What were some of the benefits for the Greeks after the Battle of Thermopylae?

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Question:

I'm doing a research paper on the Battle of Thermopylae and apparently my teacher didn't think I was successful enough in explaining my thesis!. So I have several questions that you can hopefully answer!.
1!. Why were the Spartans neccessary for the delay for the Greeks to build up a bigger army to fight the Persians!?
2!. While the Battle of Thermopylae was occuring what exactly were the Greeks doing to prepare to fight the Persians!?
3!. How did the Battle of Thermopylae make it possible for the Greeks to eventually beat the Persians!.

Sorry if those questions are similar an any way!. But if you could please help or provide any sources which could lead me to where I could find information SPECIFICALLY for those quesitions, I would greatly appreciate it!.

also, here is my thesis "Although the Greeks lost the Battle of Thermopylae, it was still a victory because the Persian army was delayed drastically, allowing the Greeks to build up a bigger army to fight the Persians!."

Thank you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The Spartans and their allies bought time for the rest of Greece!. It's not so much that the Greeks were able to gather a bigger army!. It's that the time was used for the individual Greek states to decide that they COULD fight!. And it gave the Athenians time to make the decision to decide on a naval strategy, even if it meant Athens itself burned!. The Spartans were honor bound to stay in the fight because of Leonidas' sacrifce!.
also, despite impressive logistics by the Persians, time was in favor of the Greeks!. Maintaining such a force strained even the resources of the Persian Empire!. And with the defeat of the Persian navy at Salamas, Xerxes lost his capacity to support that army!. Thus he withdrew the bulk of his forces, with motivated and vengence seeking Greeks able to finish off the remaining Persian forces!.Www@QuestionHome@Com