Warfare has probably existed since the first band of hominids cracked the heads of a rival band with sticks and stones and handy bones to chase them off a desired spot. The art of cracking heads, literally and figuratively, has come a long way since then. Warfare evolves constantly, to adapt to new conditions. The evolution tends to be gradual, but sometimes warfare witnesses rapid changes that are, on a historical time scale, sudden and revolutionary. When that happens, it is usually thanks to creative generals who stepped outside the box to come up with ideas that changed warfare. Below are seventeen things about such generals who shaped warfare from the days of spears and swords, to the dawn of the age of firearms and cannons.
17. Taking on Ancient Greece’s Scariest Army
Sparta and Thebes went to war in 378 BC, and the Thebans, led by Epaminondas (died 362 BC) had their work cut out for them. Other Greek city states staffed their phalanxes with citizen soldiers – civilians who temporarily took up arms during wartime. By contrast, Sparta’s citizens were professional soldiers who left home at age seven for a brutal military academy, and spent the rest of their lives training for war. Sparta could afford that because of massive slavery. It conquered neighboring Messenia in the eighth century, BC, then turned the entire Messenian population into state slaves, known as Helots. To control the Helots, who outnumbered the Spartans ten to one, Sparta became a military state and society. It also became a police state, with a secret police known as the Krypteia, to terrorize the Helots and kill any who seemed restive or showed leadership potential.
