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abilash_hist161_research_project_presentation.pptxThe Development of Greek Warfare in the Classical Period (500 – 338 BCE)
Aaron Bilash
Outline
Early Greek Warfare
Military Structure
Standing Army
Military Training
Primary Fighting Unit
Hoplite
Trireme
Strategy
Greco-Persian Wars
Land Strategy
Naval Strategy
Greco-Persian Wars Battle Maps
Peloponnesian War
Land Strategy
Naval Strategy
Peloponnesian War Battle Maps
References
Early Greek Warfare (Before 500 BCE)
Order of Battle
Consisted of one Battle fought between neighboring city-states
Reasons could range from insults to territorial disputes
No large-scale wars or foreign expeditions
Usually lasted only a couple of hours with few casualties
Soldiers (“National Guard”)
Comprised eligible male volunteers in the warring city-states
Serve only when called upon at the outbreak of a battle.
Return to their occupation after battle
Weaponry
Spears for throwing
Swords for hand-to-hand combat
All weapons were makeshift and owned by the individual soldier
Strategy
No clear strategy has been found
Current evidence shows two phases:
Massed long-range attack using spears
Close-quarter combat in groups.
Standing Military
Athens
Strategoi (commanders) appointed for yearly terms and voted by the democratic assembly
Division of roles by monetary status
Light Infantry – Poor/Slaves
Heavy-armed Infantry (Hoplites) – Middle Class
Cavalry - Nobility
Sparta
Standard crimson-colored uniform and bronze shield
Appeared less feminine and more warrior-like
Easily cleaned and polished
Hierarchy of command divided into morai (regiments)
Military Totals (~400 BCE):
Athens – 15,000 Hoplites, 100 Triremes, 800 Cavalry
Sparta – 13,600 Hoplites, 600 Cavalry
Military Training
Service Requirements
All male citizens of a Greek city-state required to serve
Can be conscripted up until the age of 60
Conscription times and training differed between city-states
Athens
Citizen Soldiers - Only conscripted at time of war
Military training started at 16 through the use of sports
Encouraged to participate in sports with the skills necessary for warfare
Boys split into age groups and given social and military duties to perform
Sparta
Professional Soldier – Enlisted until the age of 60
Allowed to leave military after 60
Males taken from birth and raised in the military life
Extreme exercises undertaken each morning on designated training fields
The Hoplite
Description
Basic fighting unit of the Greek armies
Heavily armed infantry
Composed of Greek citizens
Primarily “middle class” due to cost of equipment
Equipment
Bronze Helmet, Breast plate, shin guards (70 lb.)
9 ft spear
1 meter circular shield
Tactics
Primary unit in the Phalanx
Charge at enemy lines impaling them on outward pointed spears
Protect neighboring hoplites with size of their shield.
The Trireme
Description
Trireme – Three-levels of oars
Basic fighting unit of the Greek navy, primarily Athens.
Heavily armored ship
Expensive to maintain
Some were owned by the state while other were bought by wealthy nobles.
Crew
200 Sailors
180 rowers, usually comprised of slaves
14 soldiers
10 Hoplites
4 archers
Tactics
Main armament is a bronze tipped ram at the waterline of the bow
It would ram into enemy ships at full speed
The enemy ship would either be sunk or boarded for capture.
Greco-Persian Land Strategy
Phalanx
Ranks (~8) of Hoplites with joined shield and overlapping spears.
Charge enemy a full speed till front rows met
Stab at them with spears
Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
Use of Three Phalanxes
The middle the weakest (~4 rows)
Enclosed Persian Army forcing them back to their landing beaches.
Outcome:
Greek Victory
Persia ended its first invasion of Greece
Greco-Persian Naval Strategy
Open Sea Warfare
Greek Triremes arranged in a battle line
Similar to Phalanx but with one rank
Tightly aligned with oars touching to prevent enemy ships passing through the line.
Sink enemy ship by ramming or disable it by breaking its oars.
Battle of Salamis (480 BCE)
Athenian fleet of 371 ships blocked Persian fleet of 600 ships into Narrow channel using battle line
Charged headlong into the Persian fleet
Outcome:
Greek Victory
Persia ended its occupation of the Greek mainland
Greco-Persian War Battle Maps
Peloponnesian War Land Strategy
Sieges
Most of the vital cities were surrounded by thick protecting walls.
Athens had a wall connecting it to its sea port.
Necessitated the use of siege warfare.
Burning Farms outside of city
Building their defensive walls to blockade city
Late in the war came the use of the ram
Siege of Syracuse (415 – 413 BCE)
Athenians aided their allies in Sicily against Spartan Backed Syracuse
Athenians built their own defensive wall around city
Syracuseans countered with their own wall exposing Athenian forces
Outcome:
Spartan Victory
All Athenian forces killed or captured
Peloponnesian War Naval Strategy
Naval Blockade/Raids
Athenians primarily had the dominant Navy till the end of the war
Cities relied on trading vessels for their survival
Naval ships could be used to land raiding parties on the coast or prevent trading ship from entering their intended ports.
Battle of Pylos (425 BCE)
Athenian raiding party established a base on the coast near Sparta
Sparta counter attacked but was blockaded by Athenian Navy and trapped on a nearby island of Sphacteria
Outcome:
Athenian Victory
292 Spartans taken prisoner
Peloponnesian War Battle Maps
Battle of Pylos
425 B.C.
Siege of Syracuse
Greek Wall and Syracuse an Counter Wall
415 B.C.
References
Primary
Herodotus, The Histories, in: Rawlinson, George (trans.), The Internet Classics Archive (MIT. 1994. Web. 21. November, 2015. http:// classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html).
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, in: Crawley, Richard (trans.), The Internet Classics Archive. (MIT. 1994. Web. 21. November, 2015. http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html).
Xenophon, Constitution of the Spartans, in: Fling, Fred (trans.), A Source Book of Greek History (Boston: D. C. Heath, 1907).
Secondary
Durant, Will. The Life of Greece. The Story of Civilization 2. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 2005.
Hammond, N.G.L. A History of Greece To 322 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1959.
Kagan, Donald, and Viggiano, Gregory F., eds. Men of Bronze: Hoplite Warfare in Ancient Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.
Rawlings, Louis. Ancient Greeks at War. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007.
Sage, Michael M. Warfare in Ancient Greece: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, 1996.
