"Democracy, Kimon, and the Evolution of the Athenian Naval Tactics in the Fifth Century BC." Raising such a large army had denuded Athens of defenders, and thus any attack in the Athenian rear would cut off the Army from the City. The scale and scope of warfare in Ancient Greece changed dramatically as a result of the Greco-Persian Wars. The Athenians were at a significant disadvantage both strategically and tactically. Amongst the allies therefore, Athens was able to form the core of a navy, whilst other cities, including Sparta, provided the army. This fighting was also often referred to as dorarismos, meaning "spear-fighting" because the hoplites would use small swords in the fighting. Morrison, J.S. "Greek Naval Tactics in the 5th century BC. Many of these would have been mercenary troops, hired from outlying regions of Greece. The Phalanx therefore presented a shield wall and a mass of spear points to the enemy, making frontal assaults much more difficult. The tight circle prevented the Greek navy from infiltrating its opponent's squadron because if the navy used the diekplous, the galley would be encircled by its enemy and rammed. The use of such a large navy was also a novelty to the Greeks. The Athenian army was typically divided into ten taxeis, or tribal regiments, and subdivided into lochoi. Each soldier carried a shield in his left arm, which he used to protect both himself and the man on his left. 233–260. 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. There was increased emphasis on navies, sieges, mercenaries and economic warfare. This abreast formation acted as both an offensive and defensive tactic. Recruit drills taught hoplites to fall into single-file lines, and to follow a file leader. Along with the rise of the city-state evolved a brand new style of warfare and the emergence of the hoplite. 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). ), War and Society in the Greek World, London: Routledge, 1993, pp. “Greek Naval Tactics in the 5th century BC.” 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]. Our secondary series called the Armies and Tactics finally makes its debut. Although alliances between city-states were commonplace, the scale of this league was a novelty, and the first time that the Greeks had united in such a way to face an external threat. The rise of the Macedonian Kingdom is generally taken to signal the beginning of the Hellenistic period, and certainly marked the end of the distinctive hoplite battle in Ancient Greece. [19] These subunits worked as smaller pieces of an overall picture of military power. Much more lightly armored, the Macedonian phalanx was not so much a shield-wall as a spear-wall. Unable to maintain professional armies, the city-states relied on their citizens to fight. 125–166. Following the defeat of the Athenians in 404 BC, and the disbandment of the Athenian-dominated,Ancient Greece fell under the Spartan hegemony. 54–81. [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]. Wheeler, E., "The General as Hoplite," in Hanson, Victor D., (ed. Following the eventual defeat of the Athenians in 404 BC, and the disbandment of the Athenian-dominated Delian League, Ancient Greece fell under the hegemony of Sparta. The periplous consisted of the Greek navy "sailing around" the enemy's line. Cartledge, Paul, The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse, New York, NY: Vintage, 2004. Nevertheless, it was an important innovation, one which was developed much further in later conflicts. At the time, naval warfare had primarily consisted of attempting to either board an enemy's ship, or set it on fire. The Delian League (hereafter 'Athenians') were primarily a naval power, whereas the Peloponnesian League (hereafter 'Spartans') consisted of primarily land-based powers. If the battle was being fought in confined waters, there would be more marines on the trireme. Who … Greek Military Tactics essay Read More » To fight the enormous armies of the Achaemenid Empire was effectively beyond the capabilities of a single city-state. This was one advantage that Athens held over Sparta in the Peloponnesian war. More importantly, it permitted the formation of a shield-wall by an army, an impenetrable mass of men and shields. We can distinguish the land army into 3 main forces; The hoplites , the cavalry and the skirmishers. Conversely, the Spartans repeatedly invaded Attica, but only for a few weeks at a time; they remained wedded to the idea of hoplite-as-citizen. Shearing occurred when the oars of one ship collided with any part of the opposing ship. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. During this engagement, a single Athenian galley was being pursued by a Peloponnesian ship until the Athenian ship circled around a merchant ship and rammed the Peloponnesian vessel and sank her. They would use different formations and tactics in wars. When exactly the phalanx developed is uncertain, but it is thought to have been developed by the Argives in their early clashes with the Spartans. Forced to squeeze even more money from her allies, the Athenian league thus became heavily strained. Epaminondas deployed tactics similar to those at Leuctra, and again the Thebans, positioned on the left, routed the Spartans, and thereby won the battle. They were also one of the greatest armies/naval forces in ancient times. 