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Ancient Wars
The Ancient period is generally accepted as being 600 BCE to 500 CE, before which was the Archaic period, and after which began the Medieval period. However as there is not an Archaic Wars category, it is acceptable to post pre-500 BCE military questions in this area.
1,657 Questions
How did the greek army succsessfully defeat the Persians?
Most of the Persian defeats in the 50 years of warfare between the Greek city-states and Persia were either sea or sea-land battles, not land battles involving just the army.
The single land battle of Plataia in 469 BCE was won by the Greek forces sticking defeating the inferior unsupported Persian infantry.
Italy has been involved in many wars since becoming a country in the 19th Century. The Boxer Rebellion, World War 1, The Spanish Civil War, World War 2, and the Persian Gulf War are some of them.
What happened to Alexander's empire after he died and why?
He had no clear heir, so his Macedonian generals took the provinces for themselves, declared themselves kings and fought amongst each other.
These we call the Hellenistic Kingdoms because they introduced a veneer of Greek government and culture within them.
Why is the battle of marathon important today?
The battle has no importance today. It is an interesting historical story.
What were some ancient Mesopotamian conflicts?
City of Lagash versus city of Umma, Uruk vs Kish and Nippur, Sargon's conquest of Mesopotamia, Guti overthrow of the Akkadian empire, Persian capture of Mesopotamia etc etc
How did the Persian Empire collapse?
The invasion by king of Macedonia Alexander the Great, who turned the empire into an empire of his own.
Why did the battle of Marathon start?
Persia sent a punitive expedition against Eretria and Athens for their interference in Asia Minor. Eretria was taken when traitors opened the gates. The Persians then moved on to Athens, landing on the Plain of Marathon. The Athenians waited in the hills for reinforcement from Sparta, out of reach of the Persian cavalry. After 10 days, they saw the Persian cavalry being loaded onto ships. They took the opportunity and ran down and defeated the inferior Persian infantry without its cavalry protection.
Did ancient Egyptians use bronze for weapons?
The evolution of tools and weapons in most every ancient culture followed a logical progression. Ancient man first began mmaking tools out of things he found around him. Stone was most prevalent and worked pretty well but had limitations. Stone is heavy and difficult to shape. It certainly has limits when it comes to recycling as well - if you break it you have to fabricate a new one. The next logical step was to create tools from natural copper. It was easy to hammer into shape and could be reformed if/when necessary. Tools could also be smaller and lighter. After a time, the process of heating, melting etc was developed which made casting of copper objects easier. Temperatures needed for the process are fairly low compared to those necessary to melt materials like iron. As man experimented with copper he found that adding other metals to the copper would change its properties, making it harder, sharper etc. Thus bronze in its various forms became prevalent and highly sought after as the technological zenith of the time. It wasn't until around the 11th century BCE that man first began using iron. As with copper, he started by hammering iron that was found in nature, primarily from meteorites, into usable tools that were superior to the bronze. Once furnace technology developed that was capable of melting iron, the bronze age ended. In China - Iron weapons were being produced en masse by around 550 BCE and within 200-300 years had completely replaced the bronze.
Are there any Greek wars besides the Trojan war?
Yes, many. The Greeks fought wars constantly with each other and with outsiders. The Trojan War happened so long ago that it is difficult to glean truth from myth, but the two Persian Wars are fairly well documented, and there is a very good account of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. The dreaded Philistines of the Old Testament (Judges and Kings I) may have been expatriate Greeks. The Greeks continued to fight many wars with the Persians whom they finally subdued, and later with the Romans who finally subdued them.
What did Sparta do after winning the Peloponnesian War?
Sparta did not win the war, the coalition of city-states it led did. After the war, the coalition broke up, and the city-states went back to their usual occupation for fighting each other. Sparta lost traction as it had lost too much of its military manpower, and was eventually defeated by Thebes, and ceased to be a principal power.
How was the battle of salamis a turning point in Greek history?
