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Notes on video lecture:
The Peloponnesian War and Internal Greek Struggles
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
breakthroughs, Alexander, squandered, phalanx, dominant, Aegean, laws, Minor, Persians, cohesion, places, exhausted, sacrilege, mass, Epaminondas, second, innovations, protect, Peloponnesian, hundreds, died, annihilate, influence, officer, hoplon, naval, Theban, larger, peace, dominance, field, wood, camped, scrums, hole, Spartans, left, Sacred, bloody
Athenians in              half of the 5th century BC
recapture the              Islands from the Persians
push the Persians away from the coast of Asia           
450 BC            signed
gave Greek cities on coast of Asia Minor the right to follow their own         
soon the ever quarreling gave the Persians reasons to reassert their                    there
431-404 BC                            War
400-350 BC Sparta, Thebes and Athens struggled against each other to assert                    over the Greek world
Spartans                      the initiative that they had gained through their victory in the Peloponnesian War
Thebans got the upper hand
because of military                       
infantry men usually wore helmets, breastplates, and carried a spear and a shield made of          with a metal rim
shield is called a              which is where we get the word hoplites
hoplites were arranged in lines
city-states would send their armies out into an open           , e.g. the land in dispute
line of the hoplite armies would close into each other and clash
the goal was to have         
the object was to break open a          in the other line
the goal usually was not to                      your enemy but to push them off the land itself
of course it was an extremely              kind of warfare, characterized by thrashing and thrusting
took a great deal of courage
hoplites needed to train and be prepared to fight together and                each other
important to stay in their places in the lines to prevent                           
each hoplite was responsible not only for protecting himself but the person next to him
their shield they held in their          hand could only protect the left side of their body
the man on your right had to protect you as well
coordination and                  was absolutely essential and critical
you all fought together, or you all          together
because most city-states had populations of male citizens that were more or less consistent
most city-states could only put into the field                  or a few thousand hoplite warriors
only 1,2,3,4,5 or at most 8 lines of these warriors
most of these battles resulting in these kinds of             , both sides pushing together to make a breakthrough
this is where the              military innovations become important
had a much              population
got the idea of extending the lines, the sum total which was called a                not just to 8 ranks but to an unbelievable 50 ranks
made it easier to bash through the lines of their opponents
Thebans also trained up a kind fo special forces unit called a              Band
150 pairs of elite soldiers who trained together from the time their were very young,              together, and, there is evidence, were actually lovers as well
fought side by side in battle
put into battle at crucial moments and at important             
using these military innovations, the Thebans were able to defeat the                  in two important battles
371 BC
400 Spartans of the                class were killed
Thebes gained the upper hand in Greater Greece
362 BC
unfortunately, their great tactical and innovative genius,                       , was killed in battle
the Athenians in the fourth century
won            alliances
pursued the                 
dominated the Aegean
ran out of money
became                    as well
the middle of the fourth century
the three powers in Greece
Sparta
Thebes
Athens
had worn themselves out, fighting amongst each other
the result was that after more than a century of struggle Persia was yet again in the position to be the                  influence up to and including the coast of Asia minor
paying back Persia for its acts of ancient                   , was a rhetorical pipe dream
there was only one potential threat to Persia from the West
the Kingdom of Macedon and a boy growing up there named                   

Vocabulary:

aspis, n. a type of round shield worn by ancient Greek soldiers, usually made of wood with a metal rim  "For centuries, to settle interstate disputes largely over land, Greek city states had armed and equipped themselves with helmets, breast plates, greaves, and carried a spear as their offensive weapon, and also a shield, usually made of wood but with a metal rim called an aspis or hoplon."

People:

######################### (418-362 BC)
[]
Theban general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state of Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in Greek politics
  • broke Spartan military power with his victory at Leuctra and liberated the Messenian helots, a group of Peloponnesian Greeks who had been enslaved under Spartan rule for some 230 years
  • reshaped the political map of Greece, fragmented old alliances, created new ones, and supervised the construction of entire cities
  • also militarily influential, inventing and implementing several major battlefield tactics
  • had been praised in his time as an idealist and liberator, but now largely remembered for a decade of campaigning that sapped the strength of the great land powers of Greece and paved the way for the Macedonian conquest
  • has fallen into relative obscurity in modern times, as a mere twenty-seven years after his death, a recalcitrant Thebes was obliterated by Alexander the Great

Spelling Corrections:

PeloponesianPeloponnesian

Ideas and Concepts:

From the turning-points-in-history department, via this morning's Alexander the Great class: "By the middle of the fourth century BC, the three main powers on the Greece homeland, Sparta, Thebes, and Athens, had worn themselves out fighting amongst each other. The result was that after more than a century of struggle, Persia was yet again in the position to be the dominant influence up to and including the coast of Asia minor. For the Greeks, paying back Persia for its acts of ancient sacrilege was a rhetorical pipe dream, and now there was only one potential threat to Persia from the West:the Kingdom of Macedonia and a little boy growing up there named Alexander."
Alexander the Great, the Terrible, or the Insignificant
Why Study Alexander the Great?
The Importance of the Battle of Thermopylae
The Peloponnesian War and Internal Greek Struggles
Early Macedon
The Nature of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon's Military Reforms
Alexander's Cavalry Units
Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)