The Battle of Thermopylae

germany would have been NUKED a while later

so, in an abstract way of looking at it, losing D-Day was the best thing that ever happened to Germany

Source please?

I didn't mention the 4000 Thebans because they surrendered almost immediatelly and didn't take part in the final battle.

The rest of the Greeks didn't walked out, they retreated to avoid encirclement by a superior force.

PS: No offence taken

It's not b/s. Some historians, evaluate the ability of the Persians to maintain a sizable force and come up with numbers as low as this for the Platea battle. Others (with whom I also agree) support otherwise since they estimate that the farmlands of Macedonia and Thessaly could support much larger amount of troops.  More over the number of Greeks (110K) is also debated.

But these are historical and scientific arguments not b/s!

Burn claims there to have been 70 thousand Persian infantry and 9 or so thousand cavalry.  Herodotus himself says that only the 120 thousand best Persians were left to fight at Plataea after Xerxes left (but he doesn't mention immortals), but we all know about his accuracy. 

Besides, it is extremely unlikely that the Immortals would have been at Plataea since the King needed them back home, as recalcitrant satrapies were areas of danger after the defeat at Salamis, Ionia in particular.  If they didn't cross the Hellespont with Xerxes, they would have been with Artabazus who had to crush Greek rebellions.

It would have been most stupid to leave the immortals at Plataea when much more vital interests were at stake.

With regards to the other 30 thousand that Burn deducts, just consider the situation.  The Persians had lost their navy and thus their supply line, and they had trouble in Asia for which troops would be needed.  After Salamis, Xerxes did indeed face a rebellion similar to that which his father faced at the beginning of his reign, and I don't think he would have been as effective as his father in such a situation.

And Mardonius would not have contradicted the omens that the attacking side would lose and attack the greeks, out of concern for their growing numbers, if he outnumbered them.  True, the Greeks would have had quite a reputation for warfare by now, but remember Mardonius finally had the chance to fight a battle on his own terms, and with cavalry, and in my opinion had reason to expect victory.

By Greek treachery I was talking about the traitor who showed the Persians how to surround the Greeks, I know the rest were sent away in consideration for their lives.

Also,

It wouldn't have been flight though, since they were so insignificant numerically, so there would be little point in keeping all of the soldiers. 

I would add Manzikert, Lepanto, Salamis, Yorktown, Jutland, Gettysburg, 1st Battle of the Marne, Tannenburg, Phillipii, Seige of Vienna (final seige by Turks)

Amoungst others-mostly im just bored...

Okay I agree, but ethnicity was an important part in the Persian army and the Persian Empire itself. Think if you were Greek (Ionian) fighting your brothers on the opposite side. Would you really want to execute your captain's (who was Persian) goals?