The Spartans, the Original Military Culture
The Romans may well have deployed their military weight to conquer the world, and brought discipline and organization to the battlefield, but no military culture in the history of warfare has brought such mystique to the art of war as the Spartans.
Who were the Spartans? Well, in a nutshell, they were a military culture of ancient Greece, associated with the region of Sparta. The original boundaries of Sparta comprised much of the southeastern Peloponnese, and the culture reached its peak after defeating the city-state of Athens in the Peloponnesian War of 431 to 404 BCE.
What gave the Spartans their military identity was a society built on the expectation of military brilliance. At age seven, Spartan boys were inducted into the ‘Agoge’, which was an academy mandated for all boys, except for the firstborn sons of ruling houses. Here, a rigorous system of training and initiation was implemented, aimed at impressing rigorous discipline and producing soldiers of manifestly superior quality. This emphasis on military prowess and preparedness followed an individual throughout this life, and the phases of life, such as marriage, reproduction and public service, were all marked by the phases of military service.
Spartan mythology has got in the way occasionally of an accurate picture of Spartan military life, but by the standards of modern military training, even at an elite level, Spartan youth were certainly put through their paces. It was said that the only relief a Spartan was ever given from military training was when he was at war. At age twenty, after more than ten years of rigorous training, Spartan males became soldiers, or hoplites, and they remained on active service until the age of sixty.
The principal Spartan tactic was the phalanx, which required highly disciplined and coordinated maneuver, and this was really only possible in practical battlefield conditions after lengthy and disciplined training. Soldiers were all regarded as equal, and an esprit de corps was seen as a vital element of a cohesive fighting force. Weapons in general were rudimentary, comprising swords and a long spear, with the addition of a small, circular shield. Armor was also limited and consisted of a large bronze helmet, breastplate and ankle guards.
After a series of defeats, Sparta began to slip into decline some time around 370BCE. They did not disappear but continued to exist for a long time as a second-rate power. Nonetheless, it is the Spartan military creed that gives its name to strength, endurance and discipline. Every special force selection program in every modern army owes its essential doctrine to the Spartans.
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