Spartan Organization, Tactics, and Fortifications - True Size of a Spartan Army (3D DOCUMENTARY)
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In this 3D history documentary we bring to life the True Size of a Spartan Army to unlock the secrets of its strength. The documentary begins with a summary of the basic soldiers which made up the Spartan Army. We then review the organizational hierarchy of the Spartan Army from the 36 man Enomotia to the Morai. We then simulate the Spartan Army in camp, on the march, and in battle order.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:54 Spartan Soldiers
07:14 Small Group
11:43 Enomotia
14:37 Pentokostys
15:31 Lochos
17:17 Mora
20:49 Army
23:35 Parade Rest
26:31 War Camp
31:19 March
33:35 Battle Order
Sources and Suggested Reading
"Constitution of the Lacedaimonians" by Xenophon
"History of the Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides
"The Greek military camp in the Ten Thousand's army" by Mauricio Rico
Credits:
Research = Invicta and Roel Konijnendijk
Script = Invicta
Narration = Guy Michaels
Art = Penta Limited
#history
#documentary
#unrealengine5
Huge lift on this episode but I think its our best yet! What should we cover next? ✅ Install Raid for Free Mobile and PC: clik.cc/iVy8o and get a special starter pack with an Epic champion Drake 🎉 💥Check out Raid’s new limited animated series Call of the Arbiter here: kzhead.info/sun/e5drlNqxeoihmaM/bejne.html&pp=iAQB
Lol
Why the hell is the brit narrating from 3:00 onward? Where's our Invicta?!
do a video on the chorasmian kingdom north of bactria. i remember the greeks expecting wild scythians and getting an organzied kingdom that tried to diplomatically turn alexander back. or maybe investigate the settled scythians like the budini and their connection to the proto-slavic groups?
Loved your videos since day one when you did Adrianople back in 2016, along with Kings and Generals channel with the others... keep up the great work you guys & everyone over there. 👍✔ I'm looking forward to all that you have up next in the works... along with what comes up in many ideas next with Total War Pharaoh. 😎😉 Ideas: The rise of the Egyptian New Kingdom & pre history of the old & middle kingdoms leading up to it all. Wars between Egypt & Nubia over rivalries & gold mines there. The rise & fall of the Hittites & their military conflicts with Egypt & others. Troy! = rise and fall periods & history. The two Pre-classic Greek civilizations in rise & fall. Assyria = from beginning till end. Babylonia = from start to finish The Canaanites = from pre-history about them to Egypt, Moses + David & Goliath till Solomon & more. The sea peoples = everything we know & can guess about their origins The book of the dead, Ani's version & others about them & the afterlife. Construction of the great pyramids all throughout & history in uses. Tutankhamun = early to end of life & background info. Ramses the 2nd's whole life & battle of Kadesh till later life in death. Valley of the kings & their tombs. Egyptian hieroglyphs & meanings Early trade between Egypt, land of Punt and other civilizations throughout the bronze age. Beginning & end of the Bronze Age. Evolution & size of the Egyptian armies and other bronze age civilizations & militaries. Great cities of the bronze age from beginning to end, and especially those of Egypt throughout. The golden age of Egypt & developments from back then going on. History of the Nile river in Egypt & agriculture in rich farming land. The best & worst Pharaohs of ancient Egypt known. The priests of Egypt & religions Ptolemy Egypt from beginning till end in history background information Egyptian Scarab & meanings in luck & afterlife. Ancient Egyptian diplomacy & invasions by other peoples into the land of the Pharaohs... and how they dealt with it all. Hope you enjoyed for notes of this in writing down for possible future videos for 2024 onwards after Total War Pharaohs' release... and there's plenty more in ideas I have where that all came from = a decade's worth in the making in my thoughts. If you wish to contact me in future support for one another in further vids in basic ideas for your end, just reply and I will respond asap! I'm always around for your vids... so we can look out for one another in requests that will make even greater content for all who love classic history & more. P.S: Please don't make any Bronze age content in vids about it all till after looking up everything there is about Total War Pharaoh in game, units & more upon post release, for accuracy & more to make the vids even more out of them. 👌 DLCs too.
