They pushed on and landed at Marathon where the Greeks won a famous victory against all the odds.
During the period the signs were there that Greece fighting as a united country against a common enemy might cause problems. With the different city-states all providing different levels of assistance to the Ionian revolt some providing none at all, it was an ominous sign for the prospects of Greece surviving an all out war. The disunity between the city-states in Greece should have been a huge plus for the Persians in 480 when they began their invasion but somehow the City-States managed to salvage a degree of unity with which to fight. The major event in the unity question was the formation of the Hellenic League. Set up following a conference of Greek states that set up measures to ensure the freedom of Greece that included;.
all feuds between member states should be brought to an end the command of both the army and the navy be conferred onto the Spartans and three spies be sent to investigate the Persian army .
The conference seems to be a major factor that helped lead the Greeks to their eventual victory. Conferring the leadership to of the both armed forces to one set of leaders would of made commanding the troops a lot more effective. The Hellenic league is similar to that seen earlier in Greek history which confirms the impression that, although they did not always get along in times of relative peace, when it came down to the threatening of their freedom as Greeks they would always defend that as Greeks rather than let a foreign power completely take their sovereignty.
.there was much reflection on the causes of the military superiority of the Greeks. The prevailing line of explanation ascribed it to the Greek love of liberty .
Momigliano is suggesting in this passage that although outnumbered in terms of troops in the Persian wars the Greek spirit and ideals were what enabled to take the final victory.