Sparta and Athens are like two brothers constantly fighting and wanting the better toy, but always fought together when a bigger kid threatened both. I love it.
@@Rouvenor you act like the roman formations also werent toast once flanked. And 1v1 id back a spartan over a roman. It then becomes a numbers game. The romans had more. So they won
I read something I found very interesting: during a war between two Greek city states, one combatant poisoned the water supply of the other's non combatant civilians with a population of 25,000. At some point a truce was called and all city states were involved and they agreed that this "biological warfare" must never be perpetrated on the enemie"s civilians. This agreement must have been the fist of its kind.
@Προμηθεύς and as long as humanity has been around any time war breaks out. All sense of civilized goes out the window in exchange for survival. So yes we have war crimes but ever noticed they never get delt with till after the war not during.
You and I probably relate on our love of history, but I think you may have yet to read some literature. Once we look at history through the lens of today, we will all suddenly realize exactly how peaceful our world is today, ironic for some.
Sparta is an excellent cautionary tale about overemphasizing military dominance. They could have been what Rome became if they had been as dedicated and meticulous about running their economy as they were about running their combat training
When facing challenges you must adapt to overcome them. Rome was very proficient at that. Sparta on the other hand was the opposite, religiously tied to its way of doing things.
@@Halcon_Sierreno As a Greek, I dont view the Spartans as the pinnacle of achievement in the ancient Greek world. Athens on the other hand had huge potential of being something much greater.
@@GeorgeMasterclass Sparta gets a ton of attention because it's basically the ancient equivalent of a hit teen dystopia novel. Not very well thought out, but full of tons of brain bugs and bad hot takes that everyone took seriously after reading about it.
The only mistake that Sparta did was same as Carthage was keeping their citizenship policy within their city and not expanding it thus limiting their manpower.. Rome on the other hand expanding their citizenship and influence to conquered territories thus giving them enormous manpower
@@djdocdragon428 Yeah, because those Pesky Guns, allowing people to LIVE FREE, without the fear of a Government, or another person just Persecuting you and yours! I think the US founders actually accounted for Many of these issues… hence you can get rid of ANY LAW. Just need 65% of the STATES TO JOIN…. But see most Like you, want Popular Vote/MobRule! See 2A, NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!
@@rev7710 Yes it is. Look at net neutrality, and recently Roe vs Wade. The "United" States is moving backwards with its laws. Along with political parties fighting over partisan politics above what's best for the people and businesses prioritizing profits over the country, and it's evident we're not far from being the next Sparta. The only thing we truly have over the developed world is our military: No one wages war better than Americans (I'm not bragging on that point), but if that's all we have, then ask yourself how far only a hammer can carry you at a construction site.
"Generals and soldiers became more interested in themselves rather than keeping Sparta strong. These changes in attitude and the desire to accumulate more wealth for themselves rather than bolster the status of the state led to a wealth gap within Spartan Society." Hmm somethings never change.
The funny thing is the reason the Spartan Empire fell was because they didn’t have enough Spartans… If they had let any ally try the Agoge to become a Spartan they would have conquered all of Greece.
@@deez583 If the Spartan Empire chose to gave up or share the Spartan Identity being a Spartan would lose it's meaning and the Spartan Empire would slowly fade away while it spread. You could see that in the late years of the Spartan Empire where the soldiers became less and less trained and the Famed Spartans started to lose battle after battle. In the time of the Spartan Empire their best bet would be a strong nationalistic society that accepted anyone as helots but were strict about spartan requirements. Such as similar to the join or die policy the Mongols had but less extreme.
@@ClickClack_Bam people that didn’t pass could just be normal workers or they could help with the war effort but being a skirmisher or help with the supplies
@@SpartanIsGaming No, that’s like saying the roman identity completely lost its meaning while it spread, especially considering most people in the roman empire referred to themselves as roman’s
This is fascinating. Maybe the Spartans should have taken many more people into thei army for secondary roles. Like transportation and cooking etc. Letting the warriors do the fighting while the others took care of logistics
@@joemacinnis1972 nah, they had it from the start of their power. Peasant who were farmers were their cooks, do their laundry and other logistics stuff needed for war.
It's an over simplification to say that there was a Spartan empire. There was a balance of power among the Greek city states, and whenever one grew too powerful, the others united against that one. So none of them were able to build up an empire. It is true that Sparta was more militaristic than any of the others, and they did take territory from their neighbors, but they didn't preside over an empire in the sense that modern historians use the term.
The only empire that was there was alexander’s macedonia. Spartans were lucky Alexander died young. He couldve easily marched his army straight into sparta after conquering middle east
I've got a 96 in my history course this year, and I'll tell you that I absolutely agree with the original statement. If my teacher is reading this, just note this: This comment is true, although it is 100000% not at all your fault! Some of the other students just clearly weren't interested in the subject, and did as much as possible, to do as little as possible. One of my all-time favorite teacher's ever, thanks for a great year Mrs. M!
Additional points: 1. Before the Dorian Sparta of 1.000 BCE and on, there had been an Achaean Sparta for quite enough centuries. 2. In Persian wars, the Athenian army had fought off the first Persian attack of 490 BCE alone, and during the second one of 480 - 479, their navy played a crucial role too, by crushing the Persian navy. 3. Up until the Peloponnesian war, Athenians were not very popular among other Greeks, because leaving the Athenian League, even declining a proposal to join, in some cases, was NOT an option. 4. The Spartans had their first defeats by other Greeks in the hands of the Thebans some years later. When some Spartan mothers learned about the defeats, they begged gods that their sons had NOT survived defeated and that they had died fighting. 5. Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who wrote about the Persian wars, was considered the father of historiography. Later, Athenian Thucydides, who wrote about the Peloponnesean Wars, was the first to introduce the strict, precise, objective and rigid investigation methods modern historiography stll uses. He was the father of ACADEMIC historiography. Some excerpts of his opera are taught even in modern military academies, involving the USA, at least for a period.
@Phantom take a better look at more sources, and be curious of the albanian propaganda, which still holds strong and consider that: 1)Most of the today's Greeks are related to populations that moved to Greece and mixed with the native Greeks, so they are descendants of both. 2)Greeks never replaced their language with Albanian. That is absurd. Even Arvanites, who you mention, spoke a subdialect of Albanian (60% of its words are albanian), so they had differentiated early themselves from their northern neighbours by adopting many words from other languages, mainly Greek and a fair amount of Turkish. 3)Arvanon, where Arvanites came from, was mentioned in greek texts before 200BC(e.g. Polybios in 204BC), while the word Albania was first used by Latins after 1100AD only for the north part of today's Albania (so Arvanon is excluded, because it is in the southern part). 4)The Orthodox Arvanites resisted against the Turkish Albanians and other enemies of Greece. Even the powerful ones, who could take their riches and live in another country as well as some of the most fearsome pirates chose to defend their country and religion. I stop here for now. If you are willing to help each other find out the truth and not just persuade me that you are right, I am waiting for your answer. If of course you can prove that my corrections are wrong.
@@pantherxdoesit3425 It's very interesting and has a lot to teach us, above all fighting against attackers for your people till your last breath; let's not romanticise Spartan history, though, because it had some terrible aspects too!
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Helot rebellions more. That’s what really crushed Sparta was the fact they had like 60-70% of their population being slaves of former warriors who they defeated and forced to do work at their home while Spartans were away at war. Leaving Sparta completely vulnerable to attack by their own slaves
@@mpampissamiwtis492 that’s not true at all. They emptied their cities during wars if needed. They usually just fought the smaller neighbor city states. But when they faced larger opponents they took their full forces out. I have no clue where you got that 2/3 numbers from
Imagine if the Spartans had the same amount of soldiers as the Romans 💀 Edit: I understand everything you guys are saying but I was more talking about if they had the same number of soldiers as like a Roman legion against the Persians
What the Spartans could've done would be to encourage large families, give the first son or two over to the state for military training, then use the other sons for civil use such as farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc. This would have eliminated the need for keeping Helots, and made the kingdom far more stable and sustainable.