The funniest part in Spartans, was that they were mostly amusement park, for most of they history.
Now I'm really looking forward for a video about the true size of the army of Alexander the Great
same would be amazing!
Or even more impressive would be the true size of Alexander’s army in contrast to the truly gigantic Achaemenid forces that were strategically outmaneuvered, on what, at least three (?) HUGE engagements
Alexander had about 50,000 men at the start of the campaign.. 47 thousand at the battle of gaugamela. 40k infantry and 7k calvary. This is minus camp followers and baggage train..
Macedonians. The inventors of the original Phalanx formation. It was really Phillip the 2nd. Alex’s daddy that built the army that Alex then inherited to go conquer the world w/. But a great time all the same
Philip reformed the Macedonian army to make it the most powerful force in the known world. Alexander inherited this most powerful force in the known world, and he made it even BETTER ;) Have you seen any of Kings & Generals’ videos of Alexander’s logistical innovations? :D
I love these “True Size” videos! They’re such a great visual aid to understanding how an army was used in the actual field and really helps in better imagining of the real scale of ancient battles
Same
+
You left out how the Spartans used musical instruments to coordinate their marches and formations. Apparently aulos (double pipe flute) players were very essential to the Spartan war-machine, as they helped the entire phalanx to maintain unit cohesion as they advanced, while sound signals allowed formations to quickly adapt and change by a general's orders. Music also had the added benefit of raising morale as listening to Spartan songs while also singing along gave the men courage and motivation to fight on in the midst of battle. Hence why the Spartans were considered to be the most warlike and musical of the Greeks. Thucydides makes notes of this in his historical account, History of The Peloponnesian War, on the opening of the Battle of Mantinea: "The Lacedaemonians advance slowly, accompanied by many double-pipes players (such is their custom), not for the goodwill of the god, but in order that they might advance evenly and keep their rhythm going, lest their formations are broken up (the sort of thing that always happens to very large forces when they make their advances)."
You know your stuff 👍
Beautiful. Thanks
Very useful piece of info.
In his War Oration, at the start of the Peloponesian War, Pericles called the Athenians to battle. He called the Athenians “men who sing and dance together”. This may have been a reference to the civic festivals of the Democracy, but also to the synchronization of the hoplite battle line. You can still see men dancing this way in a Greece…
All armies did that.
It's interesting that the smallest unit size always seem to be about 8 men (+/-), the next unit always about 40-50 and company size always about 100-150. It's almost like a natural law of warfare.
Yes because it would be too hard to control or command the next actions if they increased the size. But Its fascinating how disciplined they were to be able to control such large sizes of militaries with animals and all their gears.
One of the things I've learned from years of (amateur) study of the ancient world, which alwasy tickles me, is that the size of military units then, and now seem to follow similar principles of sizes. The modern US Army infantry squad is nine men. Similar sizes of squads existed in the Roman Legions, and, apparently, the Spartan Army. Same thing with platoons... and then companies... etc. I'm not saying their exact, but the breakdown seems to have been pretty much along simlar lines/sizes for thousands of years.
Yeah, but something I find interesting is how usually their command structures were vastly different in each level. For example, the Decanus, despite being equivalent to a sergeant or corporal was elected and wouldn't count as a Principales or NCO but rather as an ordinary Pedes or Enlisted role
Thank you a lot for this! Love Greek history!
Incredibly good concept and presentation. After all my years of studying ancient military history this is a breakthrough event. Nothing like it anywhere. Thank you so much!!!! I'm anxious for more. Seriously !!
Speaking as a Greek I can say wow and thank you for such a quality video and discourse !
Excellent quality as always. One of the best channels in the community. This is a subject that I love to contemplate. I think you should make videos on the same subject for different armies, and make it a series. Although other channels have done this, I think your style and quality of video would suit it better.
