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Greece – Culture, Politics and War The evolution of the political system in ancient Greece was closely mimicked by the evolution of war itself. When most people think of ancient Greece they think of their philosophy, theater, democracy, the hoplite soldier and so on. What most don’t realize, however, is this view of ancient Greece only applies to a certain period: the Classical Age of Greece. The Classical Age is when Gre...

Battle of Blanchetaque 1346 - 100 Years WarA Feat of Arms A very notable feat of arms took place on the morning of August 24th, 1346, in the marshy estuary of the River Somme. The small and starving English army of Edward III was in desperate need to cross to the north side of the river as staying where they were on the south side kept them bottled up between the sea and the river. But that wasn't the worst of it, for there was also an enorm...

Sparta HelotsOf all the Greek states it was Sparta that stood out in their fanatical beliefs about battle and war. They were the only city-state that had a full time army consisting of the entire male population. The one thing that made this possible was the helot. The helots were subjugated tribes that the Spartans held in slavery to perform all domestic trade and agriculture duties, thus freeing the citizen males to dedicat...