It was a turning point in the invasion of Greece by Persia.
It was not a turning point in Greek history - yet another of the innumerable battles fought by the Greeks, most of which were, and continued to be, between each other.
How did the Greeks save their cities from the Persians?
When the invasion by Xerxes became imminent in 480 BCE, the city-states met in a council to determine their strategy. There were some difficulties they had to overcome: * First, Xerxes' agents had alread been through Greece in a softening up campaign, with bribes and promising dissident factions in the cities that they would become the rulers of their cities under his overall rule. The council was therefore unsure who was reliable and who had 'Medised', but certainly suspected cities such as the Thessalians and Thebes which would be the first to be run over by Xerxes' forces and therefore most likely to switch sides. * Second, Xerxes had a superior fleet (drawn from Phoenicia, the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the islands, and Egypt). This gave him the amphibious capability to attack any of the cities near the coast (which most were) one by one. So the cities were reluctant to send out their armies to a joint force against the invasion, but kept them at home to defend their cities. The states of the Peloponnese talked of building a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth, and sending some of their soldiers to man it, but this was a sham as the Persian fleet could simply outflank this and land soldiers directly at the cities, and the contingents would never actually be released from their cities. Athens knew it was exposed, and made plans to evacuate the city, sending the families to cities in the Peloponnese for sanctuary, with all its manpower, including its infantry, manning its 200 warships. Athens and Sparta sent an expeditionary force of 100 ships and 10,000 infantry north to the pass at Tempe to act as a delaying force and stiffen the resolve of the northern city-states. The king of Macedonia, who had no option but to side with Xerxes, sent secret word to them that Xerxes intended to bypass this by cutting an inland road, so this expedition was withdrawn. The plan was then resolved that the only way to free the southern cities to come out and fight was to destroy the Persian amphibious capability. As the Persian fleet was almost twice the size of the Greek one, and had larger ships, it was determined to arrange to engage it in narrow waters so that the Greeks would not be overwhelmed. The strait between the island of Euboea and the mainland was selected, and small forces sent from several of the cities to block the land route at the Thermopylae pass to force the Persians to send their fleet through the strait nearby to outflank the land blockage. The pass was held for three days, and on each day a naval engagement was fought, with the combined Greek fleet coming off second best. It was withdrawn to the Strait at Salamis for a second attempt there, which was successful. The Persian amphibious capacity was broken, and Xerxes could not even protect his sea supply line and had to take half his army home as the countryside could not support them over winter. As planned, no longer threatened by Persian amphibious attacks, the cities of the south joined their forces at Plataia the following spring and defeated the remaining half of Persian army and its Greek allies. At the same time the Greek fleet destroyed the rump of the Persian fleet at Mykale in Asia Minor.
By xerxis trying to take over the greek empire
Were elephants used in the battle of Thermopylae?
No. The Greek forces were infantry. The Persians had cavalry, but it could not operate in the pass or mountains.
Which rival Greek city-states fought the Peloponnesian War?
Athens and its allies and Sparta and its allies.
What city was the leader of the delian league?
After the defeat of the Persian invasion of mainland Greece in 479 BCE, Athens organized an anti-Persian league to protect the cities around the Aegean Sea from Persian intervention. It had its treasury on the island of Delos in the temple of Apollo there. At its peak, there were about 180 city-states in the league, spread around the coast of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Islands, including the islands of Samos, Lesbos, Chios, Rhodes, and such cities as Miletus, Byzantium, Ephesus, Priene etc.
For map, see link:
http://www.bigissueground.com/history/ash-athenianempire.shtml
What was the anme of the battle between ramesses and the hit-tites?
The battle between Ramesses II and the Hittites was the Battle of Kadesh or Qadesh. This battle took place in 1274 BC, and is most likely the largest chariot battle ever fought.
What started the war between the Persians and the Greeks?
A revolt by the Greek city-states within the Persian Empire in Asia Minor in 499 BCE.
What did roman soldiers in England wear on their feet?