The way they set up camps is a clue to the way they fought . The spartan were flexible . How they deployed depended on what the ground and enemy looked like
This channel has greatly evolved over the years. I'm loving it
As a non-cobatant civilian I am left awestruck to see and imagine the formations of an army of disciplined soldiers taking their regular positions during battle time or while marching and repeatedly drilled on a daily basis during peace time in the camps. This looks like a well oiled huge war machine on the move while marching and efficiently making formations before fighting. It certainly would have evolved over centuries by ironing out the deficiencies based on earlier actual experiences gained and learnings from failures due to ineffective practices followed in actual battle conditions. Very nicely explained both verbally as well as visually. Your whole team deserves a huge round of applause. Well done.
Terrific video! It's fascinating to study what can be known of ancient military formations.
Comparing The Spartans to the Romans, it's important to point out that the difference in size of the support staff is in part due to the Roman Legionnaires being expected to do a lot more "support" work on their own, like building up the fortified camps, making their own meals, and foraging the countryside for food. The Spartiates relied on Helots to do the vast majority of the labor, dedicating themselves mainly on combat.
The Spartiates were the "nobility" of their social order, "knights on foot" . While the Roman army were soldiers, at least since the late Republic.
I love these sort of videos. I would love it if you guys could do the armies of the Diadochai (Seleucid Empire, Macedon, Ptolemaic Egypt), Alexander's Army, Byzantine Army and/or Hunnic Army. Please, these are armies that id love to learn more about
I'm new to the channel, I'm doing some basic research into ancient/historic militaries and I love how this essentially "dumbs it down" in comparison to other source allowing for a better understanding
To date, my most favorite history channel, above Kings & Generals and the rest. Much because of the different aspects covered (not all battle reenactments). I hope your staff can endure the low point as of late.
Really great video! Huge step up in quality
Very nice and many details about organization and tactics and style of the army and many more
Hi! Thank you for excellent documentation, I have been learning a lot. 😊 next video on Achaemenid's army ???😅
Amazing video, please more of this
So interesting seeing the scale of forces. Would be awesome if you did a similar video on a US carrier. Very hard to explain to people the effort it takes to move a floating city around the world.
Fascinating! Thank you!
Omg!!! Thank you for such amazing content 🎉❤
An excellent video, really enjoy these true size videos
Just what the world needed, another video helping to perpetuate the myth of the Sparta.
love these documentaries
Amazing series!
It was super wonderful video that explained district arrangement of Spartans army...thank you (Invicta) history coverage channel
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
Awesome Documentary👍
More of this please. Great video
I can't wait for the video on the Macedonian army size, this one was great!
Could it be possible to do this type of video for a ww2 or modern division or is that beyond the scope of this channel as it is not in antiquity. It would be cool because this type of visualization is really concrete and lets you see it directly.
We have had a few people request this subject and are now in production on an episode for the US Army in WW2. It was initially supposed to cover a Rifle Battalion but the level of detail eventually forced us to scale back to just a company.
@@InvictaHistory Great KZhead video and channel, but I frequently find the background music in your videos to be a little too loud. I would strongly suggest you lower it or even get rid of it for large portions of the video. I firmly believe that background music is distracting, annoying, and unnecessary (especially for educational or opinionated videos with lots of talking). I also believe that people want to hear you speak/get information and not hear generic background music that doesn't really add anything useful and that people have to mentally filter out. Plus it will be one less thing you will have to do when making videos. Thank you.
Do true size of an Aztec army next
This was anothery very well done and intersting Video. Thx everyone
Yesss I've been waiting for this episode
Amazing work!
Amazing video. Great work.
great documentation
these are great videos, were lucky to get them free... thank you for making them and sharing them with us all
Actually, my great great grandfathers cousin on my mother's side was spartan...I remember as a child,my great grandfather would show us this black,9inch,smooth long rock and tell us stories of his father turning 6 years old and being sent off to train day and night for war... when he turned 12,his uncles took him deep into the wilderness one evening and told him to strip down to his white,fruit of the loom, tidy whiteys,then ran back to the Chevy and drove the 40 miles back into town... He had just turned 12,yet the village elders wouldn't open the town gates and let him reenter to safety until he returned a man..its some ritual us spartan males in my family apparently went through.. So apparently ,my great great grandpa cousin ,who just turned 12 mind u, single_handidly killed a giant ,black,man_eating alpha wolf he had been tracking the past 7 weeks then ambushes and killed..