There actually was a third intermediate class of mainly artisans, but they weren't very numerous. It does seem like a good idea - set some proles slightly above the slaves so they identify with the aristocracy. Wouldn't work these days, of course. 😉
The helots were largely lorded over by women. Who used them in every way to stand in for their sons and husbands. The women would've been very opposed to eliminating the helot class.
Sweden actually used a system a little bit like that during their great power era. In their system, a farmer household could gain a tax exemption if they funded training and equipment of a professional soldier and a horse for the soldier, and promised to provide housing for both the soldier and his horse in the time of peace. The soldier didn't even have to be a family member though, it could be anyone who wanted to make such a deal with the household.
So many lessons to learn from this. While strict discipline and order is important, if you lack adaptability and furthermore create bad karma with your cruelty, you sow the seeds for your own downfall. Many similarities are to be found with all these waring cultures (Vikings Goths Vandals etc). When united they are powerful but eventually they become greedy and the lack of culture and diversity catches up with them sooner or later. I'll take an Alfred the Great or Marcus Aurelius over Hannibal or Ghenkis Khan any day of the week 👍
Just to note that the Vikings were adaptable enough to survive. They basically evolved into the modern states, including the Nordic countries and practically almost the entire area GBR and Western Russia.
My takeaway is it wasnt Spartan's brute strength that caused their downfall but their stupidity.. They're like Japan during back in the world war, they just dont know when to stop and give up
@@Althenticity What is the world coming to. 😣 All of Greece knows what is right, yet only the Spartans do it. 🙌 Sparta does no't deserve this disrespect. 🥀
Imagine joining the US Army or Marine Corps and being told you have to buy your own rifle, plate carrier, helmet, and ammo. We'd be lucky to have enough guys to fill a Brigade. That's why our Defense Militia helps buy people their own uniform and gear.
In all fairness, they also have the ability to track you down if you ran off with it. Professional armies are hard to maintain without modern logistics
@@mullerpotgieter funny how most of that gear Soldiers and Marines get issued ends up in my local pawnshop lol. Bought a Marine Corps plate carrier from it for a hundred bucks which means they probably sold it for half that.
The biggest part of these elite soldiers were aristocrats and land owners. Slaves were doing all the labor in the fields so they had all the time to train and all the resources to afford their equipment.
Imagine if only people directly descended from the US Founding Fathers and their friends could join up, and even then only if they had no ancestors who had married outside that class. Imagine also if out of those people, only those who had inherited land from their ancestors in an unbroken chain were eligible to serve, and families kept having to sell that land off to fewer and fewer rich landowners to make ends meet. That's what the Spartan system was like. Having to buy your own gear was only a minor bottleneck in comparison to the fact that by the end, slaves and serfs outnumbered the Spartans ten to one.
@@annominous826 I'm lucky enough to be descended from one of those families lol we still have our own farm, hunting, and fishing lands. I'm surprised the Spartans didn't deal with as many Helot uprisings as you'd expect given how badly they outnumbered the Spartans. They should of been able to overwhelm them through sheer numbers on the right terrain unless there was a benefit for them to be under Spartan rule.
There were problems that they didn't solve. To be a spartan meant to be capable to feed your squad essentially. Because more and more land ended up in the hands of fewer and fewer women, the regular plots of land ended up being smaller and smaller and more and more people just couldn't afford it. The Spartans didn't have a system like inheritance tax. It would have helped a lot. They also didn't allow for any of the free people to becone Spartans that easily. They could have put an ancestry requirement (1 grandparent or great grandparent) and a combat performance requirement and be done with it. They didn't.
Victims of their own success yet refusing to change anything to sustain and replenish it. The Roman’s had a similar fate. I hope my nation does not suffer the same consequences.
Also, instead of breaking truces, they should've take advantage of them to rebuild their loss, consolidate their gains with the new territories they just conquered by showing their new citizens that the spartan rules was best for them, therefore strenghtening their loyalty. Growing too fast for greed leads to downfall, 100% of the time.
Wow, that easy huh. You'd have thought something like that might of occurred to the best minds of that era....it's almost as a though the passage of two thousand years has somewhat obscured some of the details. The fog of history suggests maybe, just maybe we lack all the facts.
@@mrnice7570 Yes, that easy. The details obscure aren't that important. Women usually had fewer children. That also meant that the Spartans, besides losing citizens due to financial reasons (not being able to feed the unit you were in), they had fewer men to replace them. They did try to make changes but certain women made sure they did not. Your comment says a lot about you. It's almost like you don't know what you're talking about but you think you do and you tell someone that knows that they don't. No, it's not almost like. That's what's happening. You're not nearly as smart or informed as you think you are.
@@bobfg3130 what a long winded way of saying you weren't around back then and so your knowledge is very limited. Nothing to do with earthquakes then? Back to the Agoge to start again
The Spartans went too true elite, this did lead to defeating the Athenian Empire and dominating the rest of Greece, but it was also led to too small a population which became rife with arrogance and greed, their ultimate downfall.
"Greeks never cease to amaze me. They are always inventing something new..." "If they are so smart, then why are they our province and not the other way around?" *-Conversation between Roman Emperor Augustus and his nephew Marcellus*
I was taught in middle school that spartans were excellent in combat, and known around the world for their skills and what not but they weren’t the number 1 in terms of military might. What they’re known for is the beauty of their women among all of greece.
When all city states were battling like a rumble or doing honorable 1vs1 Sparta invented armies and warfare tactics like formations , whistling arrows to reorganise armies etc. After hundreds of years of war between the states these tactics were spread to all city states . Untill Alexander the Great arrived and improved on all these tactics and invented new ones as well. You can safely say until the arrival of Alexander ,all these years Spartan warriors were indeed the best in the known world.
@@aplavouloneis Actually all the city states were doing the phalanx. The difference is that Spartans were doing things like... actually training and being full time soldiers. Other city state hoplites were basically militia. Craftsmen, merchants, philosophers, but not full time warriors. Apparently the very idea of 'training for war' was considered barbaric lol, and part of why they looked down on Sparta. Also no, Spartans were not the best till Alexander. That goes to the Theban Sacred Band, who straight up beat the Spartans.
@@TheNEOverse with respect almost everything you said is wrong . Formations were invented by Spartans and after hundreds of years the other city states adopted them and thus creating the hoplite era. Spartans were the best among the city states because as you said they were living that life but that is only evident when everyone is using Spartan tactics. Before hoplite era Spartans had great advantages. Lastly about Thebes, did u really just used one battle scenario to prove your point when Sparta has million of examples in hundreds of years war ? Yeah Thebes used longer pikes in phalanx formation on an already declined Sparta and won . Means nothing.
@@aplavouloneis With all respect but you are the one who is in the wrong here, as you recall it admitting that Thebes won over declining Sparta but you still state that were better than the Thebes. It was weakened and it was in decline for a long time before the said event took place. Sparta being in decline doesn't change anything for the better. They were bested by the Thebes and that's the end if it, no matter how weak or strong they were.
