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Athenians in second half of the 5th century BC

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recapture the Aegean Islands from the Persians

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push the Persians away from the coast of Asia Minor

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450 BC peace signed

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gave Greek cities on coast of Asia Minor the right to follow their own laws

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soon the ever quarreling gave the Persians reasons to reassert their influence there

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431-404 BC Peloponnesian War

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400-350 BC Sparta, Thebes and Athens struggled against each other to assert dominance over the Greek world

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Spartans squandered the initiative that they had gained through their victory in the Peloponnesian War

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Thebans got the upper hand

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because of military innovations

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infantry men usually wore helmets, breastplates, and carried a spear and a shield made of wood with a metal rim

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shield is called a hoplon which is where we get the word hoplites

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hoplites were arranged in lines

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city-states would send their armies out into an open field, e.g. the land in dispute

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line of the hoplite armies would close into each other and clash

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the goal was to have mass

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the object was to break open a hole in the other line

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the goal usually was not to annihilate your enemy but to push them off the land itself

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of course it was an extremely bloody kind of warfare, characterized by thrashing and thrusting

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took a great deal of courage

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hoplites needed to train and be prepared to fight together and protect each other

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important to stay in their places in the lines to prevent breakthroughs

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each hoplite was responsible not only for protecting himself but the person next to him

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their shield they held in their left hand could only protect the left side of their body

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the man on your right had to protect you as well

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coordination and cohesion was absolutely essential and critical

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you all fought together, or you all died together

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because most city-states had populations of male citizens that were more or less consistent

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most city-states could only put into the field hundreds or a few thousand hoplite warriors

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only 1,2,3,4,5 or at most 8 lines of these warriors

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most of these battles resulting in these kinds of scrums, both sides pushing together to make a breakthrough

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this is where the Theban military innovations become important

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had a much larger population

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got the idea of extending the lines, the sum total which was called a phalanx not just to 8 ranks but to an unbelievable 50 ranks

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made it easier to bash through the lines of their opponents

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Thebans also trained up a kind fo special forces unit called a Sacred Band

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150 pairs of elite soldiers who trained together from the time their were very young, camped together, and, there is evidence, were actually lovers as well

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fought side by side in battle

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put into battle at crucial moments and at important places

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using these military innovations, the Thebans were able to defeat the Spartans in two important battles

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371 BC

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400 Spartans of the officer class were killed

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Thebes gained the upper hand in Greater Greece

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362 BC

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unfortunately, their great tactical and innovative genius, Epaminondas, was killed in battle

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the Athenians in the fourth century

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won naval alliances

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pursued the Persians

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dominated the Aegean

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ran out of money

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became exhausted as well

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the middle of the fourth century

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the three powers in Greece

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Sparta

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Thebes

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Athens

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had worn themselves out, fighting amongst each other

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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

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paying back Persia for its acts of ancient sacrilege, was a rhetorical pipe dream

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there was only one potential threat to Persia from the West

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the Kingdom of Macedon and a boy growing up there named Alexander