And yeah, in case there's any smart ass out there who doesn't know me at all, but someone wants to talk as if they know my great great grandfather and say I'm making all this up or that I sound like I watch too much tv, or u comedians out there who really want me to believe that the family heirloom isn't the wolf canine,but my great great grandmothers cousin giant,spartan dildo,yeah really great, it actually reminds me of a warning my folks gave me...I shouldn't talk much about our direct ancestral line to mighty sparta..jealousy can burn wild But,as the saying goes. The proof is in the pudding...or should I say this giant 9inch ,black hand me down
AMAZINGGGG
Nice vid
Kinda feels like this shoulda been episode 1 of this series, but im just glad you got to it.
Excellent.
Nice rome total 2 music in the background ❤
You should make a visualization of Machiavelli's army from his "Art of War."
I would love to see a Macedonian army
Loved your videos since day one when you did Adrianople back in 2016, along with Kings and Generals channel with the others... keep up the great work you guys & everyone over there. 👍✔ I'm looking forward to all that you have up next in the works... along with what comes up in many ideas next with Total War Pharaoh. 😎😉 Ideas: The rise of the Egyptian New Kingdom & pre history of the old & middle kingdoms leading up to it all. Wars between Egypt & Nubia over rivalries & gold mines there. The rise & fall of the Hittites & their military conflicts with Egypt & others. Troy! = rise and fall periods & history. The two Pre-classic Greek civilizations in rise & fall. Assyria = from beginning till end. Babylonia = from start to finish The Canaanites = from pre-history about them to Egypt, Moses + David & Goliath till Solomon & more. The sea peoples = everything we know & can guess about their origins The book of the dead, Ani's version & others about them & the afterlife. Construction of the great pyramids all throughout & history in uses. Tutankhamun = early to end of life & background info. Ramses the 2nd's whole life & battle of Kadesh till later life in death. Valley of the kings & their tombs. Egyptian hieroglyphs & meanings Early trade between Egypt, land of Punt and other civilizations throughout the bronze age. Beginning & end of the Bronze Age. Evolution & size of the Egyptian armies and other bronze age civilizations & militaries. Great cities of the bronze age from beginning to end, and especially those of Egypt throughout. The golden age of Egypt & developments from back then going on. History of the Nile river in Egypt & agriculture in rich farming land. The best & worst Pharaohs of ancient Egypt known. The priests of Egypt & religions Ptolemy Egypt from beginning till end in history background information Egyptian Scarab & meanings in luck & afterlife. Ancient Egyptian diplomacy & invasions by other peoples into the land of the Pharaohs... and how they dealt with it all. Hope you enjoyed for notes of this in writing down for possible future videos for 2024 onwards after Total War Pharaohs' release... and there's plenty more in ideas I have where that all came from = a decade's worth in the making in my thoughts. If you wish to contact me in future support for one another in further vids in basic ideas for your end, just reply and I will respond asap! I'm always around for your vids... so we can look out for one another in requests that will make even greater content for all who love classic history & more. P.S: Please don't make any Bronze age content in vids about it all till after looking up everything there is about Total War Pharaoh in game, units & more upon post release, for accuracy & more to make the vids even more out of them. 👌 DLCs too.
Awesome video!
You did miss a few important details, but you achieved a splendid overview while pointing out repeatedly that our sources are very limited :) Good work!
I would be interested to hear what these details are to look into myself. My knowledge of ancient history is not as good as that of modern history.
