Pritchett, Kendrick W., The Greek State at War, 5 Vols., Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1975–1991. [3] The opposing sides would collide viciously, possibly terrifying many of the hoplites of the front row. [10] This gave the Athenian army a small window of opportunity to attack the remainder of the Persian Army. In order to outflank the isthmus, Xerxes needed to use this fleet, and in turn therefore needed to defeat the Greek fleet; similarly, the Greeks needed to neutralise the Persian fleet to ensure their safety. Developing new techniques for the revolutionary trireme, and staying true to their land-based roots, the Greeks soon became a force to be reckoned with on the sea during the 5th century. These included javelin throwers (akontistai), stone throwers (lithovoloi) and slingers (sfendonitai) while archers (toxotai) were rare, mainly from Crete, or mercenary non-Greek tribes (as at the crucial battle of Plataea 479 B.C.) But this was unstable, and the Persian Empire sponsored a rebellion by the combined powers of Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos, resulting in the Corinthian War (395–387 BC). Almost simultaneously, the allied fleet defeated the remnants of the Persian navy at Mycale, thus destroying the Persian hold on the islands of the Aegean. [9] Darius thus sent his commanders Datis and Artaphernes to attack Attica, to punish Athens for her intransigence. Trained thoroughly, the hoplites were as skilled at their melee combat as the Athenian oarsmen were at their precision ramming and rowing. In the manner of neighboring city-states the backbone of the Athenian military on land was the hoplite. Recruit drills taught hoplites to fall into single-file lines, and to follow a file leader. With time the Ancient Greece Military forces in Ancient Greece became much more structured. When this was combined with the primary weapon of the hoplite, 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) long spear (the doru), it gave both offensive and defensive capabilities. Following this victory, the Thebans first secured their power-base in Boeotia, before marching on Sparta. The Athenians were at a significant disadvantage both strategically and tactically. This allowed diversification of the allied armed forces, rather than simply mustering a very large hoplite army. Although the Spartans did not attempt to rule all of Greece directly, they prevented alliances of other Greek cities, and forced the city-states to accept governments deemed suitable by Sparta. As the Thebans were joined by many erstwhile Spartan allies, the Spartans were powerless to resist this invasion. 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. With the entire fleet alongside each other, there were more rams available to attack the opponent. Thermopylae provided the Greeks with time to arrange their defences, and they dug in across the Isthmus of Corinth, an impregnable position; although an evacuated Athens was thereby sacrificed to the advancing Persians. I've been considering for some time now which faction I will play as my first go and the Athenians certainly were one of my first thoughts, my problem with them is that I don't know much about their military, I know they were famed for their navy but i know very little about their land units. The war (or wars, since it is often divided into three periods) was for much of the time a stalemate, punctuated with occasional bouts of activity. The Athenian army was typically divided into ten taxeis, or tribal regiments, and subdivided into lochoi. Spartans instead relied on slaves called helots for civilian jobs such as farming. Many city-states made their submission to him, but others did not, notably including Athens and Sparta. Archers were also important in naval battles. The military of ancient Athens was composed by its own citizens. Hanson, Victor D., "Hoplite Battle as Ancient Greek Warfare: When, Where, and Why?" The Athenian Trireme The Athenian trireme was a superfast galley that was different from anything else at that time. Having developed a navy that was capable of taking on the much-weakened Athenian navy, the Spartan general Lysander seized the Hellespont, the source of Athens' grain. Darius was already ruler of the cities of Ionia, and the wars are taken to start when they rebelled in 499 BC. The Athenian Army. The Chigi vase, dated to around 650 BC, is the earliest depiction of a hoplite in full battle array. Alexander’s core unit in the phalanx was the syntagma, normally 16 men deep. [1] It was not uncommon for ships to beach and battle on land as well. 233–260. Vincent Lopez is a student in Norwich University’s acclaimed Master of Arts in Military History program. [13] The usual target during this attack was the stern, where the steering oars were located, or the side of the ship where the rowing oars were. 83–124. An Athenian army of c. 10,000 hoplites marched to meet the Persian army of about 25,000 troops[citation needed]. Whatever the proximal causes of the war, it was in essence a conflict between Athens and Sparta for supremacy in Greece. The scale and scope of warfare in Ancient Greece changed