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). 110–122. Their massed ranks of men wore body armor and helmets. One way opponents countered the diekplous was by retreating their fleet into a tight circle with the hulls of their ships facing outward. Neither side could afford heavy casualties or sustained campaigns, so conflicts seem to have been resolved by a single set-piece battle. [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]. One of these is particularly notable however; at the Battle of Lechaeum, an Athenian force composed mostly of light troops (e.g. [8] Like the diekplous, the periplous' purpose was to expose the enemy's stern for an easy ramming target. Greek naval actions always took place near the land so they could easily return to land to eat and to sleep, and allowing the Greek ships to stick to narrow waters to out-maneuver the opposing fleet. [18] They had a specific formation in order to execute all of their military maneuvers. From the very beginning, the Athenians were compelled to fight for their new democracy. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018. These changes greatly increased the number of casualties and the disruption of Greek society. 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. After several days of stalemate at Marathon, the Persian commanders attempted to take strategic advantage by sending their cavalry (by ship) to raid Athens itself. 85, 1965, pp. During this battle, the Athenian navy was attacked before it could transition into its battle formation. 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. Sparta was an exception to this rule, as every Spartiate was a professional soldier. The Athenians kept pace with rising territorial commitments by greatly increasing the size of their military. Finally Phillip sought to establish his own hegemony over the southern Greek city-states, and after defeating the combined forces of Athens and Thebes, the two most powerful states, at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, succeeded. 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. [3] While the ramming itself may have caused only a few casualties to the enemy, the majority of the casualties occurred later as the vessel began to sink, forcing its crew into the water. Ancient Greek Military Tactics. 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. Tactically, the hoplites were very vulnerable to attacks by cavalry[citation needed], and the Athenians had no cavalry to defend the flanks. With the entire fleet alongside each other, there were more rams available to attack the opponent. 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. Sekunda, Nick, Warrior 27: Greek Hoplite 480–323 BC, Oxford: Osprey, 2000. Hanson, Victor D., "Hoplite Battle as Ancient Greek Warfare: When, Where, and Why?" War also led to acquisition of land and slaves which would lead to a greater harvest, which could support a larger army. [2] The Phalanx also became a source of political influence because men had to provide their own equipment to be a part of the army. Late invasions were also possible in the hopes that the sowing season would be affected but this at best would have minimal effects on the harvest. Ravaging the countryside took much effort and depended on the season because green crops do not burn as well as those nearer to harvest. A united Macedonian empire did not long survive Alexander's death, and soon split into the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Diadochi (Alexander's generals). They would have hierarchies much like what we have today. Van Wees, Hans, Greek Warfare: Myths and Realities, London: Duckworth, 2005. Lazenby, John F., "The Killing Zone," in Victor D. Hanson, (ed. [9] An example of this tactic is described by Thucydides during the second battle between the Athenians and Peloponnesians in the Gulf of Corinth. The Greek navy, despite their lack of experience, also proved their worth holding back the Persian fleet whilst the army still held the pass. Another naval tactic used by the ancient Greeks was the periplous. They also restored the capability of organized warfare between these Poleis (as opposed to small-scale raids to acquire livestock and grain, for example). Hoplite armor was extremely expensive for the average citizen, so it was commonly passed down from the soldier's father or relative. 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. 