i am not expert, but my reading of wiki is that there were two wars: - first invasion where persian were defeated by athens, and sparta was not involved much b

i am not expert, but my reading of wiki is that there were two wars: - first invasion where persian were defeated by athens, and sparta was not involved much because persian didn't come to sparta close - second, much larger invasion, where persians again attacked athens first, essentially defeated athens (athenians left the city), then athenians asked sparta to join the war or otherwise they will surrender to persians. Sparta assembled army, and defeated persians in the battle of plataea. It looks like spartans defeated persians, and athenians would surrender if no sparta's involvement