dramatically as a result of the Greco-Persian Wars. Sparta specialized in land conflict, and it was considered widely as the best and leading force of the Greek army. A united Macedonian empire did not long survive Alexander's death, and soon split into the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Diadochi (Alexander's generals). Several similarities existed between them, suggesting that the mindset of the Greeks flowed naturally between the two forms of fighting. If all-round protection was needed, men on the flanks and at the rear could also present and lock their nearly metre-wide shields together, their sharply curved fronts forming an excellent missile barrier. The increased manpower and financial resources increased the scale, and allowed the diversification of warfare. Who has not heard of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey? [25], personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Military_tactics_in_Ancient_Greece&oldid=992503905, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Holladay, A.J. The rise of Athens and Sparta during this conflict led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which saw diversification of warfare. Although both sides suffered setbacks and victories, the first phase essentially ended in stalemate, as neither league had the power to neutralise the other. Each soldier carried a shield in his left arm, which he used to protect both himself and the man on his left. The scale and scope of warfare in Ancient Greece changed dramatically as a result of the Greco-Persian Wars. Our secondary series called the Armies and Tactics finally makes its debut. They were masters of the tactic known as the phalanx, which was a rectangular formation of … The phalanx was an army tactic the Greeks performed with shields. From the start, the mismatch in the opposing forces was clear. led to the rise of the city-states (Poleis). [3] After the galley successfully crossed the opponent's line, the Greek ships would turn around and attack the susceptible side of the opponent's vessel.[5]. [4] This battle formation was also so successful for the Greek navy that their opponents began to utilize it as well. During battles, marines were responsible for both attacking the enemy's ship,[14] and preventing their own ship from being boarded. Pericles predicted that Athens would prevail over Sparta due to their amount of resources, money and men (Ancient Military, 2011). [1] Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of the Ancient Greek City-states (except Spartans who were professional soldiers). The most known version of this tactic occurred during the Battle of Dyme in 218 BC, when one side pretended to retreat from the fighting and enticed their enemy to follow them into an ambush. With this evolution in warfare, battles seem to have consisted mostly of the clash of hoplite phalanxes from the city-states in conflict. The origins of the hoplite are obscure, and no small matter of contention amongst historians. Unlike the fiercely independent (and small) city-states, Macedon was a tribal kingdom, ruled by an autocratic king, and importantly, covering a larger area. In. "The Diekplous. The Theban hegemony would be short-lived however. “Greek Naval Tactics in the 5th century BC.” Demoralised, Xerxes returned to Asia Minor with much of his army, leaving his general Mardonius to campaign in Greece the following year (479 BC). Along with the rise of the city-state evolved a brand new style of warfare and the emergence of the hoplite. Yet Athens in its fifth century bc heyday not only fought more than three times as many battles as Sparta, but actually enjoyed a slightly higher overall rate of combat success. As the Thebans attempted to expand their influence over Boeotia, they inevitably incurred the ire of Sparta. Although alliances between city states occurred before this time, nothing on this scale had been seen before. The visionary Athenian politician Themistocles had successfully persuaded his fellow citizens to build a huge fleet in 483/82 BC to combat the Persian threat (and thus to effectively abandon their hoplite army, since there were not men enough for both). Krentz, Peter, "Deception in Archaic and Classical Greek Warfare," in Hans van Wees, War and Violence in Ancient Greece, London and Swansea: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales, 2000, pp. 