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Themistocles 524-460 BC
Themistocles was a Greek official who,
like
Winston Churchill much
later, was able to spot a potential national security threat while the majority of his contemporaries wasn't
overly concerned about it.
In
Themistocles' case the enemy was the
Persian Empire and the
headache were the
Greco-Persian Wars.
And,
just like Churchill, Themistocles was very eager to get the navy into shape.
Here is a map of the Persian Empire around 500BC.
Map
of Persian Empire 500BC
Themistocles was right, of course, and
Xerxes I and his troops were marching.
Thanks to Themistocles, the city of
Athens was already evacuated when the Persians raided it in 480 BC.
A few days later the Greeks won the
Battle of Salamis, again
largely thanks to Themistocles.
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