Il bello Vittorio non ha letto la storia in fondo:
what about Greek alliance at Maratona? And the European one at Lepanto?
What alliance at Marathon? The Lacedaemonians (Spartans) didn’t show up until after the fighting was done and while the battle was of tremendous historical significance, given the likelihood that the Persians would have swept away both the city-states of Greece as well as the young Roman Republic, (established only 19 years before), the Greek forces were almost entirely Athenian. Only the city-state of Plataea, (near Thebes), sent any forces to the aid of Miltiades, the Athenian commander. They numbered 1,000 men, thus representing around nine percent of the Greek forces. The West does owe them a great debt, however, as Creasy presumes their arrival to have greatly lifted the spirits of the outnumbered Athenians.
One might think to make a better case for Lepanto, given that a genuine alliance was involved, but the fact that the Ottomans were able to repair their fleet and reassert their naval supremacy within six months makes it of questionable historical import. Nor was the Holy League a historically daunting alliance militarily; the tendency of its members to regularly break off and war on each other would alone be enough to disqualify it.
Now, if Vittorio wants to pay me back by correcting my Italian, I’ll deserve it.