“For Sparta!” a young Spartan commander yelled to his troops as the Persian hordes approached their defensive lines. The battle had begun. Roaring, the Persians charged into the Spartans only to be slaughtered. Slashing and jabbing, the vastly superior Spartans massacred the Persian troops with their superior weapons and renowned training, but they just kept on coming.
“We must fall back!” the Commander shouted to his troops as the battle progressed, but his troops could not hear him over the din of the battle.
As nightfall approached, the Persians managed to break through the lines, forcing a mass rout of the Spartans back to another line.
“We must hold a little longer or Greece will fall!” shouted the Spartan Commander as he impaled a weak Persian through his mouth with his dory. This was the Battle of Thermoplyae.
So they did, 300 Spartans held Thermoplyae for three days against 300,000 Persians until they were all killed, resulting in a Pyrrhic victory for the Persians.
The Battle of Thermoplyae is a good example of Sparta’s unique military capability, still recognized today nearly 2500 years ago. Although Sparta’s iconic military strength is usually associated with the bravery, skill, and professionalism of its soldiers one must acknowledge the equipment, training and tactics of the Spartan soldier which made him Superior to all other infantry in the Ancient times (with the exception of the Roman Legions).
The first aspect to understand Sparta’s military strength was their equipment. Spartan armor was similar to that of other Greek city-states with its bronze greaves, muscled chest plate, and a helmet with cheek plates. One notable difference was that the Spartans wore red capes although they weren’t ever ...
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...ld go over the back of the first and cut the tip off the spear, making the hoplites weapon useless. (ancientmilitary)
Although all Greek city-states employed the Phalanx the Spartan’s never let anyone else use their other tactics, which resulted in their tactics never evolving while those in the other city-states did. This was one basic reason why Sparta fell. (ancientmilitary);(Warry 42)
In conclusion, the Spartan military was a fearsome power up until 200 B.C. because of its equipment, training, and tactics. The power of their infantry, which held Thermoplyae against the numerically superior Persian force for 3 days, has inspired militaries around the world and amazed us today over 2500 years ago.
Works Cited
Warry, John. Warfare in the Classical World. London: Salamander Books ltd., 1980.
“ancientmilitary” www.Ancientmilitary.com/ancient-sparta.html
The Battle of Thermopylae was the first between the Greeks and Persians during the Persian invasion of 480 – 479BC. The Greek force was very small compared to the Persians but was determined to make a stand against the huge army of 300,000 Persians suggested by modern historians compared to Herodotus account of the army consisting of 1700 000 men. The Greeks chose to defend a narrow pass, or gap, between the mountains of central Greece and the sea, called Thermopylae.
Sparta was known for being strong, but was it really? In case you don’t know, Sparta was a Greek city-state. Sparta only focused on war. Spartans were only taught the basics of other topics. Spartans were trained for 13 years just to fight. Reading and writing were only taught in Sparta for practical reasons. The strengths didn’t outweigh the weaknesses. There were more weaknesses to Sparta than there were strengths. The strengths of Sparta didn’t outweigh the weaknesses for three reasons. The first reason is that the babies were killed just if they looked weak. The second reason is that the Spartans barely new anything about other topics (math, reading, writing, etc). The third and final reason is that the helots outnumbered the Spartans 50 to 1.
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/text?lookup-trm+ov+8.5&vers=engligh&browse+1). In conclusion, the Greeks defeated the Persians in the Persian Wars aided by unforgettable acts of heroism, divine support, and most importantly, Greek unity.
Although the Spartans and Athenians fought for almost 20 years, there was a time when they lived in harmony. Almost 15 years before any disturbances the Athenians and Spartans fought together in the Persian war. During the Persian war, the Spartans were thriving in their fight against the Persians, however over time the Persians began to grow stronger. After being to lose their fighting streak, the Athenians came in to help the Spartans and bring an end to Persian dominance once and for all (The Delian League, 1). After defeating the Persians in 449 B.C., the...
