Persian Invasion of 480 BC - articles

[Sean Manning]

I'll have a look at that thread, but am profoundly doubtful that Achaemenid Persia could do something no other premodern state could by launching an invasion with more than a few hundred thousand men. Field armies over say 50,000 are very rare before the Industrial Revolution, and ones over a few hundred thousand unheard of (well, we hear of them, but we also hear of a god or gods saving the day through miracles). Napoleon invaded Russia with 600,000, drawing on all Europe for manpower, moving in several columns hundreds of miles apart, with the advantage of efficient horse-collars and New World crops. And we know that Greek sources could overestimate the size of Persian armies by an order of magnitude.