greek infantry warfare Flashcards
When did the large scale change in military tactics and equipment take place?
680-650 BC
Switch to massed heavy infantry
Defence was entrusted to large numbers of middle income class male citizens
What was the inspiration for heavy infantry warfare? When?
700s BC Assyria invading into east Asia Minor;
Uratru was employed Greek mercenary soldiers that witnessed heavy concentrated infantry with:
- bronze helmets
- breastplates
- fighting in dense formation
715-670 BCs;
Greeks took home this concept and it got adapted over these 45 years
What was the old Greek military tactic before heavy infantry warfare?
750 BC
Individual armored aristocrats engaged in haphazard single duels, as illustrated by Homer
Very few heavy infantry - only a few aristocratic champions
Heavy infantry warfare
Based on Assyrian model;
Hoplite tactics
Recruitment and militarizing much of male middle class as armored soldiers;
Polis had to give new training for new set of battlefield tactics
Each man or his family supplied his own armor
Battle of Hysiae
669 BC
Sparta VS Argos;
Argos won
Last spartan defeat for the next 300 years
Hysiae was a town in Argos
Spartans tried invading from the South
Where hoplite warfare emerged into view;
Argos used hoplite tactics
Sparta used haphazard mode of aristocratic warfare
What effect did Argos’’ victory have on the Greek world?
Dreadnought effect
Arms Race effect
Hoplite army became a necessity for every Greek city to defend itself;
with required massive alteration in equipment, organization and training program..
Some cities must have started this implementation before 669 BC;
Corinth and Chalcis
Hoplite tactics
Massed heavy infantry
Organized massing;
- Wall of soldiers
- Moving forward in shoulder to shoulder formation of a phalanx
Phalanx had 6-8 rows with several 100s of men per row
Battle of Mantinea
Battle in Peloponnesian war
418 BC
450 men per row
8 rows deep
= 3600 hoplites on each side at the battle
Hoplite armor
Hoplon (shield);
- bigger than needed for protection of comrade on the left hand side [hoplite had 1/2 protection from his own shield and 1/2 from his comrades in a tight formation]
- 16 pound heavy
- 3ft across
- made of wood, carved or piece-fitted: convex outer, concave inner, with a leather strap at the inside far end to fit to forearm and hand
Body armor;
- bronze helmet
- breastplate
- greaves (shin guards)
Six-eight foot spear;
- for jabbing and NOT throwing
Iron sword;
- sheathed at hip
- for emergency use if spear is broken or lost
- designed like slashing edge
TOTAL WEIGHT 70 POUNDS
Who made up the hoplite contingent of the army?
Middle class and upper class;
because each hoplite supplied his own armor (purchased, or as a family heirloom)
Social innovation was to include middle class as armored infantry whereas in 700s BC it was limited to the aristoi
20% of aristoi + 50% of middle class (minus 10% of lower tier middle class)
= 60% of population represented city’s fighting age citizentry
What was the size of a city’s hoplite contingent?
about 3000-6000 in size;
5000 families with average of 2 males
60% of that would be about 6000 men (high end of documented hoplite armies)
Hoplite armies were not huge because polis were not huge
Other troops like cavalry and light infantry rounded up the numbers
Two biggest hoplite city armies
Battle of Plataea 479 BC;
10,000 Spartan hoplites
during Persian war
Peloponnesian War 431BC;
16,000 Athenian hoplites on campaign
due to Athens huge population
Chigi Vase
Only vase painting that shows two opposing phalanxes about to collide
Wine jug painted in Corinthian polychrome style
From 650BC Corinth
Shows 5-6 hoplites in each battle row, representing those 400-500 in real life
Left hand army were Spartan;
Sparta was known for using flutes on maneuvers and battle
What was the ōthismos? How was the army arranged? How did it play out?
Two armies tried to push each other apart
Lasted 1 hour
Stance;
- First 3 rows advance with spear horizontal over right shoulder and their thumb backward on the spear
- Ranks behind held spears vertical with thumbs forward
- Rear and flanks of phalanx were protected by cavalry and light armed troops
Ōthismos;
1- Two opposing front rows run and march into each other, colliding, locked into place by rows of comrades from behind
2- Second and third rows crowd in, spears leveled, stabbing enemies in opposite front 3 rows
3- Fourth row (cant engage directly) leans shield into back of front comrade and pushes towards the enemy - with the spear as added pressure like a walking cane
4- Fifth row does the same as the fourth, sixth row does the same as row four and 5…. etc
As front rows fell, comrades behind stepped forward and replaced them
After spear is broken or lost, the sword was drawn
How was the army arrange for the ōthismos?