When the Persian fleet had arrived at Aphetae, Eurybides, the commander of the small amount of ships that Sparta had sent, wished to turn tail, and return home. Themistocles used bribe of thirty talents to keep him, and his ships at the front. (Herodotus, 1954) Themistocles, seeing the overwhelming navy of the Persians conducted a plan: When the fighting broke out, the highly-trained Greeks would allow themselves to become encircled. At the first blow of the signal horn, the triremes would form a ‘close circle – bows outward, sterns to the centre.’ From this position, they had no mobility; the only direction in which they could move was forward, and that is exactly what they did. On the second signal blast, these lighter and faster Greek triremes rammed the Persian ships, and with their bronze-sheathed battering rams on the bow of the ships, caused great damage to the enemy ships. (Herodotus, 1954) Another tactic that Themistocles used was his discussion to initiate the battle in the mid to late afternoon. One cannot fight at sea when dark, and he knew that; making sure that this was done minimised casualties for the Greeks and tired out the Persian men, who had been ready to begin fighting since the very early morning. Overall, this decision made sure the battle had a fast conclusion. When they got word of the massacre at Thermopylae, however, Themistocles called a retreat, as they were only holding the pass to prevent Xerxes using his navy to assist his men at Thermopylae, and at this moment in time, there were no men at Thermopylae that were worth protecting, anymore. (Last Stand of the 300,
Xerxes and his army landed on the Greek shores of Thermopylae sometime in the summer of 480 BC. The Persian army numbered somewhere around 100,000 to 150,000 soldiers from across the Persian Empire, most of which were slaves forced to join after they had been conquered (Robinson). Their plan was to march into the heart of Greece through the Thermopylae pass, the only path through the mountains. It was here that King Leonidas thought he had the best chance to stop the Persian advance into Greece. The pass was a narrow path between the mountains, which the massive Persian force would be funneled into and have to face the Greeks one-on-one. The Greek army consisted of 300 Spartans and about 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers from across Greece. Leonidas planned to use his soldiers’ better fighting skills to defeat, or at least hold off, Xerxes’ forces until the remainder of the Greek Army could arrive.
In 480 BC the Persian Empire was once again trying to invade ancient Greece. Under the reign of King Xerxes, an invincible army of a recorded 2 million was marching downwards to enslave all Greeks. An elite force of three hundred Spartans tackled the suicide mission of stalling the Persian wave of doom.
Herodotus. “Greece Saved from Persian Conquest.” Readings in Ancient History. Eds. Nels M. Bailkey and Richard Lim. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
Spartan culture is a great example of how a society’s infrastructure will directly affect both, its social structure and superstructure. It also serves as a warning that any society that becomes too rigid in its structure and too static in its values will not last long when confronted with more agile and adaptable cultures. This paper will explore why Sparta became the Hellenic army par excellence, how this worked to create a very specific social structure founded on martial values, and, finally, how that social structure would ultimately be the undoing of the culture.
...rated the superiority of the Greek long spear and armor over the weapons of the Persians, as well as the superior tactics of Miltiades and the military training of the Greek hoplites. The choice of weapons, training of warriors, selection of battle site, and timing had all worked together to help the Athenians prove that size doesn’t always matter.
The Greek crescent turned into a circle, completely surrounding the Persians. At that, Xerxes ordered his fleet to retreat, and off they went back to their camp to try and devise a plan for the oncoming days.
... 371 B.C. Sparta faced a critically wounding loss against Thebes. Eventually, all of Sparta’s empire would be destroyed when Philip II of Macedon conquered all of Greece, due to its instability, which “made them vulnerable to a takeover by Macedonia several decades later” (C.S “The Peloponnesian War”.)
Sparta is a small single city state in the southern end of Greece, and known for being the home of the great Spartan warrior. Founded in 900 BCE, it was almost a cult-like warrior society with a military 10,000 men strong originally created to contain the helots, the slaves in Sparta. The Spartan soldier was the most elite of the time. There military dominated Athens in the Peloponnesian War and famously held off the gargantuan Persian army of hundreds of thousands of soldiers with their measly 300 men for three days. Because they were a relatively small city state, if it weren't for their extreme military training they would have been decimated by their opposition. While thought to be cruel and unethical, Their violent ways were effective
“No man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go against the enemy and fight with his hands.” The preceding was quoted from “The Spartan creed” by the poet Tyrtaeus. There are two authors in this primary resource reading which include Tyrtaeus as well as Xenophon, whom authored “The laws and customs of the Spartans”. These two works give great detail to the Spartan society. As history has presented it, Sparta was a smaller polis and yet was one of the most, if not most, influential societies in history. What we know of this culture comes to us from excavation of its heritage as well as literary works such as these. But are these “eyes” into history factual and creditable enough to base our own interpretations of such a masterful race? These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion. This lacking may have been due to both writer’s motives for their work.
Because of the tranquil times, the civilization’s society had more time to focus on writing, math, astronomy, and artistic fields, as well as trade and metallurgy. Out of all the city-states of Greece, two excelled over all the rest, Sparta and Athens. Even though they were the most advanced and strong civilizations, they were bitter enemies. While Athens focused mainly on the people’s democracy and citizen rights, Sparta were ferocious and enslaved its original inhabitants, making them unable to leave and kept under a close eye to prevent insurgence (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece). Additionally, Sparta had strict and trained soldiers that underwent intense physical exercising and instruction.