This is a great example of how overwhelming aggression isn't the answer. Sparta was the strongest, but power can corrupt and it shows. Too much power too quickly became a weakness. The more force something puts out, the longer the cooldown, except they didn't realize this
The Spartan male warrior population was declining for years and the Spartans were not willing to reform their state to adapt to changing times. In a nutshell, they ran out of men and their system, as constituted, which they were unwilling to change, was unable to produce the amount of fighters they needed.
a failure of statesmanship that apparently lasted for many decades. they deserved to lose their hold on everyone else. their model was unsustainable and cruel anyway
Spartans were deprived of the ability to do many of the normal and enjoyable activities of life, such as have a normal family life. Imagine a boy who's attached to his parents and sisters getting separated from them at the age of 7, and having to stay in a military institution until the age of 50, by which time he's lost his youth. It's good that Sparta got destroyed because they brutalized their own people, especially their boys.
don;t be naive. not all boys made it through agogi, in fact, the largest percentage didn't, so they couldn't be soldiers. also that didn't meant that soldiers couldn't do normal life things, they were just battle hardened men, which for the time was normal. to them fighting and dying for Sparta was the biggest honor a soldier could have. but not every spartan man was a soldier.
*Fun fact:* Romans avenged the city of Troy when they conquered Greece and destroyed the Spartan Empire, as the founders of the city of Rome (Romulus and Remus) were descendants of a trojan man named Aeneas, who fled from the destruction of the ancient city by the greeks. It was needed a thousand years, but a win is a win
As Mine victory will soon come after 8000 years I shall avenge the desecration of Mine Knossos. Soon I will see the fall of the 2nd Babylon and salt its desecration. May the true sons of Saturn rise MWHAHAHHAHA
@@reconsoldier135 the government admitted to aliens in the sky and we don't even know what shakespears globe theatre actually looked like and that was hardly even 400 years or so ago. I say why shoulde one worry of what is myth when your age and much of what surrounds it will be considered Myth too one day
I think you should look at the formation of the Doric Greeks around the time of Thermopylae. It is true that about 300 Spartans went to Thermopylae, but there were about 7,000 other Doric Greek hoplites that went with them. The Spartans did not hole the Persian army at bay with only 300 of their citizens.
@@justicer14 7,000 Greeks and the Persian strength modern estimates put it at 350,000 to 400,000 however there are historians who still say it was possible the Persian Numbers could have been in the millions
@@alexmason2659 most of the Greeks left anyway upon hearing the Persians are going to surround them. At that point, only the Spartans and maybe 700 Thespians stayed. Just saying it could be less than 7000 Greeks, that's the number Diodorus puts, Herodotus talks about less and none of the two can be proven.
Did yall know Chuck Norris was supposed to be in the movie 300?? well the producers decided not to cast him cause then the movie would have to be re named to 1.
Probably some kings would maintain a roll call of their soldiers. If the armies had professional and full time soldiers like Sparta, they would definitely maintain a record of the numbers of soldiers in their armies who would fight in the battles.
Anyone else think it’s weird to think that people once lived in a world where they could just go somewhere that no one had ever gone before and simply claim the land as there own?
@@bkimatab no, they’re not lol, I’m sure you’re thinking of some technicalities like “🤓well ackchually Antartica is still unclaimed in fact if you reach a previously unvisited sight you can name that land” But I meant in a more literal sense. Like as in if you got kicked out of New York City you just walked 3 miles north and start a New City and nobody really questioned it unless they wanted to fight you for it. Or how in History the “witches” that were kicked out of Massachusetts simply went a little further down, and said “ok new city, rule #1 no more religion based laws”
From things I’ve read, it was because the Spartans usually fought other weaker peoples, then began fighting bigger stronger opponents, and while successful at first, refused to ever change tactics, even after having their enemies adapt to their fighting style. When that happened, the Spartans were easily defeated in most battles.
The decline of the Spartan Empire was driven by internal social issues, military defeats, and changing alliances. An intriguing chapter of history, thanks for sharing this!
The Spartan hegemony only lasted 50 years. Weird how it seems to loom so much larger in modern imaginations than the Macedonians, who managed to conquer more lands than even the Romans and continued dominating them for 200 years. Also, why don't the Thebans get any respect? They used new, innovative military tactics to overthrow Spartan rule and dominated Greece in turn.
in addition, the Theban League gave the Spartans pause. It was composed of homosexual lovers who would fight to the death to defend their partner. They overpowered the Spartans for this reason
Man, this is such a cool video. Ancient Greece was such an interesting time to learn about. It's so cool how spartans were so elite, It would be something to have been able to see them in battle.
You would be right. In fact, the Eastern Grecoromans (or "Byzantines") from the very beginning of their independence, considered themselves political inheritors of the fallen Western Roman Empire and national inheritors of ancient Greece at the same time and this ideal never went away despite the advent of christianity.
Much of the Eastern Mediterranean was hellenized after Alexander's conquest. So while the "byzantine" empire was of Greek ethnicity, it was still Roman.
I love your video and I'm subscribed to your channel. I like the historical correctness and the objectivity of your narrative, something rare on youtube. There is an oversight in this video though, which is hard once you see it. At timestamp 17:52 you show the City of Rome with two landmarks in the background: on the right there is the Pantheon, which was built at the time of Emperor Hadrian. On the left, there is the "Altare della Patria", built by King Victory Emmanuel II, in 1885. It is definitely out of place in your video. Ok, not all your viewers are history buffs, but I thought you may want to know it, since your usual great historical precision. Regards from the UK... Anthony
Failure to adapt and pursuit of greed, as well as waging numerous wars, far more than one empire should. Sounds strangely familiar to another country today.
the immortals was what they were called bcs persia had so many soldiers they could replenish the men in an instant hence the idea they are immortal psychological warfare at its finesr
it is so cool. It's unbelieveable the way they lived thousands of years ago and to see how much has changed with civilization is just insane. There was like 20 wars with in a few hundred year it seemed like. haha
In the Spartan mirage facts are often the first casualty . King Agesilaus II (c. 440 BC - c. 360 BC) was Sparta's longest ruling king. He was a great warrior and beloved by his people. But he had a physical "disability". never the less, he, although, of royal blood, not only enrolled in the Agoge but thrived therein. There are exceptions to virtually every rule.
i want to remind you that Sparta allied with Persia a few times and they refused to fight them when other states fought them saying that spartans had honor or was a glorious nation in Greece is probably one of the biggest lies in history
Sparta was like a proto Rome.....its interesting because if the early Romans were influenced by the Greeks, then its quite possible they knew about the rise and fall of Sparta and made reforms so as not to end up like them.
oh, the Romans were 'influenced' by those Greeks. they experienced a veritable _culture shock_ when they finally incorporated all of Greece into their empire. the Greeks considered them not just barbarians (everyone not Greek was a barbarian) but very uncivilised too. and the Romans took this to heart. their educated classes enthusiastically emulated everything Greek and Rome got hellinised in the process which was a win for all of Europe
There was never a "Spartan Empire". At its height it only controlled the Peloponnese and Corinth. That's only two major cities at the time, not very big.
They are hegemon of the greek city states. It's like a mix of confederation and allies that was glue together on how strong your army that can put them in line thru forced.