Best troops were assigned to front rows
Second best to rear rows;
- critical for retreat
- push others forward
Worst troops in the middle rows
- locked in and cant run away
How was death like in the ōthismos?
Suffocation to death due to being pined upright in the press
Wounds - received around edge of bronze breastplate in the necks, genitals, thighs, head
Head injuries - helmet dents in from a blow
Breastplate pierced by spear point
Stomped to death once fallen
Any puncture wound was fatal, and most died afterward from an infection or gangrene
Retreating from the ōthismos
After one hour, one side gives away;
- in orderly fashion, retreating in good order, walking backward and facing forward
OR
- losing side phalanx collapses, where the rear row turns tail and runs away, making the rest panic, and the rows collapse like dominoes in a chaotic rubble
What was a famous saying by Spartan mothers? WHY??
“Return with your shield or upon it”
Fleeing hoplite would always throw away his shield;
if you still had your shield = you hadn’t run away
Running away was cowardly;
Greek value on a soldier was to return from war with possession of his shield
Cavalry contigent
Most larger cities had one;
Athens, Thebes, Thessaly
Cavalry army was needed to chase losing hoplite army;
Losing side rode out ti confront enemy cavalry/infantry
- Winning hoplites can’t move forward as fast as losing hoplites because they had to maintain unwieldy phalanx as not to put themselves in danger
What was the demographics of the cavalry contingent?
Young and middle aged rich men from aristocratic families;
had wealth and land to raise horses
Like hoplites, they supplied their own equipment and horses
Individual cavalry men also trained as hoplites;
it was the commander’s discretion to choose what they served as - commander had to choose a maximum compliment ofhoplites and size of cavalry men
Athenian Retreat at Delium
424 BC, Plato’s telling
Socrates, 45 year old Athenian hoplite strides calmly amid panicked hoplites;
Socrates and co still have their shields, holding them raised in a defensive cluster
Enemy cavalry dash past on both sides looking for easier prey
Lone cavalryman rides along, trying to guard Socrates and his group
What was the point of sōphrosunē?
Moderate or calm behavior in face of adversity
Based on hoplite virtues: calm, self restraint, teamwork, endurance;
Hoplite’s safety and usefulness laid in these virtues
Every man’s job was to obey orders and maintain discipline
If ranks are broken by fleeing or chasing enemy in front, the whole phalanx is in danger to dissolve
When was hoplite warfare most prominent?
circa 669-338 BC
After mid 300s BC, tactics and equipment changed;
with military reforms of King Philip of Macedonia and his son Alexander the Great
What gave the Greeks battlefield superiority in the Persian wars?
490-479 BC
Persian infantry was not armed as hoplites, but rather, light infantry
What was the rightward drift of phalanxes?
Observed by Thucicydes in Battle of Mantinea 418 BC
Phalanx involuntarily string out arrows to the right and drift rightwards as a unit;
men involuntarily drifted rightwards to seek protection in the shield of his right comrade
When two phalanxes collides, each side overlapped the other on the right;
- asymmetry gave initial advantage on the right
- each army was initially winning on the right side
How was the rightward drift exploited by Sparta?
Soldiers on the right wing swivel inward, rolling up the enemy phalanx
This was possible because Spartan army was hinged by battalions;
- phalanx was divided into rectangular shaped battalions, each under command of a field officer
- officers and soldiers of the extreme right were trained to wheel inward to their left, soon after battle starts
This gave Sparta phalanx advantage form 500s BC to early 300s BC
Who finally countered Sparta’s advantage? When?
Thebes
Battle of Leuctra
371 BC
Stacked their own left wing
Ended Sparta’s 300 year long hoplite superiority
What was the hoplite war strategy?
600s to 300s BC
Attacking enemy marched into enemy territory
Defending army marched out to meet them before they reached the city;
usually sending army out to defend countryside farms
What troops were underused in the hoplite era?
Light infantry
- only used sometimes to guard phalanx
- could have been used in strategy to block an enemy’s column of march
Cavalry
because of disadvantages:
- no stirrups, no leather saddles, small horses, small cavalry contigents
When were the underused troops in the hoplite era used more?
300 BC Kings Philip and Alexander the great incorporated more cavalry
420 BCs in Pelo War, light armed troops were used more when the military mindset of manliness being associated with heavy infantry was changed
