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- Spartan Warfare
- Sparta
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- In the 7th Century BC a new era of warfare strategy evolved. Before this new strategy, foot soldiers
- (known as hoplites) engaged in battle in the form of one mob for each army which on the command
- of their generals runs at each other and proceeds to hack blindly at the enemy with little to no direction
- other then to kill the enemy in front of them. This proved to be very messy and the tide of battle
- depended mostly on emotion and size of an army. In the name of strategy and organization, the
- phalanx was developed. A phalanx is simply defined as a line formation with its width significantly
- larger then its depth. The depth of the phalanx is a variable which some suggest was decided by the
- army itself rather then by the leaders of the army. The smallest depth appears to have been that of
- one man deep. However this was a unique occurrence which is widely believed to be fictitious. The
- largest depth is that of 120 men deep which was fielded at one time by the Macedonians. On average,
- the depth of the phalanx appears to be about eight men deep. During the time of Alexander the Great,
- the phalanx was believed to be eight men deep, but some argue that it evolved into a sixteen man deep
- phalanx. The Spartans purposely varied the depth of their phalanx so to confuse the enemy about the
- number of soldiers fielded. The phalanx proved to be a very valuable weapon for the military at that time.
- Armies which did not adapt to the phalanx formation were quickly slaughtered. The use of the phalanx
- allowed the Greeks to win the Persian Wars.
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- Many historians believe that the development of the phalanx led directly to social changes occurring
- throughout Greece during the time of the phalanx's implementation. The phalanx formation allowed men
- to participate in the military who otherwise could not have because a much smaller investment in
- weapons and armor was needed to participate in the phalanx. The combined increase in the number
- of those participating in the army and the increase in importance of the common foot soldier lead to
- the common man being increasingly treated better by the ruling classes.
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- Eventually this may have led to the invention of democracy.
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- The most noticeable difference between ancient Greek and modern warfare is the amount of "intelligence"
- information. Today our military maneuvers are almost exclusively reliant on information we get from
- satellites, scouts, or spies in the opposition. The ancient Greeks totally ignored this area of military
- strategy. Countless tales of armies meeting each other by chance or armies passing within miles of each
- other without knowledge of the other. Intelligence information seemed to have come by chance for the
- ancient Greeks rather then by conscious effort.
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- Surprise is also an element of war which in modern times is taken very seriously and which was taken
- very lightly in ancient Greece. In fact there is evidence that ancient Greek soldiers raised their voices
- in the form of a marching song when they were told that an enemy was near and may be caught
- unprepared. This war song, called a paian, was also used to promote organization in the marching army
- so that all soldiers would march with an even step. In addition, the paian was used to promote courage
- and bravery. A paian was also used on ships to announce the nearness of the enemy. When the actual
- battle was joined the paian turned into a war cry. The Spartans often accompanied the paian with a flute
- or several flutes. The Spartan King would lead the paian as well. The use of the paian for attack appears
- to have Dorian roots. The Spartans are usually the ones associated with the use of a paian. Thucydides
- mentions that when the Dorians, from other city-states, started a paian when they were serving in an
- Athenian army, fear was struck into the hearts of the Athenians.
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- Finally the sizes of the armies were very different from what we are accustomed to today.
- We are familiar with armies of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions.
- The entire Spartan army was estimated to be under five thousand men.
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- In the beginning, Greek armies showed almost no pay structure. This was do to the fact that military
- participation was seen as a man's duty to his city-state or as a form of taxation. Each man was required to
- provide his own armor for battle. There for only those who could afford armor and weapons could be in
- the army. Since most men could not afford armor, most could not participate. Those who could afford to
- participate had other forms of income. However there was a pay system in place by 445 or 444 BC in
- Athens. The pay system was enacted during a time of peace for Greece, just after the signing of the
- thirty year peace between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League. The standard rate of pay
- seems to have been a drachma a day until it was cut in half in 413 BC. However the standard rate over
- time was between three obols (half a drachma) to a full drachma a day for a hoplite soldier.
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- In Sparta, the military was a way of life. From an early age, children were trained to be strong and to have
- good fighting skills. With most of their population being helots, or serfs, it was necessary to have a
- well-organized and highly trained fighting force to put down any revolts. Therefore, even though the
- Spartan military was comparatively small, it was very strong.
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- Athens derived her military strength from a strong navy. In 481 BC the city of Athens
- discovered a large silver mine on publicly owned land. Athens used this silver to build
- a fleet of 200 ships of a type called triremes. This naval force not only gave Athens an
- advantage against the Persians in the Persian wars, it also gave Athens the power to force the
- membership of almost all the Aegean islands and many other city-states into the Delian League.
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- The Greek hoplite wore a helmet, breastplate and greaves of bronze. The hoplite is typically armed with a
- wooden lance for the phalanx formation and a short sword for in close fighting. The round shield was
- strapped to the left forearm and gripped by a leather strap with the left hand at the opposite end. In the
- third century B.C. (the 200's) the round shield evolved into a more door-like shield. The shields were
- easily carried on the back when travelling and were commonly used as a stretcher for carrying the dead
- off the field of battle. The soldiers were traditionally required to provide for their own weapons and
- armor, but eventually the responsibility fell to the government and the costs were deducted from the
- soldiers' pay. There were a variety of reasons for this transfer of responsibility including the state's
- ability to buy quality armor for all and the benefits of soldiers fighting in armor to which they are
- accustomed. There is also an aesthetic benefit to having all soldiers, weapons, and banners of the
- same appearance, not to mention the economic benefit for the city-state when all weapons and armor
- for the army must be bought within the city-state.
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