The Ancient Greeks at War

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Main article: Peloponnesian War The key actions of each phase Agrianian peltast holding three javelins, one in his throwing hand and two in his pelte hand as additional ammunition Anderson, J. K., Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1970. The second major challenge Sparta faced was fatal to its hegemony, and even to its position as a first-rate power in Greece. As the Thebans attempted to expand their influence over Boeotia, they inevitably incurred the ire of Sparta. After they refused to disband their army, an army of approximately 10,000 Spartans and Pelopennesians marched north to challenge the Thebans. At the decisive Battle of Leuctra (371 BC), the Thebans routed the allied army. The battle is famous for the tactical innovations of the Theban general Epaminondas. Melee, or hand-to-hand combat, occurred most often after the tight formation of the phalanx dispersed. This fighting was also often referred to as dorarismos, meaning "spear-fighting" because the hoplites would use small swords in the fighting. [31] One example of melee combat is described by Herodotus during a battle at Thermopylae. Herodotus reports that after the Spartans had lost their spears and swords during the dorarismos, they continued fighting "with their hands and teeth." [31] Ambuscade [ edit ] The Maritime Task Force (MTF) is the naval component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)

In 1460 the Ottomans conquered the Despotate of the Morea, in 1461 the Empire of Trebizond (the Akcakale castle captured by the Turks in 1467 though), in 1475 the Principality of Theodoro, in 1479 the Despotate of Epirus and by 1500 most of the plains and islands were in Ottoman hands. Holdouts included Rhodes, conquered in 1522, Cyprus in 1571, Crete, retained by the Venetians until 1669, and the Ionian islands which remained primarily under the rule of the Republic of Venice. Following this victory, the Thebans first secured their power-base in Boeotia, before marching on Sparta. As the Thebans were joined by many erstwhile Spartan allies, the Spartans were powerless to resist this invasion. The Thebans marched into Messenia, and freed it from Sparta; this was a fatal blow to Sparta, since Messenia had provided most of the helots which supported the Spartan warrior society. These events permanently reduced Spartan power and prestige, and replaced the Spartan hegemony with a Theban one. The Theban hegemony would be short-lived however. Echeverría, Fernando, "Hoplite and Phalanx in Archaic and Classical Greece: A Reassessment", Classical Philology, Vol. 107, No. 4, 2012, pp. 291-318.

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Greece didn't participate at the battles and didn't declare war on Turkey, only some Greek units participated (mostly ELDYK).

The remainder of the wars saw the Greeks take the fight to the Persians. The Athenian dominated Delian League of cities and islands extirpated Persian garrisons from Macedon and Thrace, before eventually freeing the Ionian cities from Persian rule. At one point, the Greeks even attempted an invasion of Cyprus and Egypt (which proved disastrous), demonstrating a major legacy of the Persian Wars: warfare in Greece had moved beyond the seasonal squabbles between city-states, to coordinated international actions involving huge armies. After the war, ambitions of many Greek states dramatically increased. Tensions resulting from this, and the rise of Athens and Sparta as pre-eminent powers during the war led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which saw further development of the nature of warfare, strategy and tactics. Overview of wars in Ancient Greece Ancient Greek marble relief (c. 330 BC) depicting a soldier in combat, holding his weapon in his hand as he prepares to strike a fallen enemy; the relief may have been part of an official Athenian state memorial; from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek collection, Copenhagen, Denmark The Greek forces had/have mostly peacekeeping, humanitarian, logistics, reconstruction and support role

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