The Ancient Wars

By alzugadl
  • Period: 800 BCE to 200 BCE

    The Ancient Wars Timeline

  • 730 BCE

    First Messenian War

    First Messenian War
    The first contest between Sparta and Messenia in Ancient Greece. Sparta conquered Messenia in this confrontation.
  • 640 BCE

    Second Messenian War

    Second Messenian War
    The second contest between Sparta and Messenia. This was an unsuccessful revolt from Messenia in attempt to regain power in their city.
  • Period: 512 BCE to 506 BCE

    The Wu Chu Wars

  • 506 BCE

    Battle of Boju

    Battle of Boju
    At this battle, the author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu, was said to have led the Wu forces with King Ho-Lu, along with Ho-Lu’s brother Fugai, and defeated the Chu forces using Sun Tzu's tactics.
  • 499 BCE

    Ionian Revolt

    Ionian Revolt
    Ionian cities attempted to remove their Persian leaders but the attempt failed when Darius I conquered the cities again.
  • Period: 497 BCE to 479 BCE

    Persian Wars

  • 492 BCE

    Darius I Invades Greece

    Darius I Invades Greece
    To punish Athens and Eritrea for giving support to the Ionians, Darius I sends his army to attack them, and seeks an opportunity to widen his kingdom's borders.
  • 490 BCE

    Battle of Marathon

    Battle of Marathon
    Darius sends 20,000 troops to Greek soil, and the Greek hoplites could only emerge with 10,000. But despite being outnumbered 2 to 1, The Greeks ended up winning their battle and taking out 25% of the Persian army while only losing about 2% of their own army.
  • 480 BCE

    The battle of Artemisium

    The battle of Artemisium
    The Greek knew that the Persian naval fleet was going to attempt to circle around Leonidas, so they sent a fleet of ships to deny them access. A couple days of naval fights occurred however the Greeks ultimately had to retreat
  • 480 BCE

    Battle of Thermopylae

    Battle of Thermopylae
    The Greek's decided to defend an passageway through the mountains. It was 300 Spartans and 6,000 Greek soldiers who were expecting approximately 100,000 Persian soldiers. The narrow passage way in which the battle took place made it easier for the Spartans to hold them off, but they were ultimately betrayed when someone told the Persian army of a different route that would lead them behind the Spartan army. The Spartans ultimately lost the bottle
  • 479 BCE

    Battle of Plataea

    Battle of Plataea
    This was the final battle on land that led to the end of the Persian Invasion
  • Period: 476 BCE to 221 BCE

    Warring States Period in China

  • 460 BCE

    First Peloponnesian War

    First Peloponnesian War
    This war was fought between Athens and Sparta, however it involved almost all of Greece. Sparta had the stronger army but Athens had the stronger navy. This first war came to a truce in 445 BCE
  • 431 BCE

    Second Peloponnesian War

    Second Peloponnesian War
    The second war broke out after a series of moves from Athens that Sparta said directly broke the treaty of thirty years that was signed in 445. Then full out open war began when Thebes (Spartans ally) attacked Plataea (Athens ally). There was a six year uncertain peace in 421 that ended in 415 when Athens attacked Sicily. The fighting continued for 11 years until it ended in 405.
  • 395 BCE

    The Corinthian Wars

    The Corinthian Wars
    This conflict was between Sparta and Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos, who were all backed by Persia in Persia's attempt to divide and conquer Greece. It was an original local conflict but intervention on Sparta and Thebes behalf made it more large scale. A treaty was declared to end this war in 387 called the Kings Peace.
  • 262 BCE

    The Battle of Changping

    The Battle of Changping
    This battle resulted in a decisive victory of the state of Qin of China over Zhao. This was important because it was the end of the Zhao dynasty