@@matthewhain1483 The video mentions the adoption of the "mora" system as a new, additional tier in the structure of Lakedaimonian forces. However, scholars are to date very unsure how and why this transition from a lokhos-based to a mora-based system happened, and some have even argued that the "lokhos" even disappeared altogether, with later references to it being anachronisms (mistakes made by ancient authors). So the version presented in the video is but one highly speculative version of events - this could, perhaps, have been additionally pointed out when talking about the mora (though the video made clear several times that the recnstruction presented is speculative - which is very good 🙂 Another point: we have practically zero evidence for the details on how the periokoi served in the Lakedaimonian army. Assuming thery were integrated into the spartiate units at some point is a popular opinion amongst scholars, but is highly speculative. It could be argued that integrating less trained warriors into the spartiate phalanx would have negated the advantages of superior training. Also, there were several additional classes of people in Spartan society of whom we know next to nothing, but who probably supplied soldiers to the phalanx: the "nothoi" or "mothakes" (half-spartiate bastards of helot mothers) as well as the "hypomeiones" (the so-called "lessers", probably former spartiates who had lost their status). If we assume that these also provided manpower to the phalanx, then it is possible that it was these men who, in time, filled up the Lakedaimonian phalanx, rather than the perioikoi. Many question marks and unanswered mysteries :-) But the video is really, really great for an overview and is, I would argue, broadly historically correct in its presentation. I particularly appreciate the point was made multiple times that the sources are sketchy and the reconstruction speculative.
A video like this on Alexander the Great’s army would be very cool
I wish there was a "mythology" army playlist on your channel. Where you could cover things like the Trojan war or the Mahabharata war, maybe talking about their armies and compilation, as presented in texts. Obviously with all the embellishments!
I really, really like this idea. We've had Invicta videos about Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones but no real-life mythology? It hurts.
Brilliant
I like the fact that your the first video I have seen on the Spartan Army that actually got their helmets right
The best information about Sparta
In the future, when you pronounce Greek words that have the letters next to each other they make an sound exactly as you would pronounce this letter.
That’s modern Greek, the ancient sounded different.
Great video! Tasteful art is being upgraded it seems. I just wish any quotes were on screen as well as being read.
Very accurate.
Nice
The Bronze Lie by Mike Cole is great reading on the subject of the military history of Sparta, from founding to fall. It shatters a lot of the myths about Spartan society and military performances.
Spartans for most of they history were amusement park. In Battle of Termopile, there were far more soldiers who actually did fighting on the back. Even in they famous last stand, they were less then half forces there.
It also has a shitload of innacuracies though
Or we could go straight to the source and read Xenophon who, if we read carefully, didn't really have anything nice to say about the Spartans
@louismanet3656 if you give the book I mentioned a chance you shall observe that the author goes out of his way to mention and analyse the few extant sources, and explain how flimsy most of them are, and how even with the guesswork involved the Spartans still emerge with a complicated fighting record. He goes into Xenophon and Plutarch in great detail, of course. And even though it might look bu this point that I have a cut of the sales or something, I also want to add that the author has a refreshing style and frankness due to not being a professional historian.
Nice video
Been waiting for some spartan history. I remember that Spartans where what kick started my love of history. And the game that did it. Spartan total warrior. On gamecube and ps2. If anyone needs a classic to go back to pick that one up it's on xbox original aswell.
Good video sir, Make video on true army size of Alexander the great
you had me at RSL thank thank you
Thanks you
Can we please give videos on the true size of Hospitaller Teutonic and templar Armies?
I'd buy these videos on DVD if they were in a series like- " Avenging Varus" & such. Just an idea for you.
WOOHOO 🎉
Good video.
Attempt #2 of asking for a video on veterinary medicine in these armies Please?
Where are the links or names to the background music?
@InvictaHistory Were you on the UK podcast 'history hit' recently talking about surviving disasters throughout history?
Anyone knows the song that playes at the end of the video?
My dude’s favorite transitional term is “let us now”
"Then from chaos, we shall rise"!
24:00 The flip side of the "Spartans, what is your profession?" question: They really sucked at everything not combat. Romans did not _need_ so many artisans, because their soldiers could do non-fighting stuff. They were bakers, smiths, woodworkers and sculpters - those are people they do not have to bring along in addition to the combat troops.
Spartans kinda weren’t that good at fighting either. They were basically rich militia. Better fed, better equipped, not better trained or with superior tactics and logistics. The Romans were a militia before Marius, but they were a well disciplined and trained militia which was quite good at diplomacy. And their citizens weren’t forbidden by law to work, or looked down on any kind of physical task
Ok saying Spartans weren't good at fighting is like saying fire isn't good at burning wood. There's a limit to stupidity. The admiration of their peers speaks more than some random KZhead weirdo...
