March 31, 2022
BUT USEFUL CANNON FODDER:
The Spartans Were Morons (Gabriel Russell, 3/30/22, Task & Purpose)
People who imagine themselves inheritors of their traditions usually overlook these.They lost. It's an incredibly romantic "going out in a blaze of glory" loss, I'll admit, but they still lost, in part because their obsession with turning out perfect Soldiers impeded their ability to turn out sufficient numbers of fighters who were "good enough."Alliances enabled their successes. Do you remember the romantic and heroic tale of the last stand of the 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans? Probably not. They get overlooked in distorted Hollywood version of the story but the battle would have been far different were it not for the contributions of other Greek City States who fought alongside them.Terrain overcame flaws in their training and tactics. The narrow pass at Thermopylae allowed the Spartans to fight in a Phalanx, standing in rows faced directly against their enemies. Spartans believed this to be, not only tactically, but morally superior. Their blind obedience to this doctrine was their undoing when the circumstances didn't favor it.They had no culture other than war. Let's face it, killing babies who don't appear to have great potential as warriors is a dramatic statement of cultural values but it doesn't lead to advances in science, agriculture, or the arts. All of which are also necessary for a culture to reach peak military potential. It also led to Sparta degenerating into tyranny at times.
The fun part of 300 is that Frank Miller simply discards their actual politics to make them defenders of democracy.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 31, 2022 12:00 AM