Greek+Tactics

**Greek Tactics**
By Michael C. Greek Tactics In the beginning Greek tactics were simple and disorganized, but as civilization evolved so did their weapons warfare. Their technology push put them farther ahead than any other country. They used Hoplites for land wars, and triremes to fight sea battles. Their weapons were made out of wood and bronze. Their tactics were heavily dependent on teamwork and military precision. With their precision they could take on any opponent. The main fighting force for the Greeks was their Hoplites. A hoplite is a heavily armed soldier with a high attacking skill. Their armor consisted of a helmet, a shield, body armor, and greaves. In the early days the hoplites helmets were made of boar tusks. It took over ten boars. The tusks were cut into plates, and then they were sown to a leather hat. After the 8th century they began to make helmets out of bronze. They mainly used a Corinthian helmet which covered entire head except for the eyes and mouth. The shields they used in the beginning were called tower shields they were very heavy and large. Then a new shield was introduced it was the circular shield it was made of planks and covered with bronze. It was heavy but not as heavy as the tower shield. The soldiers also had body armor which in the early days was made out of two big bronze plates that covered the whole upper body. This was too heavy so they switched to a much lighter armor made of several layers of hardened linen. Greaves are shin guards for soldiers; they are made of bronze and molded to fit the shins.

The weapons of Hoplites were much like weapons of other countries. They included a spear, a dagger, and sword. (weapons)The spear was the main weapon for the Greeks. It was usually about 6-8 feet long. On one end there was an iron spearhead attached on the other there was a butt spike. The spear head was used for thrusting and not throwing. The butt spike was used to balance out the spear or for jamming into the ground to support the weight of the spear. A hoplites sword was used when the combat was too close to use a spear. The sword was made of bronze and very useful when a spear broke. The dagger was also made of bronze and was used as a last ditch effort to save the soldiers life. The hoplites Strategies were different each battle. Even though their strategies were different, how they organized their troops stayed the same. Their formation was called a phalanx, it could consist of as many men as you wanted to have in it and it was extremely lethal. The formation was in lines so the man on the left was protected by the man on rights shield. This way everyone is protected by a shield, as long as the formation did not fall apart. They kept it from falling apart by putting the most experienced soldiers in the front and sides. This was also only lethal if the formation stayed together. This formation was impossible to attack if the enemy did not use a phalanx to counter it. A famous war story is the time the Greeks tricked their enemy with a giant wooden horse.( [|Trojan Horse]) One famous instance these soldiers were used is The Battle of Marathon. We know the phalanx works because of this battle. The Greeks were outnumbered 25000 to 9000. The Persians decided to attack Athens with their overwhelming force. Since the Persian army had a lot of archers in it, the Greeks could not do a slow march towards them as they usually do. They decided to march towards them and at 200 yards they would start sprinting. (How scary 8000 Spartan’s sprinting at you with spears.) Then the outsides of their formation broke off and flanked the Persian army. When the Persian army realized it was surrounded they took off and ran to their boats. To tell Athens of their great feat the Greek army sent a runner back to Athens to tell them. His run was 26 miles and it is what the modern marathon is named after. The other type of warfare the Greek concentrated on was naval warfare.( Navy) Their original ship that was not as fast or as powerful was called pentecontor, and it had 50 oarsmen. Their more developed ship was called a trireme and it had three decks consisting of 170 oarsmen. The main way they combated other ships was through ramming. The ships were made of wood and had a place for a sail that was taken down during battles. The ship had a large bronze ram on the front of it that they used to sink other ships with. Their oars would gather up speed and then their expert helmsman would try to ram their opponent and avoid being rammed. Another tactic was to try and break all the oars of an opponent’s ship. These ships could also be used to transport troops. Marines played a small role in early naval warfare; they kept the ship from being boarded and tried to kill sailors. About ten Hoplites and four archers were on each boat. Since the warfare was mainly ramming there was a very low casualty rate as long as the helmsman outmaneuvered the enemy ship. Later the casualty rate grew because an increase of marines and the tactics changed to boarding.( ships) One famous naval battle was the Battle of Salamis; it was between the Greeks and the Persians. In preparation for war they packed everyman who could fight into their ships. The Persians came and wrecked their town and then waited to destroy their navy. The Greek general thought of a counter plan, he sent a slave to warn the Persians that they would try break out of the bay. So the Persians stayed up all night and spread out their forces to catch them leaving. In the morning the Greeks were well rested and the Persians were very tired. It was an easy battle for the Greeks and they won even though the Persians had more ships. Their victory was all due to their ramming tactics. The Persians lost 200 ships and the Greeks lost 40. I am glad I chose this topic because it gave me so much interesting information on the Greeks. If I had to be part of a country, I would join Greece because they are so much more advanced. The only thing I found really interesting was the fact that they had a huge technology jump from 0AD- 8AD. There must have been a push for technology. As is obvious from my paper the Greeks are way more advanced than any other competing country.

Work cited

Wright, Anne. //War and Warfare//. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Focus, 2008. Print. "Ancient Greek Warfare." //Essortment Articles: Free Online Articles on Health, Science, Education & More..// Web. 15 Dec. 2010. . Sacks, David, Oswyn Murray, and Lisa R. Brody. //Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World//. New York: Facts On File, 2005. Print. "History of the Trojan War." //Stanford University//. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. .