The problem with Sparta was: 1. Low population meant permanent occupation was impossible 2. Inability to seige meant they were unable to break the walls of fortified cities 3. Constant incursions into Persia sapped their energy and resources making them susceptible to Athenian blockades
@@Andrea-dw1ps 5. As a result of their commanders being in the thick of battle and no reserves they couldn't adapt to what the enemy was doing tactically at any point
Grass is a type of plant with narrow leaves growing from the base. A common kind of grass is used to cover the ground in places such as lawns and parks. Grass is usually the color/colour ‘green’. Grasses are monocotyledon herbaceous plants. The grasses include the "grass" of the family Poaceae. This family is also called Gramineae. The family also include some of the sedges (Cyperaceae) and the rushes (Juncaceae).[1] These three families are not closely related but all of them belong to clades in the order Poales. They are similar adaptations to a common life-style. The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns (turf) and grassland. Uses for graminoids include food (as grain, sprouted grain, shoots or rhizomes), drink (beer, whisky), pasture for livestock, thatching thatch, paper, fuel, clothing, insulation, construction, sports turf, basket weaving and many others. Many grasses are short, but some grasses can grow very tall, such as Bamboo. Plants from the grass family can grow in many places and make grasslands, including areas which are very arid or cold. There are several other plants that look similar to grass and are referred to as such, but are not members of the grass family. These plants include rushes, reeds, papyrus and water chestnut. Seagrass is a monocot in the order Alismatales. Grasses are an important food for many animals, such as deer, buffalo, cattle, mice, grasshoppers, caterpillars and many other grazers. Unlike other plants, grasses grow from the bottom, so when animals eat grass they usually do not destroy the part that grows.[2] This is a part of why the plants are successful. Without grass, soil may wash away into rivers (erosion).
Surprised you did not mention Spartan general Lysander who accepted the Persian gold that allowed them to buy that huge fleet to finally defeat Athens. It was at that point that their laws were fully compromised and a big part of their long decline.
World got smaller, far regions became near, far empires who came once in a while from one direction or another turned into a situation of ever-present nations at the border of Greece and its many city states, first by Macedon, then by Rome and the others that followed. Helots no longer got help from local city states alone, but from larger powers at the periphery. Sparta was pushed into economic sideline as well, the one war they were not well equipped for. In many ways we can see Late Classical as the age where the "geopolitics" as we know, based on economic output, size, demographics, and strategic location; started forming. And that geopolitical idea had no room for Sparta in it. Either Sparta had to change or it had to go. It wasn't just Sparta either. The sun was setting on an argument being waged since Copper Age, the argument of the City vs the State The same argument that is conversely starting to rise back up in our interconnected and globalized world.
The Sacred Band that helped defeat the Spartans in the Battle of Leuctra were not only the elite troops of Thebes, they were also a unique social experiment. Thebian commanders wanted to have highly motivated troops and they decided that the greatest motivation to fight was love. Not just love of country but interpersonal love like with family and partners. To this end they selected the best troops they could find in their armies that had one common criteria: the unit had to consist of homosexual couples. The theory was that if you loved the man next to you then you would fight better as the stakes were higher for you personally. Ultimately it seems the theory was proven true as when a Greek army fought the forces of Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father) at the battle of Chaeronea the Sacred Band were wiped out. It was later found that the reason they were wiped out was because they were the only Greek unit that absolutely refusesd to run when the Greek army was routed and so they fought to the death. All 300 of them. I doubt there'll be a movie made about them though.
Sparta and Athens are like two brothers constantly fighting and wanting the better toy, but always fought together when a bigger kid threatened both. I love it.
@No_Name very unfortunate. Because i think spartan war ethic would have beat the romans to a pulp.
*two ;)
That is so funny seriously:()
@@Rouvenor you act like the roman formations also werent toast once flanked. And 1v1 id back a spartan over a roman. It then becomes a numbers game. The romans had more. So they won
Yes because they threaten their cultures which is very similar
I read something I found very interesting: during a war between two Greek city states, one combatant poisoned the water supply of the other's non combatant civilians with a population of 25,000.
At some point a truce was called and all city states were involved and they agreed that this "biological warfare" must never be perpetrated on the enemie"s civilians.
This agreement must have been the fist of its kind.
@@user-Prometheus there is not civilized in war only win or die. Unfortunate but true.
@Προμηθεύς and as long as humanity has been around any time war breaks out. All sense of civilized goes out the window in exchange for survival.
So yes we have war crimes but ever noticed they never get delt with till after the war not during.
Goes with the gods they worshipped as well Spartans worshipped Ares whereas the people of Athens worshipped Athena
You and I probably relate on our love of history, but I think you may have yet to read some literature. Once we look at history through the lens of today, we will all suddenly realize exactly how peaceful our world is today, ironic for some.
Hello does anyone here believe in Jesus?
And here I thought it was because one Spartan destroyed all of Greece in his quest to bring his wrath down upon the gods of Olympus.
"I WILL BRING DOWN THE DESTRUCTION OF OLYMPUS" -The last Spartan to his dad
@@CalebBerman Amen brother.
Kratos nice
🤣🤘 me to
Sparta is an excellent cautionary tale about overemphasizing military dominance. They could have been what Rome became if they had been as dedicated and meticulous about running their economy as they were about running their combat training
Agreed. They didn’t have balance.
When facing challenges you must adapt to overcome them. Rome was very proficient at that. Sparta on the other hand was the opposite, religiously tied to its way of doing things.
You can't always expect a brute to be good at finances.
@@Halcon_Sierreno As a Greek, I dont view the Spartans as the pinnacle of achievement in the ancient Greek world. Athens on the other hand had huge potential of being something much greater.
@@GeorgeMasterclass Sparta gets a ton of attention because it's basically the ancient equivalent of a hit teen dystopia novel. Not very well thought out, but full of tons of brain bugs and bad hot takes that everyone took seriously after reading about it.
The only mistake that Sparta did was same as Carthage was keeping their citizenship policy within their city and not expanding it thus limiting their manpower.. Rome on the other hand expanding their citizenship and influence to conquered territories thus giving them enormous manpower
True. It is very often that sticking to old rules within a new environment plays a major part in the downfall of a nation.
@@HippieInHeart some U.S laws in a nutshell
@@djdocdragon428 Yeah, because those Pesky Guns, allowing people to LIVE FREE, without the fear of a Government, or another person just Persecuting you and yours! I think the US founders actually accounted for Many of these issues… hence you can get rid of ANY LAW. Just need 65% of the STATES TO JOIN…. But see most Like you, want Popular Vote/MobRule! See 2A, NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!
@@djdocdragon428 so that’s not even close to true
@@rev7710 Yes it is. Look at net neutrality, and recently Roe vs Wade. The "United" States is moving backwards with its laws. Along with political parties fighting over partisan politics above what's best for the people and businesses prioritizing profits over the country, and it's evident we're not far from being the next Sparta. The only thing we truly have over the developed world is our military: No one wages war better than Americans (I'm not bragging on that point), but if that's all we have, then ask yourself how far only a hammer can carry you at a construction site.
"Generals and soldiers became more interested in themselves rather than keeping Sparta strong. These changes in attitude and the desire to accumulate more wealth for themselves rather than bolster the status of the state led to a wealth gap within Spartan Society." Hmm somethings never change.
Seems quite similar to the reason Rome fell.
Seems familiar
Jews.
@@gigachad6885 what
similar to the decline of Russia, they have a declining population, they went to war to make the problem worse. Huge wealth gap.
The funny thing is the reason the Spartan Empire fell was because they didn’t have enough Spartans…
If they had let any ally try the Agoge to become a Spartan they would have conquered all of Greece.
Thy were too Nationalist to grow, if you want to grow you have to change the rules and give up or share the Spartan identity.
@@deez583 If the Spartan Empire chose to gave up or share the Spartan Identity being a Spartan would lose it's meaning and the Spartan Empire would slowly fade away while it spread. You could see that in the late years of the Spartan Empire where the soldiers became less and less trained and the Famed Spartans started to lose battle after battle.
In the time of the Spartan Empire their best bet would be a strong nationalistic society that accepted anyone as helots but were strict about spartan requirements. Such as similar to the join or die policy the Mongols had but less extreme.
@@SpartanIsGaming Not if they had 2 classes.
