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The Persian plan was to threaten the Greek cities with amphibiousinvasion so that they would have to keep their armies at home toprotect their own cities. This would enable the Persian army topick off the cities one by one.
Some of the Greek city-states sided with Persia. The southern onesformed an alliance to resist. Their plan was to defeat the Persiannavy first so that the sea threat to their cities was ended andthey could then send out their armies to combine against thePersian army. Their combined navy could also cut the Persian supplyfleet from Asia on which the Persian army depended.
The Greek plan began with holding the pass at Thermopylae to forcethe Persian navy to try to turn the position by sea to let thePersian army advance into southern Greece. The Greek fleet wasstationed nearby at the Artemesion strait, waiting to pounce.Unfortunately for the Greek coalition they lost this sea battle ofArtemesion and had to withdraw south to try Plan B which was todefeat the Persian fleet at Salamis. The force at Thermopylae,having no further use, was withdrawn, covered by the Spartan andThespian contingents who sacrificed themselves to let the othersget away.
The Greek fleet engaged the Persian fleet again in the strait atSalamis and won this time. With the coming winter the Persian armyhad to withdraw to northern Greece to find sustenance for itssoldiers and horses. As well, the remnant of its fleet had towithdraw back to safety in Asia Minor, and with the supply fleetunable to operate without its protection, half the Persian army hadto return to Asia.
In the spring of the next year (479 BCE) the Greek cities, nolonger threatened by the Persian navy, were able to send out theirarmies to combine to defeat the half-strength Persian army and itsGreek allies at Plataea, winning a victory which ended theinvasion. The Greek fleet simultaneously captured the rump of thePersian navy at Mycale in Asia Minor.