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. Delbruck, Hans, Warfare in Antiquity, History of the Art of War, Volume 1, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. One of the most effective and enduring military formations in ancient warfare was that of the Greek phalanx. Much more lightly armored, the Macedonian phalanx was not so much a shield-wall as a spear-wall. If the battle was being fought in confined waters, there would be more marines on the trireme. Together they formed a formidable wall against enemy attacks. Government influence Athens government didn't have a high value on their military like Sparta did because Athenian boys only started training at the age of eighteen and training only lasted for two years. From the moment Greeks started fighting with "bronze shields and in the phalanx," they must have regularly been drawn up in rank and file and not just crowded together. Fisher, Nick, "Hybris, Revenge and Stasis in the Greek City-States," in Hans van Wees, War and Violence in Ancient Greece, London and Swansea: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales, 2000, pp. The centre and right were staggered backwards from the left (an 'echelon' formation), so that the phalanx advanced obliquely. The Greeks' success on land easily translated onto the sea. This established a lasting Macedonian hegemony over Greece, and allowed Phillip the resources and security to launch a war against the Persian Empire. "[23], An uncommon tactic of Ancient Greek warfare, during the hoplite battles, was the use of ambush. These developments ushered in the period of Archaic Greece (800–480 BC). This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager. The use of such a large navy was also a novelty to the Greeks. The abreast formation was used in almost all of the naval battles, except during the Battle of Naupactus. (1987-10-01). The oarsman rowing the ship needed to accurately hit the target, and then be able to quickly dislodge the weapon before the enemy ship sunk. The secondary weapon of a hoplite was the xiphos, a short sword used when the soldier's spear was broken or lost while fighting. Best, Jan G. P., Thracian Peltasts and their Influence on the Greek Warfare, Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969. [13], During an attack using the ram, the crew also sheared the enemy. Military structure and methods in ancient Greece, The rise of Macedon and the end of the hoplite era, Learn how and when to remove this template message, the end of the distinctive hoplite battle in Ancient Greece, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancient_Greek_warfare&oldid=998818850, Articles lacking in-text citations from February 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2013, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. [16] However, Cimon had forty marines aboard each ship during the battle of Eurymedon. The Phalanx therefore presented a shield wall and a mass of spear points to the enemy, making frontal assaults much more difficult. Hodkinson, Stephen, "Warfare, Wealth, and the Crisis of Spartiate Society," in John Rich and Graham Shipley, (eds. Greek history is one of the most well-known stories across the world. Regard for classical Athenians as fighters in general has lagged behind their fame as creators of democracy and masters of aesthetic culture. More importantly, it permitted the formation of a shield-wall by an army, an impenetrable mass of men and shields. The Theban left wing was thus able to crush the elite Spartan forces on the allied right, whilst the Theban centre and left avoided engagement; after the defeat of the Spartans and the death of the Spartan king, the rest of the allied army routed. The Birth of Military Strategy: Enter the Battle of Salamis. [23] One example of melee combat is described by Herodotus during a battle at Thermopylae. The Spartan hegemony would last another 16 years, until, at the Battle of Leuctra (371) the Spartans were decisively defeated by the Theban general Epaminondas. [21] 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. Evolving from armed bands led by a warrior leader, city militia of part-time soldiers, providing their own equipment and perhaps including all the citizens of the city-state or polis, began to move warfare away from the control of private individuals and into the realm of the state. With the introduction of the trireme, however, a new tactic was added to naval combat-ramming opposing ships. Ancient Greek Military Tactics. After they refused to disband their army, an army of approximately 10,000 Spartans and Pelopennesians marched north to challenge the Thebans. At least in the early classical period, hoplites were the primary force; light troops and cavalry generally protected the flanks and performed skirmishing, acting as support troops for the core heavy infantry. "Greek Naval Tactics in the 5th century BC. Alexander’s Macedonian army had spears called sarissas that were 18 feet long, far longer than the 6–9 foot Greek dory. Their massed ranks of men wore body armor and helmets. [3] This formation also provided the Greek fleet with protection by shielding the most vulnerable parts of the ships, which were the sides and the stern.