1 passing the training & seen as elite
The other not passing seen as secondary bums
@@ClickClack_Bam people that didn’t pass could just be normal workers or they could help with the war effort but being a skirmisher or help with the supplies
@@SpartanIsGaming No, that’s like saying the roman identity completely lost its meaning while it spread, especially considering most people in the roman empire referred to themselves as roman’s
This is fascinating. Maybe the Spartans should have taken many more people into thei army for secondary roles. Like transportation and cooking etc. Letting the warriors do the fighting while the others took care of logistics
They had that.
5:23
@@bogdan4055 I'm thinking maybe it was too late??
@@joemacinnis1972 nah, they had it from the start of their power. Peasant who were farmers were their cooks, do their laundry and other logistics stuff needed for war.
@No_Name no, its like Germany during WW2. They used inferior fighters protecting their wings.
It's an over simplification to say that there was a Spartan empire. There was a balance of power among the Greek city states, and whenever one grew too powerful, the others united against that one. So none of them were able to build up an empire. It is true that Sparta was more militaristic than any of the others, and they did take territory from their neighbors, but they didn't preside over an empire in the sense that modern historians use the term.
Also their economy and logistics were so bad they couldn't deliver a siege to the neighboring polis.
Agreed. They never took over all of Greece, despite what this video states at the outset.
Oversimplification? Its a straight up inaccuracy lol. There never was no Spartan Empire.
@@TheNEOverse you're correct, it was that egregious, and a mistake like that calls into question the scholarship of the video as a whole.
The only empire that was there was alexander’s macedonia. Spartans were lucky Alexander died young. He couldve easily marched his army straight into sparta after conquering middle east
This show gives me more knowledge in 15 minutes than an entire history lesson at school. Well done guys 👍
Not really, you just didn't pay attention to the history lessons in school or do the assignments.
@@punkypony5165 how come I got A's then?
I've got a 96 in my history course this year, and I'll tell you that I absolutely agree with the original statement.
If my teacher is reading this, just note this:
This comment is true, although it is 100000% not at all your fault! Some of the other students just clearly weren't interested in the subject, and did as much as possible, to do as little as possible.
One of my all-time favorite teacher's ever, thanks for a great year Mrs. M!
How to say you’re American without saying you’re American
It actually had a lot of important things it didn't refer to or got wrong
Additional points:
1. Before the Dorian Sparta of 1.000 BCE and on, there had been an Achaean Sparta for quite enough centuries.
2. In Persian wars, the Athenian army had fought off the first Persian attack of 490 BCE alone, and during the second one of 480 - 479, their navy played a crucial role too, by crushing the Persian navy.
3. Up until the Peloponnesian war, Athenians were not very popular among other Greeks, because leaving the Athenian League, even declining a proposal to join, in some cases, was NOT an option.
4. The Spartans had their first defeats by other Greeks in the hands of the Thebans some years later. When some Spartan mothers learned about the defeats, they begged gods that their sons had NOT survived defeated and that they had died fighting.
5. Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who wrote about the Persian wars, was considered the father of historiography. Later, Athenian Thucydides, who wrote about the Peloponnesean Wars, was the first to introduce the strict, precise, objective and rigid investigation methods modern historiography stll uses. He was the father of ACADEMIC historiography. Some excerpts of his opera are taught even in modern military academies, involving the USA, at least for a period.
@Phantom take a better look at more sources, and be curious of the albanian propaganda, which still holds strong and consider that: 1)Most of the today's Greeks are related to populations that moved to Greece and mixed with the native Greeks, so they are descendants of both. 2)Greeks never replaced their language with Albanian. That is absurd. Even Arvanites, who you mention, spoke a subdialect of Albanian (60% of its words are albanian), so they had differentiated early themselves from their northern neighbours by adopting many words from other languages, mainly Greek and a fair amount of Turkish. 3)Arvanon, where Arvanites came from, was mentioned in greek texts before 200BC(e.g. Polybios in 204BC), while the word Albania was first used by Latins after 1100AD only for the north part of today's Albania (so Arvanon is excluded, because it is in the southern part). 4)The Orthodox Arvanites resisted against the Turkish Albanians and other enemies of Greece. Even the powerful ones, who could take their riches and live in another country as well as some of the most fearsome pirates chose to defend their country and religion. I stop here for now. If you are willing to help each other find out the truth and not just persuade me that you are right, I am waiting for your answer. If of course you can prove that my corrections are wrong.
@Phantom said the Albanian from his home basement in Athens
BCE....lol. nah, Before Christ. You can even look at the years since he was born 2022 years ago. So yeah, BC
Nice I love Spartan history
@@pantherxdoesit3425 It's very interesting and has a lot to teach us, above all fighting against attackers for your people till your last breath; let's not romanticise Spartan history, though, because it had some terrible aspects too!
This is the alternate universe where Kratos didnt ask Ares for help
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Helot rebellions more. That’s what really crushed Sparta was the fact they had like 60-70% of their population being slaves of former warriors who they defeated and forced to do work at their home while Spartans were away at war. Leaving Sparta completely vulnerable to attack by their own slaves
They always leave A LOT out. They are short videos so I guess that's why...
doesnt take long to mention that 😂 Spartans were horrible ppl
spartan army never marched to war without leaving behind a portion of its army to protect the city, almost 2/3 of the army stayed behind every time
@@mpampissamiwtis492 that’s not true at all. They emptied their cities during wars if needed. They usually just fought the smaller neighbor city states. But when they faced larger opponents they took their full forces out. I have no clue where you got that 2/3 numbers from
They left the women at home. According to contemporary accounts Spartan chicks were pretty fierce.
Imagine if the Spartans had the same amount of soldiers as the Romans 💀
Edit: I understand everything you guys are saying but I was more talking about if they had the same number of soldiers as like a Roman legion against the Persians
The legions would still be supreme...Rome refused to give up in the age of the Republic there was no stopping them
Amen
Then they would've lost on tactics anyway.
@@wolfdog3216 yes Amen
Wanna like but it’s at 111
What the Spartans could've done would be to encourage large families, give the first son or two over to the state for military training, then use the other sons for civil use such as farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc. This would have eliminated the need for keeping Helots, and made the kingdom far more stable and sustainable.
There actually was a third intermediate class of mainly artisans, but they weren't very numerous. It does seem like a good idea - set some proles slightly above the slaves so they identify with the aristocracy. Wouldn't work these days, of course. 😉
The helots were largely lorded over by women. Who used them in every way to stand in for their sons and husbands. The women would've been very opposed to eliminating the helot class.
Sweden actually used a system a little bit like that during their great power era. In their system, a farmer household could gain a tax exemption if they funded training and equipment of a professional soldier and a horse for the soldier, and promised to provide housing for both the soldier and his horse in the time of peace. The soldier didn't even have to be a family member though, it could be anyone who wanted to make such a deal with the household.
Both the Spartan and Roman empires feel apart because the destruction of the family.
Plus it qould also eliminate the need for suaves too.
So many lessons to learn from this. While strict discipline and order is important, if you lack adaptability and furthermore create bad karma with your cruelty, you sow the seeds for your own downfall. Many similarities are to be found with all these waring cultures (Vikings Goths Vandals etc). When united they are powerful but eventually they become greedy and the lack of culture and diversity catches up with them sooner or later. I'll take an Alfred the Great or Marcus Aurelius over Hannibal or Ghenkis Khan any day of the week 👍
USA is next
Plus, Demographic Crysis and Lack of Social Mobility
Just to note that the Vikings were adaptable enough to survive. They basically evolved into the modern states, including the Nordic countries and practically almost the entire area GBR and Western Russia.
You cannot rule from horseback what you conquered riding on one.