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. The Hoplites would lock their shields together, and the first few ranks of soldiers would project their spears out over the first rank of 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. [9] Darius thus sent his commanders Datis and Artaphernes to attack Attica, to punish Athens for her intransigence. Men were also equipped with metal greaves and also a breastplate made of bronze, leather, or stiff cloth. Demoralised, Xerxes returned to Asia Minor with much of his army, leaving his general Mardonius to campaign in Greece the following year (479 BC). [14], Marines, or epibatai, were the secondary weapon for the Greek navy after the ram. [15] The number of marines on the trireme fluctuated based on each battle. During the collision, the wooden paddles shatter and often skew the rower and the men surrounding him. Prezi’s Big Ideas 2021: Expert advice for the new year; Dec. 15, 2020. If a hoplite escaped, he would sometimes be forced to drop his cumbersome aspis, thereby disgracing himself to his friends and family. One of the most famous troop of Greek cavalry was the Tarantine cavalry, originating from the city-state of Taras in Magna Graecia.[8]. How to increase brand awareness through consistency; Dec. 11, 2020 The Thebans marched into Messenia, and freed it from Sparta; this was a fatal blow to Sparta, since Messenia had provided most of the helots which supported the Spartan warrior society. [1] Hoplites were the citizen-soldiers of the Ancient Greek City-states (except Spartans who were professional soldiers). The secondary weapon of a hoplite was the xiphos, a short sword used when the soldier's spear was broken or lost while fighting. Pritchett, Kendrick W., The Greek State at War, 5 Vols., Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1975–1991. Hanson, Victor D., The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. Sekunda, Nick, Elite 66: The Spartan Army, Oxford: Osprey, 1998. [20] The depth of the phalanx differed depending on the battle and commander, but the width of the formation was considerably greater than its depth. ", Lazenby, J.F. In fact, Athenians developed the largest and most sophisticated war machine in all of Greece and applied tactic… Certainly, by approximately 650 BC, as dated by the 'Chigi vase', the 'hoplite revolution' was complete. To counter the massive numbers of Persians, the Greek general Miltiades ordered the troops to be spread across an unusually wide front, leaving the centre of the Greek line undermanned. [12] Although each ship had a ram, the ship needed to have a skilled crew to be successful with this tactic. [16] However, Cimon had forty marines aboard each ship during the battle of Eurymedon. [24] When light-armed forces began to be used, ambushing became a recognized scheme. Over the top of this, they thrust with long spears. Ultimately, Mantinea, and the preceding decade, severely weakened many Greek states, and left them divided and without the leadership of a dominant power. The war petered out after 394 BC, with a stalemate punctuated with minor engagements. Following the death of Epaminondas and loss of manpower at the Battle of Mantinea, the Theban hegemony ceased. [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 temporarily inoperative ship becomes victim to more ramming and spearing attacks. 1988. However, from the very beginning, it was clear that the Spartan hegemony was shaky; the Athenians, despite their crushing defeat, restored their democracy but just one year later, ejecting the Sparta-approved oligarchy. Tensions resulting from this, and the rise of Athens and Sparta as pre-eminent powers during the war led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which saw further development of the nature of warfare, strategy and tactics. This brought the rebels to terms, and restored the Spartan hegemony on a more stable footing. The Athenian Trireme The Athenian trireme was a superfast galley that was different from anything else at that time. These events permanently reduced Spartan power and prestige, and replaced the Spartan hegemony with a Theban one. Assemblies or groups of elite citizens sanctioned war, and generals (strategoi) came to be accountable for their actions and were often elected for fixed ter… Events permanently reduced Spartan power and prestige, and no small matter of contention historians. Marched north to challenge the Thebans ' position, Epaminondas again marched on the of! Tactics against it during an attack using the ram, the Persians famous for the heavily armored hoplites the. Wars, the lightly armored, the Thebans first secured their power-base in Boeotia, before marching on Sparta was! Lines, and thus required a high degree of discipline the Killing Zone, '' in Hanson, Victor Hanson! 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Style phalanx which prevailed throughout Greece alexander the Great Athenian dominated Delian League and the right of... With rising territorial commitments by greatly increasing the size of their military: a Study Athenian...
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