In battle the soldiers wore the Roman military boots called a "caligae" This was a heavy duty boot which was laced up the center and tied around the ankle. Hobnails were in the soles in a pattern identical to the support in present day training shoes.
Why did the Persians invade Greece in the battle of plataea?
They invaded in 480 BCE by marching from Asia Minor through Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly.
They were accompanied by a fleet which kept pace with the ground troops and protected the sea resupply lane.
How long was the battle of Thermopylae?
The Battle of Thermopylae took place in late summer or early fall of 480 B.C.E. In response to the latest Persian invasion of the Greek homeland, a small group of Greek allies, led by a soon-to-be-famous contingent of Spartans, assembled at the choke-point of the pass of Thermopylae in the hope of defeating, or at least delaying, the Persian army approaching from the north.
How many Persians fought against the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae?
Who was there
The 300 Spartans were Spartan king Leonidas' bodyguard. Sparta was concerned with defending its own land from a Persian amphibious raid, and so was not about to send off a main force. Leonidas also had about 2,000 serf-light infantry. There were also about 4,000 warriors from those Greek states in the Thermopylai area which had not already gone over to the Persians.
How do we tell who won?
Who won hangs on the objectives of the both sides, and who was successful in achieving them.
What were the objectives and outcomes?
The Persian objective was to capture peninsular Greece to establish an ethnic frontier, as the latter had been supporting revolution in the Greek cities along the coast of Asia Minor, which was part of the Persian Empire. Xerxes had a large land force of about 150,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry, and 600 warships with 120,000 crewmen.
The Persian war fleet was superior to the Greek one, so it provided both outflanking amphibious capability and protection for the resupply fleet; the amphibious capability meant the Greek forces could not concentrate, remaining at home defending their cities, and so able to be picked off one by one.
The Greek strategy was to neutralise this war fleet, both to even up the operational mobility equation and, by depriving the Persians of their essential sea supply route, ultimately force their withdrawal. Given the inequality of the fleets, the Greeks determined to force sea engagements in narrow waters to minimise the effect of the opposing superior ships and numbers: they closed the land route to the south at the Thermopylai pass to force a Persian outflanking amphibious operation in the adjacent strait. When three days of naval engagements failed to give a Greek victory, and the Thermopylai position was outflanked on land, the fleet withdrew to the strait between Salamis and Athens, and by a stratagem of splitting the Persian fleet, defeated the main force and so exposed the sea supply line.
With no resupply, Xerxes was obliged to take half his army back to Asia Minor and the remaining part had to withdraw and winter in northern Greece. The following spring the southern Greek states, no longer threatened by enemy amphibious landings, were able to concentrate in full strength at Plataia and defeat the remaining Persian army and its Greek allies. In parallel, the Greek naval forces captured the rump of the Persian fleet at Mykale in Asia Minor.
Romantic stories of the stand at Thermopylai, based on it being designed to defeat the invasion, conceal the real strategies of both adversaries. The centre of gravity of the might of Persia outside Asia was its Egyptian, Phoenician and Asian-Greek war fleet. Its neutralisation mandated a critical enemy land force reduction and removed the threat of amphibious invasion of the Peloponnese states, allowing them to concentrate against the reduced enemy land forces.
So who won at Thermopylai?
The Persians continued with their invasion until stopped elsewhere.
The Greeks lost the naval engagement offshore, which was set up by the Thermopylai defence, so the latter was to no avail. When Leonidas got news of the Persian outflanking of his position through the mountains, he sent the other contingents off to get inside the walls of friendly cities so that they wouldn't be ridden down in open country by the Persian cavalry when they broke through. He kept the Theban contingent as they were suspected of having already gone over to the Persians, and set up a last stand with his 300 Spartan hoplites and 2,000 serf-light infantry to give the dismissed contingents a head start. The Thebans quickly surrendered and the Spartan 2,300 went down to a man. The other contingents took the benefit of this sacrifice and got away safely.