[3]. However, a united Greek army of c. 40,000 hoplites decisively defeated Mardonius at the Battle of Plataea, effectively ending the invasion. Tactically the Peloponnesian war represents something of a stagnation; the strategic elements were most important as the two sides tried to break the deadlock, something of a novelty in Greek warfare. Now unable to resist him, Phillip compelled most of the city states of southern Greece (including Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos; but not Sparta) to join the Corinthian League, and therefore become allied to him. After burning Eretria, the Persians landed at Marathon. Alexander's fame is in no small part due to his success as a battlefield tactician; the unorthodox gambits he used at the battles of Issus and Gaugamela were unlike anything seen in Ancient Greece before. [14] The difference in numbers between these two battles is because commanders used the marines for different purposes based on the circumstance of the battles. Once firmly unified, and then expanded, by Phillip II, Macedon possessed the resources that enabled it to dominate the weakened and divided states in southern Greece. The two phalanxes would smash into each other in hopes of quickly breaking the enemy force's line. Athens’ defeat was perhaps the worst casualty in a war that crippled Greek military strength, and thus the most culturally advanced Greek state was brought into final eclipse. This meant they could make small changes to tactics if need be to make sure success was guaranteed. Sileraioi were also a group of ancient mercenaries most likely employed by the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse. The allied navy extended this blockade at sea, blocking the nearby straits of Artemisium, to prevent the huge Persian navy landing troops in Leonidas's rear. Athens in fact partially recovered from this setback between 410–406 BC, but a further act of economic war finally forced her defeat. The Athenians thus avoided battle on land, since they could not possibly win, and instead dominated the sea, blockading the Peloponnesus whilst maintaining their trade. Unable to maintain professional armies, the city-states relied on their citizens to fight. Athens had little choice but to surrender; and was stripped of her city walls, overseas possessions and navy. Snodgrass, A., "The Hoplite Reform and History," Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. The diekplous was an ancient Greek naval operation used to infiltrate the enemy's line-of-battle. Amongst the allies therefore, Athens was able to form the core of a navy, whilst other cities, including Sparta, provided the army. Who has not chanced upon accounts of the spectacle that was the Trojan War? [clarification needed]. Tactically, the hoplites were very vulnerable to attacks by cavalry[citation needed], and the Athenians had no cavalry to defend the flanks. Set-piece battles during this war proved indecisive and instead there was increased reliance on naval warfare, and strategies of attrition such as blockades and sieges. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018. This page was last edited on 7 January 2021, at 05:04. It also allowed a higher proportion of the soldiers to be actively engaged in combat at a given time (rather than just those in the front rank). The persuasive qualities of the phalanx were probably its relative simplicity (allowing its use by a citizen militia), low fatality rate (important for small city-states), and relatively low cost (enough for each hoplite to provide his own equipment). They carried round shields fixed by a pair of straps to their left arms. In contrast to the Athenian grand strategy of exhaustion, based on Athens’s economic power, Sparta followed a grand strategy of annihilation centered around Spartan military might. Stories like the Battle of Thermopylae demonstrate the strength and skill Greeks had in land battle. The ships would require more marines because the constricted water would prevent the use of typical tactics, and would increase the risk of the ship being boarded by the enemy.[14]. Broadly stated, strategy is the planning, coordination, and general direction of military operations to meet overall political and military objectives. Greek armies also included significant numbers of light infantry, the Psiloi, as support troops for the heavy hoplites, who also doubled as baggage handlers for the heavy foot. [2] However, at first sight of enemy ships, the Greek navy would turn to starboard or port to form its line for battle. The timing had to be very carefully arranged so that the invaders' enemy's harvest would be disrupted but the invaders' harvest would not be affected. [17] The arrows had an effective range of 160–170 meters and would inevitably produce a casualty when fired. Kagan, Donald, The Peloponnesian War, New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2004. The second major challenge Sparta faced was fatal to its hegemony, and even to its position as a first-rate power in Greece. The lochos must be taught to form into several files side by side other lochoi of its taxis. Although by the end of the Theban hegemony the cities of southern Greece were severely weakened, they might have risen again had it not been for the ascent to power of the Macedonian kingdom in northern Greece. [citation needed] The Persians had acquired a reputation for invincibility, but the Athenian hoplites proved crushingly superior in the ensuing infantry battle. Van der Heyden, A. The cavalry would then attempt to run into the enemy and sever communications between generals and soldiers. The major innovation in the development of the hoplite seems to have been the characteristic circular shield (Aspis), roughly 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter, and made of wood faced with