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THEMISTOCLES
524 BC - 460 BC
Themistocles was a Greek official who,
like Winston Churchill much
later, was able to spot a potential national security threat when
the majority of his contemporaries wasn't concerned at all.
In
Themistocles' case the enemy was the
Persian Empire and the
headache were the
Greco-Persian Wars.
And,
just like Churchill, Themistocles was very concerned with getting
the navy in shape.
Here is a map of the Persian Empire around 500BC.
Map
of Persian Empire 500BC
Themistocles was right, of course, and
Xerxes I and his troops were marching.
Thanks to Themistocles, the city of
Athens was already evacuated when the Persians raided it in 480 BC.
A few days later the Greeks won the
Battle of Salamis, again
thanks to Themistocles.
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