My takeaway is it wasnt Spartan's brute strength that caused their downfall but their stupidity.. They're like Japan during back in the world war, they just dont know when to stop and give up
Certain aspects of Sparta's decline are being mirrored in today's Western Societies. Those who fail to remember and learn from the past...
The wealth gap
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting things to change.”
Rome fell in a similar manner many years later...
maybe its a never-ending cycle and it is inevitable
@@mmraf1
It happens, though in this case it is because we became too moral and too dumb to relise what will happen.
So cool an entire civilization was founded from the movie 300. Good to see how far cosplay has come.
This is how you get haunted.
@@moonshinershonor202 nawh i get trauma from this statement
🤣🤣🤣
@@Althenticity What is the world coming to. 😣 All of Greece knows what is right, yet only the Spartans do it. 🙌 Sparta does no't deserve this disrespect. 🥀
😄😄
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.
-Ariel Durant
Imagine joining the US Army or Marine Corps and being told you have to buy your own rifle, plate carrier, helmet, and ammo. We'd be lucky to have enough guys to fill a Brigade. That's why our Defense Militia helps buy people their own uniform and gear.
In all fairness, they also have the ability to track you down if you ran off with it. Professional armies are hard to maintain without modern logistics
@@mullerpotgieter funny how most of that gear Soldiers and Marines get issued ends up in my local pawnshop lol. Bought a Marine Corps plate carrier from it for a hundred bucks which means they probably sold it for half that.
The biggest part of these elite soldiers were aristocrats and land owners. Slaves were doing all the labor in the fields so they had all the time to train and all the resources to afford their equipment.
Imagine if only people directly descended from the US Founding Fathers and their friends could join up, and even then only if they had no ancestors who had married outside that class. Imagine also if out of those people, only those who had inherited land from their ancestors in an unbroken chain were eligible to serve, and families kept having to sell that land off to fewer and fewer rich landowners to make ends meet. That's what the Spartan system was like. Having to buy your own gear was only a minor bottleneck in comparison to the fact that by the end, slaves and serfs outnumbered the Spartans ten to one.
@@annominous826 I'm lucky enough to be descended from one of those families lol we still have our own farm, hunting, and fishing lands. I'm surprised the Spartans didn't deal with as many Helot uprisings as you'd expect given how badly they outnumbered the Spartans. They should of been able to overwhelm them through sheer numbers on the right terrain unless there was a benefit for them to be under Spartan rule.
There were problems that they didn't solve. To be a spartan meant to be capable to feed your squad essentially. Because more and more land ended up in the hands of fewer and fewer women, the regular plots of land ended up being smaller and smaller and more and more people just couldn't afford it. The Spartans didn't have a system like inheritance tax. It would have helped a lot. They also didn't allow for any of the free people to becone Spartans that easily. They could have put an ancestry requirement (1 grandparent or great grandparent) and a combat performance requirement and be done with it. They didn't.
Victims of their own success yet refusing to change anything to sustain and replenish it.
The Roman’s had a similar fate.
I hope my nation does not suffer the same consequences.
Also, instead of breaking truces, they should've take advantage of them to rebuild their loss, consolidate their gains with the new territories they just conquered by showing their new citizens that the spartan rules was best for them, therefore strenghtening their loyalty. Growing too fast for greed leads to downfall, 100% of the time.
Wow, that easy huh. You'd have thought something like that might of occurred to the best minds of that era....it's almost as a though the passage of two thousand years has somewhat obscured some of the details. The fog of history suggests maybe, just maybe we lack all the facts.
@@mrnice7570
Yes, that easy. The details obscure aren't that important. Women usually had fewer children. That also meant that the Spartans, besides losing citizens due to financial reasons (not being able to feed the unit you were in), they had fewer men to replace them. They did try to make changes but certain women made sure they did not. Your comment says a lot about you. It's almost like you don't know what you're talking about but you think you do and you tell someone that knows that they don't. No, it's not almost like. That's what's happening. You're not nearly as smart or informed as you think you are.
@@bobfg3130 what a long winded way of saying you weren't around back then and so your knowledge is very limited. Nothing to do with earthquakes then? Back to the Agoge to start again
The Spartans went too true elite, this did lead to defeating the Athenian Empire and dominating the rest of Greece, but it was also led to too small a population which became rife with arrogance and greed, their ultimate downfall.
Thank you infographic show for making this video about Sparta it's really hard to find good documentary /educational videos that are well made
This seem like a calm and reasonable explanation
"Greeks never cease to amaze me. They are always inventing something new..."
"If they are so smart, then why are they our province and not the other way around?"
*-Conversation between Roman Emperor Augustus and his nephew Marcellus*
Logistics.
And eventually their empire came under the control of the Greeks during the byzantine period.
@@gilpaubelid3780 Then the Byzantines got sacked by Latin Crusaders. The Greeks and Latins are like oil and water.
@@gilpaubelid3780 They were Romans after all, bruh
They conquered your culture.
Its incredibel how greed can distroy an Empirie.
I was taught in middle school that spartans were excellent in combat, and known around the world for their skills and what not but they weren’t the number 1 in terms of military might. What they’re known for is the beauty of their women among all of greece.
Their women had way more freedom than any other women in Greek states
When all city states were battling like a rumble or doing honorable 1vs1 Sparta invented armies and warfare tactics like formations , whistling arrows to reorganise armies etc. After hundreds of years of war between the states these tactics were spread to all city states . Untill Alexander the Great arrived and improved on all these tactics and invented new ones as well. You can safely say until the arrival of Alexander ,all these years Spartan warriors were indeed the best in the known world.
@@aplavouloneis Actually all the city states were doing the phalanx. The difference is that Spartans were doing things like... actually training and being full time soldiers.
Other city state hoplites were basically militia. Craftsmen, merchants, philosophers, but not full time warriors. Apparently the very idea of 'training for war' was considered barbaric lol, and part of why they looked down on Sparta.
Also no, Spartans were not the best till Alexander. That goes to the Theban Sacred Band, who straight up beat the Spartans.
@@TheNEOverse with respect almost everything you said is wrong . Formations were invented by Spartans and after hundreds of years the other city states adopted them and thus creating the hoplite era. Spartans were the best among the city states because as you said they were living that life but that is only evident when everyone is using Spartan tactics. Before hoplite era Spartans had great advantages. Lastly about Thebes, did u really just used one battle scenario to prove your point when Sparta has million of examples in hundreds of years war ? Yeah Thebes used longer pikes in phalanx formation on an already declined Sparta and won . Means nothing.
@@aplavouloneis With all respect but you are the one who is in the wrong here, as you recall it admitting that Thebes won over declining Sparta but you still state that were better than the Thebes. It was weakened and it was in decline for a long time before the said event took place. Sparta being in decline doesn't change anything for the better. They were bested by the Thebes and that's the end if it, no matter how weak or strong they were.
This is a great example of how overwhelming aggression isn't the answer. Sparta was the strongest, but power can corrupt and it shows. Too much power too quickly became a weakness. The more force something puts out, the longer the cooldown, except they didn't realize this
The Spartan male warrior population was declining for years and the Spartans were not willing to reform their state to adapt to changing times. In a nutshell, they ran out of men and their system, as constituted, which they were unwilling to change, was unable to produce the amount of fighters they needed.
a failure of statesmanship that apparently lasted for many decades. they deserved to lose their hold on everyone else. their model was unsustainable and cruel anyway
This is a really well structured video, you hit all the good plot points I think. Ancient Greece is really fascinating. Great video
It’s not very accurate at all though. It’s pretty poor in my opinion.
Spartans were deprived of the ability to do many of the normal and enjoyable activities of life, such as have a normal family life. Imagine a boy who's attached to his parents and sisters getting separated from them at the age of 7, and having to stay in a military institution until the age of 50, by which time he's lost his youth. It's good that Sparta got destroyed because they brutalized their own people, especially their boys.