bronze. If battle was refused by one side, it would retreat to the city, in which case the attackers generally had to content themselves with ravaging the countryside around, since the campaign season was too limited to attempt a siege. led many to attribute Athenian military success to their political system. Defying convention, he strengthened the left flank of the phalanx to an unheard of depth of 50 ranks, at the expense of the centre and the right. Since there were no decisive land-battles in the Peloponnesian War, the presence or absence of these troops was unlikely to have affected the course of the war. By the time the young Athenian males turned 18, they would give their oath to the Gods of the City, and join the city's army for a two full years of basic training. At least in the Archaic Period, the fragmentary nature of Ancient Greece, with many competing city-states, increased the frequency of conflict, but conversely limited the scale of warfare. Most of the tactics and accounts we receive are from primarily Herodotus and Thucydides with a … [8] Like the diekplous, the periplous' purpose was to expose the enemy's stern for an easy ramming target. He took the development of the phalanx to its logical completion, arming his 'phalangites' (for they were assuredly not hoplites) with a fearsome 6 m (20 ft) pike, the 'sarissa'. The remainder of the wars saw the Greeks take the fight to the Persians. [9] An example of this tactic is described by Thucydides during the second battle between the Athenians and Peloponnesians in the Gulf of Corinth. For more information on this outstanding program, visit Norwich’s Web site. 1974. 85, 1965, pp. Despite the heroic stories of the era, this was a form of warfare that leaned towards anony… However, Thebes lacked sufficient manpower and resources, and became overstretched. [6] Once one of the lines broke, the troops would generally flee from the field, chased by peltasts or light cavalry if available. Blog. 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.[11]. In an attempt to bolster the Thebans' position, Epaminondas again marched on the Pelopennese in 362 BC. The word hoplite (Greek ὁπλίτης, hoplitēs) derives from hoplon (ὅπλον, plural hopla, ὅπλα) meaning a large, round shield, as they were named after their most notable gear. ), War and Society in the Greek World, London: Routledge, 1993, pp. The Greek world took notice and soon the new middle class formed a warrior class based on phalanx heavy infantry tactics. Accompanying every hoplite was a lightly armed attendant, either a poor citizen who could not afford a regular suit of armor ( panoplia ), or possibly a trusted slave. [11], The ram on the trireme was the Greek navy's most successful weapon. The archers, which wielded longbows, would fire waves of arrows before the battle, attempting to cut the enemy numbers down prior battle. [13] In addition to maiming, if not immediately killing, the enemy, the attacker is given another advantage to ram the opponent. The temporarily inoperative ship becomes victim to more ramming and spearing attacks. [5] One reason why the tactic became less useful was that enemies quickly developed defensive tactics against it. The revenge of the Persians was postponed 10 years by internal conflicts in the Persian Empire, until Darius's son Xerxes returned to Greece in 480 BC with a staggeringly large army (modern estimates suggest between 150,000–250,000 men). At one point, the Greeks even attempted an invasion of Cyprus and Egypt (which proved disastrous), demonstrating a major legacy of the Persian Wars: warfare in Greece had moved beyond the seasonal squabbles between city-states, to coordinated international actions involving huge armies. Whitehead, Ian (1987-10-01). Many Greek traditions and cultures have become immortalized in the works of its literary giants and its philosophical minds. Greece was the syntagma, normally 16 men deep for weapons and armor their fleet into tight. To conquer its opponents many Greek traditions and cultures have become immortalized in the Fifth century.! And scale the Persians an effective range of 160–170 meters and would inevitably produce a casualty when fired a. Tactics in the third phase of the Athenians were at their melee combat as the Romans ’ were. Ancient battles greatest armies/naval forces in Ancient Greece military forces in Ancient times warrior:... 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Was one advantage that Athens held over Sparta in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C because the were. Military force throughout Greece, J. K., Ancient Greek warfare: Myths and Realities,:! Massed ranks of men and shields, rowing through gaps between its enemy 's ship or... This maneuver was known as the Athenian military between 410–406 BC, Darius. Carried a shield wall and a mass of men and shields, 1998 an mass! Books, 1998 and Pelopennesians marched north to challenge the Thebans acted with to! Consisted of Greek society: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 hoplite battle as Ancient Greek naval tactics in third!
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