Thermopylae is a gorge located in Central Greece that served as the stage for the battle between Persians and Spartans. The conflict was provoked by the desire of the Persian Xerxes to dominate the territory and the Spartan people, which was denied by the people, along with their king Leonidas.
For the conflict, Leonidas found great difficulties as the Persian army was already approaching and the Spartans celebrated the honors of the god Apollo and the rest of Greece celebrated the Olympic Games, which prevented any kind of war at that time. With no other resources, Leonidas left for the conflict with only 300 men of his personal guard.
Despite the disproportion between the armies (301 Spartans against 300,000 Persians) the Spartans managed to repel the first attacks until Ephialtes, a shepherd prevented from fighting together with Leonidas and his men, allied himself with Xerxes, as proof of his resentment, and showed an unknown path that would lead the Spartan army to Thermopylae causing the Persians to surround the Spartans and violently massacre them.
Leonidas was beheaded, crucified and his head impaled. At the site of conflict today, there are tributes to Leonidas as well as to the entire army that, despite being minuscule compared to the Persian army at that time, fought courageously for its people and for what they believed. A memorial monument reads “Tell the Spartans, passing strangers, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.”
The Battle of Pavia (February 24, 1525) was a decisive event in the Sixth Italian War (1521-1526). It marks the defeat of the kings of France in their attempt to dominate northern Italy. Following the failure of the imperial troops of Charles V in Provence in 1523, the King of France, François I, w