Relax, brutalisedd or not is a relative view and term.
@@innosanto oh boy, here comes the moral relativist
don;t be naive. not all boys made it through agogi, in fact, the largest percentage didn't, so they couldn't be soldiers. also that didn't meant that soldiers couldn't do normal life things, they were just battle hardened men, which for the time was normal. to them fighting and dying for Sparta was the biggest honor a soldier could have. but not every spartan man was a soldier.
*Fun fact:* Romans avenged the city of Troy when they conquered Greece and destroyed the Spartan Empire, as the founders of the city of Rome (Romulus and Remus) were descendants of a trojan man named Aeneas, who fled from the destruction of the ancient city by the greeks. It was needed a thousand years, but a win is a win
As Mine victory will soon come after 8000 years I shall avenge the desecration of Mine Knossos. Soon I will see the fall of the 2nd Babylon and salt its desecration. May the true sons of Saturn rise MWHAHAHHAHA
According to mythology sure, not actually true though
@@reconsoldier135 the government admitted to aliens in the sky and we don't even know what shakespears globe theatre actually looked like and that was hardly even 400 years or so ago.
I say why shoulde one worry of what is myth when your age and much of what surrounds it will be considered Myth too one day
@@reconsoldier135 it's not even a myth but roman propaganda written by virgil and was commissioned by Augustus
@@wankawanka3053 no the myth had always existed but it was asked to be written into a propaganda later
So many lessons in Sparta and we can see history repeating itself in real time.
I think you should look at the formation of the Doric Greeks around the time of Thermopylae. It is true that about 300 Spartans went to Thermopylae, but there were about 7,000 other Doric Greek hoplites that went with them. The Spartans did not hole the Persian army at bay with only 300 of their citizens.
True but 7,000 fought against as many as 300,000 Persians and held them off for 2-3 days, still crazy to think about
Tbf didn't most of them leave before the end leaving only tue Spartans thespians and someone else.
7000 is the biggest estimation, it could be anything between 1000 and 7000 as well.
@@justicer14 7,000 Greeks and the Persian strength modern estimates put it at 350,000 to 400,000 however there are historians who still say it was possible the Persian Numbers could have been in the millions
@@alexmason2659 most of the Greeks left anyway upon hearing the Persians are going to surround them.
At that point, only the Spartans and maybe 700 Thespians stayed.
Just saying it could be less than 7000 Greeks, that's the number Diodorus puts, Herodotus talks about less and none of the two can be proven.
Did yall know Chuck Norris was supposed to be in the movie 300?? well the producers decided not to cast him cause then the movie would have to be re named to 1.
... and then history would have been rewritten by a single reverse kick by Chuck 🤣😂😝
Chuck Norris was there.
@@kaneda956 bruh
i always question how historians can know such specific details like the number of soldiers etc.
Ancient text and scriptures. Also archeological evidence
@@pimplejuice8774 highly exaggerated. grape vine theory
I bet you believe the Bible though
Probably some kings would maintain a roll call of their soldiers. If the armies had professional and full time soldiers like Sparta, they would definitely maintain a record of the numbers of soldiers in their armies who would fight in the battles.
@@Scarface_saiyan and i bet you dont
You didn’t mention the great earthquake that cut the number of true Spartans in half which contributed to the declining warrior population
Wait, when?
@@emmeemme2377 pompeii.
@@emmeemme2377
Just before the Peloponnesian war. Athens offered to assist them but Sparta denied.
@@YEEEEETSKIII mf thats italy
@@sabtuxahad u right 😆
Can you make more of this empire history downfall.. its really a good lesson
Anyone else think it’s weird to think that people once lived in a world where they could just go somewhere that no one had ever gone before and simply claim the land as there own?
Forget that you could be born in a generation war all because your granddad wanted to pop the same women as your neighbor
Lol that would always be fun until a polis or larger force would arrive and plunder it for themsleves :(
We still do...
@@bkimatab no, they’re not lol, I’m sure you’re thinking of some technicalities like “🤓well ackchually Antartica is still unclaimed in fact if you reach a previously unvisited sight you can name that land”
But I meant in a more literal sense. Like as in if you got kicked out of New York City you just walked 3 miles north and start a New City and nobody really questioned it unless they wanted to fight you for it.
Or how in History the “witches” that were kicked out of Massachusetts simply went a little further down, and said “ok new city, rule #1 no more religion based laws”
Buying land is still a thing
This would make a great movie the full story of Sparta is amazing.
There is a movie about this type of stuff, it shows what it was like in the Trojan War, the Spartan Empire, etc. but I can’t remember what it’s called
Glad to see you branch out from the Ukraine and Russia conflict. The WW3 videos were getting old
It's amazing just how dynamic people in those early times were. It's also amazing how greed & hard handed oppression never succeed in the end.
Lol greed still wins til this day.
Watching this makes me wanna play assassins creed odyssey
Interesting that we know more about battles so far in the past than of our ocean today
Unlike the ocean the battles of previous civilization was documented......just saying
From things I’ve read, it was because the Spartans usually fought other weaker peoples, then began fighting bigger stronger opponents, and while successful at first, refused to ever change tactics, even after having their enemies adapt to their fighting style.
When that happened, the Spartans were easily defeated in most battles.
Infographics show is the new history channel! Just hope they don’t end up on the same path tho
Imagine being a kid who survived birth and then just to die in the most important battle of sparta
A warriors death! sounds good to me.
Glory is bigger then urself, its a common destiny of a people, like a lion species surviving into the future, we all die but our herd lives on
2:47 Also 700 Thespians who refused to leave the Spartans side after Leonidas told the other Greeks to go home and prepare further defenses.
Love your videos Ty's for ur hard work 👑
I love these ancient civilizations episodes 💝💝💝💝💝
The decline of the Spartan Empire was driven by internal social issues, military defeats, and changing alliances. An intriguing chapter of history, thanks for sharing this!
Pretty sure that Zeus destroyed the Spartan empire after Kratos started killing everything
God of War is not a documentary, friend. loool
Yes it is! Santa told me personally!
@@RuudAwakening 😠😠😠 santa is not real !!1!1!1! 🤓
@@dynad00d15you’re fun at parties
I think it was the case that the Romans were able to subdue the Greeks due to Kratos murdering their own gods.
We were in Greece last month and seeing all the ruins and hearing the antient history was amazing.
The Spartan hegemony only lasted 50 years. Weird how it seems to loom so much larger in modern imaginations than the Macedonians, who managed to conquer more lands than even the Romans and continued dominating them for 200 years. Also, why don't the Thebans get any respect? They used new, innovative military tactics to overthrow Spartan rule and dominated Greece in turn.
Thebes is respected amongst military historians.
in addition, the Theban League gave the Spartans pause. It was composed of homosexual lovers who would fight to the death to defend their partner. They overpowered the Spartans for this reason
This is the first time I hear an non-greek saying a greek name well. I meant the Επαμεινώνδας (Epaminondas). Well done, consider me impressed.
Thanks for my country history 🙏🇬🇷
Man, this is such a cool video. Ancient Greece was such an interesting time to learn about. It's so cool how spartans were so elite, It would be something to have been able to see them in battle.
Yeah They Where Elite
The Spartans teamed up with Persia during the Peloponnesian wars, which is what allowed them to beat Athens's navy.
I guess the Byzatine emperor was Greek to the core despite calling themselves Roman afterwards
You would be right. In fact, the Eastern Grecoromans (or "Byzantines") from the very beginning of their independence, considered themselves political inheritors of the fallen Western Roman Empire and national inheritors of ancient Greece at the same time and this ideal never went away despite the advent of christianity.
