Sparta
...(known as hoplites) engaged in battle in the form of
one mob for each army which on the command of their
generals runs at each other and proceeds to hack blindly at
the enemy with little to no direction other then to kill the
enemy in front of them. This proved to be very messy and
the tide of battle depended mostly on emotion and size of an
army. In the name of strategy and organization, the phalanx
was developed. A phalanx is simply defined as a line
formation with its width significantly larger then its depth. The
depth of the phalanx is a variable which some suggest was
decided by the army itself rather then by the leaders of the
army. The smallest depth appears to have been that of one
man deep. However this was a unique occurrence which is
widely believed to be fictitious. The largest depth is that of
120 men deep which was fielded at one time by the
Macedonians. On average, the depth of the phalanx appears
to be about eight men deep. During the time of Alexander
the Great, the phalanx was believed to be eight men deep,
but some argue that it evolved into a sixteen man deep
phalanx. The Spartans purposely varied the depth of their
phalanx so to confuse the enemy about the number of
soldiers fielded. The phalanx proved to be a very valuable
weapon for the military at that time. Armies which did not
adapt to the phalanx formation were quickly slaughtered.
The use of the phalanx allowed the Greeks to win the
Persian Wars.
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Many historians believe that the development of the phalanx
led directly to social changes occurring throughout Greece
during the time of the phalanx's implementation. The phalanx
formation allowed men to participate in the military who
otherwise could not have because a much smaller investment
in weapons and armor was needed to participate...
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