political system
without equal

among the Greek cities.

The citizens call
themselves Homoi,

literally the same.

They gather in the agora
to vote on their laws.

Laws proposed
only by the Gerousia,

a college of 28 old men.

5 magistrates elected for one year

will be responsible
for enforcing these laws.

At the very top of the hierarchy,
two kings

whose sole role
is that of war leaders.

Sparta, within its own borders,
will create laws

which promote
total martial cohesion.

There is
a redistribution of land,

a socialist organization
that divides

the entire territory of the region
in 9,000 plots.

Each receives a plot
of equivalent value.

Plots of land that will be cultivated
by slaves,

the Helots.

In return for the generosity
of the city of Sparta,

Citizens
are prohibited from working.

to trade or to get rich.

A garrison life
where those like them share everything

up to and including their meals,
which they must eat together.

The Spartans devoted themselves
solely to preparing for war.

their sole reason for living
and dying.

"Gorgopas in polemos".

Here, we have funerary stelae.

with the names of fighters
who died in combat.

In Sparta, only men who died
in battle and women

Those who died in childbirth have their names
engraved on their gravestones.

Why? Because they gave
their lives for the city.

For men, in war.
For women, in childbirth .

future warriors.

When King Leonidas
left for Thermopylae,

Everyone told him:
"You're only leaving with 300 men,

"That's not enough."

He replied:
"As for what we have to do,

That's more than enough.
We're going there to die."

However,
on the evening of the second day of battle,

Leonidas and his Hoplites
are the masters of Thermopylae.

Xerxes, powerless,
ordered his troops to retreat.

His only hope,

that its fleet follows
a route parallel to its army,

manages to outmaneuver the Greeks

and to land reinforcements
to take them from behind.

But a Greek fleet
led by the Athenians

closes the Artemision cape
and blocks their route.

Even before confronting it,

The Persian ships were caught
in a huge storm

which destroyed a third of them.

When the naval battle
begins,

The Persians, exhausted and disorganized,

fail
to break the Greek blockade.

After 3 days of fierce fighting,
without a clear winner,

They decide to sail around
the island of Euboea to the west.

to head south.

Doubt is setting in within the Persian camp .

Xerxes, who can no longer count
on the support of his fleet,

is no longer so sure
of his victory.

However, it was at that precise moment,
on the evening of the 2nd day

that fate
will turn in his favor.

There will be an
almost divine intervention

which will allow him
to outmaneuver his opponent,

He is a traitor in the eyes of the Greeks.

A Greek, an infamous traitor

mentioned by Herodotus,

He pointed out a passage
through the mountains to them.

A passage that could allow
forces of the Persian army

to take the Greeks who were at Thermopylae by surprise .

The Greeks were aware of the existence
of this passage.

Leonidas even stationed troops there

at the beginning of the battle
to hold it.

It takes about ten hours on foot

to travel this path
to Thermopylae.

As night falls,

a contingent of Persian fighters
sets out

guided by the traitor.

We know
that the immortals were there

because Hydarnes, their leader,
was leading this expedition.

There were the immortals
and a total of 20,000 soldiers.

As they progress
along the path,

Xerxes' soldiers
fall upon the detachment

Posted by Leonidas.

A thousand Hoplites
faced them,

alerted by the sound of footsteps
of the Persian multitude.

When they saw
those 20,000 Persians arrive

they thought they were coming

to confront them.

They formed up
to fight.

They took up
a defensive position.

but the Persians
left them aside

to achieve their goal

which was the shore.
They came back down the mountain

and they were able to reach
the Greeks from behind.

The Hoplites, kept at bay
by the Persian archers,

manage to send
a messenger to Leonidas.

Upon being informed, he
made a radical decision.

What is Leonidas doing?

He made the choice
that any leader would have made.

The pragmatic choice
to abandon the position,

It makes no sense to hold it.

These men are not sacrificed for nothing.

They dismissed most of the Greeks.

Leonidas sends
all the Hoplites back to Athens,

sparing them certain death.

They will be more useful alive
in defending the city.

Everyone except the 300 Spartans
who accompanied him.

They will stay and fight with him
until the end.

