Taking a grand view of history, the Greco-Persian Wars was most definitely not the end of the Greek ideal of freedom. However, if we look at what happened to the Greek city-states in the aftermath, there was a loss of immediate freedom in many parts of the peninsula. The Persian wars harken back to Cyrus the Great, who conquered the Ionian provinces of Greece—who, when he took the Ionian lands, was challenged by the Spartans, though it never progressed beyond threats.
In the time of Darius I, the Athenians attempted to help the Ionian Greeks revolt against the Achaemenid Empire. Their attempted revolution was not well planned, and Athens was singled out by Darius for retribution. The Persian wars included the battle of Marathon, in the first invasion, and other battles like Thermopylae and Plataea, in the second invasion. Overall, the Greeks resoundingly defeated the Persian invasion—securing their territory and protecting themselves from further Persian incursions.
The Athenians and Spartans, after the battle of Plataea, led troops further into Asia Minor and Ionia. The Athenians eventually took over the war and formed the Delian League—a loose alliance of Greek city-states that were lead by Athens. The end of the war brought an age of prosperity to Athens—often called the golden age. The defense by the Greeks against the Persians meant that many of the Greek cities won independence, and it allowed autonomy for many of the democratic city-states that existed on the peninsula.
The Athenian democracy survived for many years—until 409 BCE. The fact that democracy and freedom continued after the Greco-Persian Wars does not dispel the fact that afterward, the Greek city-states waged war with one another, decreasing their populations and bankrupting their economies.
The key factor that shows this was not the beginning of the end for the Greek ideal of freedom (i.e, a self-sufficient person making decisions for themselves) is that Athen’s Golden Age and the Hellenistic period followed the Greco-Persian Wars.
The Golden Age ideals of Athens and the cultural value of Hellenism impacted not only the cultures at the time but has impacted Western civilization as a whole from the creation of the Roman Empire to the founding of the modern-day United States. Without a win in the Greco-Persian Wars, it is likely Western civilization as we know it today would be entirely different, and that alone proves the Greek ideal of freedom and democracy live on.
The Persian Wars were a bit of both—a positive for Greek democracy and also the beginning of the nation's demise. The Greek society was set up in such a way that each city-state was incredibly separate—they had their own rule of law, customs, government, and military. This enabled very effective, small local governments to rule.
When the Persian army attacked, the city-states had to band together to stop the invasion, and were, in fact, successful. This was the greatest unity the nation of Greece had ever experienced, and for that, it is a testament to their democracy and ideology.
However, the main issue was that they failed to remain united. while it would have been a major undertaking to unite in a meaningful way, it would have empowered the nation overall. Instead, their return to isolation meant that each separate state was weak, and the nation eventually fell.
The Persian Wars were certainly a victory for Greek civilization and democracy. Instead of spelling the end of their ideals of freedom, it was definitely a step in the right direction—it just wasn't good enough. Unfortunately, Greece, for all its wisdom and political pontificating, was far too segregated to succeed as a nation.
The Persian Wars were close to achieving unity unlike any had ever been seen in Greece, and were it to be officially achieved, Greece had the potential to become one of the most powerful nations in history, challenging even Rome. The Persian Wars were so devastating that it necessitated the Roman city-states working together to overcome their enemies.
However, the differences between the cities were too vast to overcome because they treated every other Greek state as a separate country. In the end, this proved too complex to reconcile, and the nation never truly unified.
This is a very difficult question, in some respects, because Greek civilization tends to be very fragmented politically speaking (we're not talking about a modern country or political state, but an array of competing city states, often at odds with one another). In any case, I would certainly agree that the Persian Wars was a critical moment in Greek history, and even a transformative one in terms of its impact on Greek politics, given the emergence of Athens to create an empire. In general, however, I think the historical reality defies any kind of easy categorization.
Ultimately, I would suggest that one of the lasting legacies from the Persian Wars emerged with Athenian leadership over the Delian League, which it later converted into an empire. This resulted in a vast increase of power and wealth flowing into Athens. This was the context behind the Golden Age of Athens, whose towering artistic achievements were themselves supported by the wealth extracted from the Empire, and the ruthless exploitation of its imperial subjects. In addition to this, we should not forget that Persia remained significant political presence in the Greek World.
In certain ways, the Persian Wars were a great victory for the Greek city-states, who briefly united to fend off the invading armies of the Persians. On the other hand, they cannot properly be described as a "victory for Greek civilization and democracy." Most importantly, Greece was not a single nation during this period. The region we now call "Greece" consisted of numerous independent city-states ("poleis"), which only took a brief break from warring with one another to band together to fend off the Persians.
Although the inhabitants of the various city-states spoke Greek, albeit in varying dialects, they were parts of different political states. A citizen of Athens was a foreigner with no special legal rights in Thebes or Sparta and vice versa, just an an Egyptian, a Persian, or a Phoenician would be considered a foreigner. While some Greek city-states such as Athens and Corinth were democracies, others, such as Sparta, were not democratic.
Next, the victory over Persia led to the development of the Delian League and the tendency of Athens to assert control over her allies. Although Athens was internally a democracy, Athens acted as a despot to many allied states. Moreover, Athenian overreach led to the Peloponnesian Wars and a gradual breakdown of democracy.
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