Much of the Eastern Mediterranean was hellenized after Alexander's conquest. So while the "byzantine" empire was of Greek ethnicity, it was still Roman.
@@arcotroll8530 They had a good arguments in both cases tho.Since they were Grecoromans they were both Greeks and Romans.
@@RootGroves-hl8kt Indeed they were and I should know, I'm one of their descendants.
@@arcotroll8530 Well im one as well.:)
Proud to be Spartan by blood ❤️
🤣🤣
😂
I love your video and I'm subscribed to your channel. I like the historical correctness and the objectivity of your narrative, something rare on youtube.
There is an oversight in this video though, which is hard once you see it. At timestamp 17:52 you show the City of Rome with two landmarks in the background: on the right there is the Pantheon, which was built at the time of Emperor Hadrian. On the left, there is the "Altare della Patria", built by King Victory Emmanuel II, in 1885. It is definitely out of place in your video.
Ok, not all your viewers are history buffs, but I thought you may want to know it, since your usual great historical precision.
Regards from the UK...
Anthony
Failure to adapt and pursuit of greed, as well as waging numerous wars, far more than one empire should.
Sounds strangely familiar to another country today.
Who doesn't learn from History is bound to repeate it.
I'm from Greece and our class is learning this war with these two towns.
Now we know why Kratos is the strongest god of war ever 😂🔥 , cuz he belonged to the deadliest army in history 😱
Now we know? You never player God of War 1?
@@Xecnalxes Lol He just found out abt spartans not gow
This was in explain in God of war 1 lol
@@Xecnalxes just confirming dude , i did play the GOW series : /
@@calwynsamuel3794 u never learned about Sparta in school?
The Immortals. The Sacred Band. The Green Berets. So badass they require a name.
the immortals was what they were called bcs persia had so many soldiers they could replenish the men in an instant hence the idea they are immortal psychological warfare at its finesr
God I love ancient history
it is so cool. It's unbelieveable the way they lived thousands of years ago and to see how much has changed with civilization is just insane. There was like 20 wars with in a few hundred year it seemed like. haha
It's amazing how every day is like a clock, There's an interesting new video.
In the Spartan mirage facts are often the first casualty
. King Agesilaus II (c. 440 BC - c. 360 BC) was Sparta's
longest ruling king. He was a great warrior and beloved
by his people. But he had a physical "disability". never
the less, he, although, of royal blood, not only enrolled
in the Agoge but thrived therein. There are exceptions to
virtually every rule.
Spartan Empire? That is an overstatement.
Let it be known that Infographic show will never run out of content...any topic they bring out the best 👍
There were a few more than 300 warriors that fought against Xerxes - more like 7000. They just went down to 300 for the final battle.
This was such a fascinating and insightful watch. Thanks!
Sparta and Rome had a parallel to its rise and downfall ngl
So glad this is a fun history lesson with absolutely no applicability to this time period at all.
This is too good , keep it up
Watching this while playing AC Odyssey
Same
Same
i want to remind you that Sparta allied with Persia a few times and they refused to fight them when other states fought them
saying that spartans had honor or was a glorious nation in Greece is probably one of the biggest lies in history
It wasn't an Empire though, it was a League with Sparta at its head, which was ran by 2 Kings
Sparta was like a proto Rome.....its interesting because if the early Romans were influenced by the Greeks, then its quite possible they knew about the rise and fall of Sparta and made reforms so as not to end up like them.
Spartabis nothing like rome they have nothing in common. Rome is anti Sparta
oh, the Romans were 'influenced' by those Greeks. they experienced a veritable _culture shock_ when they finally incorporated all of Greece into their empire. the Greeks considered them not just barbarians (everyone not Greek was a barbarian) but very uncivilised too. and the Romans took this to heart. their educated classes enthusiastically emulated everything Greek and Rome got hellinised in the process which was a win for all of Europe
There was never a "Spartan Empire". At its height it only controlled the Peloponnese and Corinth. That's only two major cities at the time, not very big.
They are hegemon of the greek city states. It's like a mix of confederation and allies that was glue together on how strong your army that can put them in line thru forced.
They had control of athens and stiff after the pelloponesian war
@@johnalejandro6392 they were hegemon of all of Greece for only 30 years after the Peloponnesian war then they defeated by thebans
It was so cool when Leonidas held the hot gates and said "it's spartin time"
One of the moments of all time
The problem with Sparta was:
1. Low population meant permanent occupation was impossible
2. Inability to seige meant they were unable to break the walls of fortified cities
3. Constant incursions into Persia sapped their energy and resources making them susceptible to Athenian blockades
4. inability to adapt in battle once their formation got broken
@@Andrea-dw1ps 5. As a result of their commanders being in the thick of battle and no reserves they couldn't adapt to what the enemy was doing tactically at any point
8:13 sounds like exactly what’s happening here in the US…
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You forgot grass THC for medicinal use
Awsome bro my family is from ancient Sparta 😀😀
What spartan empire are they talking about? I've never heard of Sparta having any empire before.
Macedonia is greece bruh
Great job! Thanks
It always goes back to money. Fascinating video.
What history omitted is that there were over three to seven thousand soldiers from another city state helping them
The Perioikoi, literally translated as "the dwellers around". They were the free non citizen class of Spartan society.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey taught me more about Greek history than this video..
Love these infographics! If only history class was taught like this
Surprised you did not mention Spartan general Lysander who accepted the Persian gold that allowed them to buy that huge fleet to finally defeat Athens. It was at that point that their laws were fully compromised and a big part of their long decline.
One of the most important words a human being can learn in life is "enough."
Props to the recruiter for staying alive for so long.
It is insane how many parallels there are between then and today. As I was watching my jaw kept dropping
Great video 👍🏻
We know why Sparta went extint,Zeus went and destroyed it right after dethroning and killing Kratos this is old news.
Nah, that never happened. It was poseidon's death that caused the destruction.
@@znspyder in god of war 2 zeus destroyed sparta
@@matejamicic3037 in the original timeline yes, but in the next timeline, it was poseidons death that caused the destruction.
World got smaller, far regions became near, far empires who came once in a while from one direction or another turned into a situation of ever-present nations at the border of Greece and its many city states, first by Macedon, then by Rome and the others that followed. Helots no longer got help from local city states alone, but from larger powers at the periphery. Sparta was pushed into economic sideline as well, the one war they were not well equipped for. In many ways we can see Late Classical as the age where the "geopolitics" as we know, based on economic output, size, demographics, and strategic location; started forming. And that geopolitical idea had no room for Sparta in it.
Either Sparta had to change or it had to go. It wasn't just Sparta either. The sun was setting on an argument being waged since Copper Age, the argument of the City vs the State
The same argument that is conversely starting to rise back up in our interconnected and globalized world.
Awesome vid.
The Sacred Band that helped defeat the Spartans in the Battle of Leuctra were not only the elite troops of Thebes, they were also a unique social experiment.
Thebian commanders wanted to have highly motivated troops and they decided that the greatest motivation to fight was love. Not just love of country but interpersonal love like with family and partners. To this end they selected the best troops they could find in their armies that had one common criteria: the unit had to consist of homosexual couples. The theory was that if you loved the man next to you then you would fight better as the stakes were higher for you personally.
Ultimately it seems the theory was proven true as when a Greek army fought the forces of Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father) at the battle of Chaeronea the Sacred Band were wiped out. It was later found that the reason they were wiped out was because they were the only Greek unit that absolutely refusesd to run when the Greek army was routed and so they fought to the death. All 300 of them.
I doubt there'll be a movie made about them though.
Hopefully not