He received orders. His city
ordered him to hold the position.

Unless otherwise ordered,
he cannot deviate from this.

to the laws of Sparta.

Perhaps he is influenced
in his decision by a prophecy.

delivered by the oracle of Delphi
before the battle.

In this war,
Sparta would either lose a king,

either it would be destroyed.

Myth or reality?

One thing is certain,
on the morning of the 3rd day of battle,

Leonidas and his 300 Spartans
chose to remain

and to face
the multitude of Persians to the death

who are preparing to attack them
from two sides.

What Herodotus indicates
is that, alongside the Spartans,

There were also Thespians
and Boeotians.

There were 800 of them in total.
You have 300 Spartans.

and Thespians

in comparable numbers.
But there is a difference.

The Spartans represented
a small percentage

of their army.

For the Thespians,
it was their entire army.

A thousand Hoplites surround
Leonidas for the final battle.

Hoplites,
perhaps also Helots,

these slaves of the Spartans

Archaeology tells us
that they also went to war.

And sometimes, they even
participated in the fighting.

Here we have an army on the march.
We can see the warriors.

We mostly see their porters,
the aides-de-camp

who will have a helmet
and sometimes, a javelin.

In the case of Thermopylae,
that's it.

The Helots
served as aides-de-camp.

During marches, the Spartans
carried their weapons

and the Helots brought
what was needed for camp life.

The number of Helots present at Thermopylae is unknown .

Greek troop strength
on the last day of the battle

were far superior
to those of the 300 Spartans

which
the legend of Leonidas has preserved.

Even if it's 1,500
or 2,000 Greeks

who on that day
faced the Persians,

They are 150 to 200 times fewer
in number than their opponents.

Yet,

rather than waiting for the clash
and defending their position,

Leonidas orders
an attack.

When he saw the
flanking army approaching from behind him,

He launched his forces
into a frontal attack.

He didn't stay to
defend himself, he counter-attacked.

This offensive by Leonidas,
doomed to failure,

is not a final act
of panache.

It's a perfectly calculated tactical decision .

By leading this attack
northward,

It forces the
flanking troops to pursue him.

Thus, he protects the retreat
of the rest of the Greeks.

whom he had dismissed
a few hours earlier.

The fighting is so fierce
that in this confrontation,

even before the bypass
had been completed,

King Leonidas dies.

In doing so,

He fulfilled the prophecy
given to Sparta.

In the minds of the Spartans,
at least in Herodotus' account,

He saves Greece through his sacrifice.

The Greeks, at the cost of a
fierce hand-to-hand struggle,

They retrieved his body
and retreated to Kolonos,

a small hill located to the south

at the exit of the
Thermopylae pass.

It is at this spot
that Herodotus places the final battle

which he describes in these terms.

"In this place,

They defended themselves with their swords,
for those who still had them.

with their hands,
with their teeth."

"When only the very last ones remain ,

They finish them
off with arrows.

And that's it."

This quote

is world-famous.
It says: "Go tell the Spartans

that we rest here
in obedience to their laws."

After the battle,

Xerxes demanded that
Leonidas' body be identified.

Having found him,
he had him beheaded

and had the head of the deceased king planted on a stake.

Then he resumed his journey
south towards Athens.

When he entered the city,
it was empty.

Thanks to the sacrifices of the Spartans
at Thermopylae,

The residents had been evacuated.

Furious, Xerxes had
the few Athenians left massacred.

who had not wanted to flee
and raze the Acropolis.

A few days later,

Greek ships annihilated
the Persian fleet at Salamis.

One year later in Plataea,

the Hoplites of all
the allied Greek cities

inflicted a final defeat
on Xerxes' army.

An unexpected outcome
for the turbulent Greek city-states

were only able to achieve
this thanks to the 3 days

during which Leonidas
and his Hoplites

held the Battle of Thermopylae.

At Thermopylae,
we lost, but the glory

that we won there is
a huge victory for Sparta.

Even for the rest of the world.

The Persian Empire was never
to return to Greece.

And 2,500 years later,

The figure of Leonidas
still embodies the eternal struggle

between freedom and oppression.

Heroic music

...

Subtitles: VDM