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In 480 BC a tiny band of Greek city-states faced the largest army in the world, the massive Persian army under Xerxes. The Greeks were greatly outnumbered, at minimum 7 to 1, and historians say it may have been as lopsided as 42 Persian soldiers for every one Greek.
That war 2,502 years ago ranks as one of history's greatest contests, perhaps the greatest. It pitted gritty little Greek democracies against Persian despotism in a direct contest between a fledgling Western culture with its focus on humanity, and the world's most powerful king representing Eastern tyranny. Whichever side won would determine the future of mankind.
Following their stunning stand at Thermopylae (led by the famous 300 Spartans), the Greeks won the war, known as the Second Persian Invasion, after the Athenian general Themistocles wiped out the Persian navy in the Straits of Salamis. Western civilization was saved – literally saved in 480 BC.
History doesn't really repeat itself, but history does enlighten current world dynamics when similar forces and conflicts array themselves. So it is that today we once again see the rise of tyrannical powers hellbent on destroying Western humanity. Whether it be Putin's military aligning against Ukraine, Beijing imposing tyrannical control and genocide over its own people and directly challenging the United States, or Iran's Ayatollah vowing to destroy Israel, we are again coming to the crossroads of history.
Will our Western culture take a stand against these forces of tyranny? Does the West still have the grit and determination to sacrifice the few at a future Thermopylae in order to preserve humanity as we know it? Look at Germany. Look at Biden. Look at France. No, we don't. We won't.
Western civilization will not be saved through hollow speeches. The clock is ticking, and perhaps after 2,502 years this great experiment is nearing its end.
That war 2,502 years ago ranks as one of history's greatest contests, perhaps the greatest. It pitted gritty little Greek democracies against Persian despotism in a direct contest between a fledgling Western culture with its focus on humanity, and the world's most powerful king representing Eastern tyranny. Whichever side won would determine the future of mankind.
Following their stunning stand at Thermopylae (led by the famous 300 Spartans), the Greeks won the war, known as the Second Persian Invasion, after the Athenian general Themistocles wiped out the Persian navy in the Straits of Salamis. Western civilization was saved – literally saved in 480 BC.
History doesn't really repeat itself, but history does enlighten current world dynamics when similar forces and conflicts array themselves. So it is that today we once again see the rise of tyrannical powers hellbent on destroying Western humanity. Whether it be Putin's military aligning against Ukraine, Beijing imposing tyrannical control and genocide over its own people and directly challenging the United States, or Iran's Ayatollah vowing to destroy Israel, we are again coming to the crossroads of history.
Will our Western culture take a stand against these forces of tyranny? Does the West still have the grit and determination to sacrifice the few at a future Thermopylae in order to preserve humanity as we know it? Look at Germany. Look at Biden. Look at France. No, we don't. We won't.
Western civilization will not be saved through hollow speeches. The clock is ticking, and perhaps after 2,502 years this great experiment is nearing its end.
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