The Ancient Greeks at War

Product Information

Raaflaub, Kurt and Rosenstein, Nathan. eds. (1999). War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. When exactly the phalanx was developed is uncertain, but it is thought to have been developed by the Argives in their early clashes with the Spartans. The chigi vase, dated to around 650 BC, is the earliest depiction of a hoplite in full battle array. The hoplite was a well-armed and armored citizen-soldier primarily drawn from the middle classes. Every man had to serve at least two years in the army. Fighting in the tight phalanx formation maximised the effectiveness of his armor, large shield and long spear, presenting a wall of armor and spear points to the enemy. They were a force to be for. War also led to acquisition of land and slaves which would lead to a greater harvest, which could support a larger army. Plunder was also a large part of war and this allowed for pressure to be taken off of the government finances and allowed for investments to be made that would strengthen the polis. War also stimulated production because of the sudden increase in demand for weapons and armor. Shipbuilders would also experience sudden increases in their production demands. Cosmopoulos, M.B. ed. (2007). Experiencing War: Trauma and Society from Ancient Greece to the Iraq War. Chicago, Ill: Ares. Important rituals had to be performed following victory which included the recovering of the dead and the setting up of a victory trophy (from tropaion, meaning turning point in the conflict) at the exact place on the battlefield where victory became assured. The trophy could be in the form of captured weapons and armour or an image of Zeus; on occasion memorials to the fallen were also set up. Speeches, festivals, sacrifices and even games could also be held following a victory in the field. Conclusion

This is when the mysterious Dorians invaded Greece. This is why it is named Dorian invasion. They still don't know what the Dorians' real name is. This is not classified as a war but it was still important in the Greeks' history. In 1460 the Ottomans conquered the Despotate of the Morea, in 1461 the Empire of Trebizond (the Akcakale castle captured by the Turks in 1467 though), in 1475 the Principality of Theodoro, in 1479 the Despotate of Epirus and by 1500 most of the plains and islands were in Ottoman hands. Holdouts included Rhodes, conquered in 1522, Cyprus in 1571, Crete, retained by the Venetians until 1669, and the Ionian islands which remained primarily under the rule of the Republic of Venice. Konijnendijk, Roel, Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History. (Mnemosyne, Supplements 409). Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018. The phalanx formed the core of ancient Greek militaries. Because hoplites were all protected by their own shield and others’ shields and spears, they were relatively safe as long as the formation didn't break. When advancing towards an enemy, the phalanx would break into a run that was sufficient to create momentum but not too much as to lose cohesion. [3] The opposing sides would collide viciously, possibly terrifying many of the hoplites of the front row. The battle would then rely on the valour of the men in the front line, while those in the rear maintained forward pressure on the front ranks with their shields. When in combat, the whole formation would consistently press forward trying to break the enemy formation; thus, when two phalanx formations engaged, the struggle essentially became a pushing match, [4] in which, as a rule, the deeper phalanx would almost always win, with few recorded exceptions. The Greek forces had/have mostly peacekeeping, humanitarian, logistics, reconstruction and support role.The phalanx was an army tactic the Greeks performed with shields. Each soldier carried a shield in his left arm, which he used to protect both himself and the man on his left. [28] The depth of the phalanx differed depending on the battle and commander, but the width of the formation was considerably greater than its depth. [29] For example, during the battle of Syracuse, the depth of the Athenian army's phalanx was 8 men, while its opponent, the Syracusan army, had a depth of 16 men. [30] Melee [ edit ] Strauss, Barry S. 2000. "Democracy, Kimon, and the Evolution of the Athenian Naval Tactics in the Fifth Century BC." In Polis & Politics: Studies in Ancient Greek History, ed. By Pernille Flensted-Jensen, Thomas Heine Nielsen, and Lene Rubinstein, 315-326. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen.*Van Crefeld, Martin, Technology and War: From 2000 B.C. to the Present, New York, NY: Free Press, 1989. Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Rawlings begins his sixth chapter, 'Naval warfare', by considering the evidence of Homer, who depicts individuals organising raids using ships for transport, but does not report actual fighting at sea (pp. 105-6). By the time of the Persian Wars, the state controlled the construction and maintenance of warships, which fought each other at sea (pp. 106-7). Rawlings rightly stresses the mobility of navies compared to land armies (pp. 111, 118-19) but also notes their high cost, both to construct - which also required a variety of hard-to-obtain raw materials - and to man (pp. 112-14). He also treats with sympathy the argument that naval power contributed to democracy, but notes how inconspicuous naval crews are in our surviving evidence - except as the 'naval mob' held in contempt by elitist intellectuals like Plato (pp. 109-11). Main article: Hoplite A hoplite armed with an aspis and a doru. It is usually agreed that the doru could not be used two-handed with the Aspis. Building on the experience of the Persian Wars, the diversification from core hoplite warfare, permitted by increased resources, continued. There was increased emphasis on navies, sieges, mercenaries and economic warfare. Far from the previously limited and formalized form of conflict, the Peloponnesian War transformed into an all-out struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale; shattering religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside and destroying whole cities. [36] The 'Makers of war' focuses on the land warfare of the archaic period. Rawlings accepts the controversial assumption of E. Jarva that the proportion of different items of equipment found as religious dedications reflects the proportion in use (p. 46). (2) This assumption leads him to minimise the importance and prevalence of expensive bronze armour, especially the cuirass. Accordingly he is sceptical of the argument that warfare, and thus the state, was dominated by those able to afford metal armour (pp. 49-50). In opposition to traditional scholarship, he also argues that hoplites could fight effectively as individuals and not only when in tight formations on clear and level terrain. (p. 57-8).The second major challenge Sparta faced was fatal to its hegemony, and even to its position as a first-rate power in Greece. As the Thebans attempted to expand their influence over Boeotia, they inevitably incurred the ire of Sparta. After they refused to disband their army, an army of approximately 10,000 Spartans and Pelopennesians marched north to challenge the Thebans. At the decisive Battle of Leuctra (371 BC), the Thebans routed the allied army. The battle is famous for the tactical innovations of the Theban general Epaminondas. This is a list of known wars, conflicts, battles/sieges, missions and operations involving ancient Greek city states and kingdoms, Magna Graecia, other Greek colonies ( First Greek colonisation, Second Greek colonisation, Greeks in pre-Roman Crimea, Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul, Greeks in Egypt, Greeks in Syria, Greeks in Malta), Greek Kingdoms of Hellenistic period, Indo-Greek Kingdom, Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Byzantine Empire/ Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire, Kingdom of Greece and Greece between 3000 BC and the present day.