@@GothPaoki their battlefield victories, or rather the roughly 50-50 ratio of victories to losses, being an actual demonstration of their capabilities, actually speaks more to their overrated reputation, given to them by their enemies and their simps. The awesomest warriors ever would definitely have a better ratio of wins to losses than 50-50, right? Also, again, enemies and simps. Sparta was praised by some as an ideal because the citizens got to be lazy, so some rich Athenians, for example, would preach about the necessity of imitating Sparta- so they could be lazy too. Likewise, when you’re fighting someone, you hype them up to your own people- if you lose, you did the best you could against such valiant foes, and you’re awesome for lasting as long as you did. If you won, you managed to beat such awesome enemies, so you’re even more awesome. Just sayin, do we have any data to back the claim that Spartans were good or exceptional warriors? We know they were good slave drivers considering they managed to suppress 200,000 malnourished and stunted serfs and put down rebellions through sheer terror.
@@godsfavoriteheathen4700 lol simps?? Seriously?? They liked Sparta because they liked to be lazy?? You're completely unhinged man..
Well an obvious response to that question would be 'if war is your profession, who does the other jobs?' Slaves of course. .and Sparta had the most slaves in Greece, not saying anything about them being fellow Greeks which was apparently a big no no. You enslaved foreigners...not fellow Greeks.
the opening commercial or whatever gave off a rly strong chuck E cheese vibe imo.
Here we go
Curious how pretty much every great kingdom/empire rose thanks to heavy support from its allies
two men helping each other can accomplish more than one man helping himself
Rome rose by incorporating their Allies as citizens, and later rewarding military service with citizenship. Would you like to know more?
Thought I'd left my laptop on with Rome 2 running!
4:01 Mentions about historical accuracy may not always come through while showing a Spartan with gauntlets when the Greco-Romans didn’t wear gauntlets LOL
👏
You mentioned Spartan "fortifications." However, the Spartans boasted "Our walls are men."
frfr why need walls when your men are made of metal
Pls do miedieval army now
Doesn't the 'pente' in 'pentekonter' mean 'five'? And doesn't that suggest that the unit was centered around a squad size (or whatever) based on fives?
for me, a pentekonter is a ship of five rows of oar
So the periokoi were only included in the army after they started to recieve huge losses?
Not just in battle, either. To be a Spartan citizen, you had to be of 100% pure Spartan ancestry. IIRC, there was also a property requirement as well. And if you were stripped of your citizenship, neither you or your descendants could recover it.The result of this was that the number of Spartans declined more through people losing these qualifications than through war or natural disasters.
I see why Thēbai had to make the left side especially strong.
Ya know what I just LOVE?? Paying so much money to get rid of ads on KZhead, just for creators to throw in their own ads whenever they want on every. Single. Video 🙄
true size of sassanid army please
SPARTANS! WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?!
As a fan of the Spartan army and having actually been to the museum at the battlefield of Thermopylae l recon the overconfidence and arrogance of the Spartans led to their downfall at the battle of Leuctra …the Thebians had the advantage of knowing exactly what the Spartans would do …their troop deployment ( strongest units on its right wing ) and tactics …..
Didn't really get the term "beings" in the total army size. It seemed like pack animals/horses were being included with the soldiers and support staff, which seems odd.
I was worried the deep voice guy wasn't on this video, phew ':)
Pls Macedon Phalanx next Pls Macedon Phalanx next Pls Macedon Phalanx next
The Helots were Serfs not Slaves by the modern sense of the word. Helots could not be bought or sold by any individual and where considered property of the State not individuals. Second thing they did have some basic rights. They were allowed to marry , have children which could not be sold. They were allowed to keep some personal property. They were by law permitted to keep half of all they grew for themselves. And unlike the Spartans. The Helots could buy and sell personal property. Including part of their share of the fruits of their labor. So no they were not Slaves. At least not in the modern sense. They were closer to medieval Serfs than what we today would recognize today as Slaves.
They were also randomly murdered the keep them in line.
Όμοιοι -Omii , Περίοικοι -Periiki, Λοχαγός Λοχαγοί -Lohawos Lohawoi
True size of Napoleon Grand Army would be great
Especially since 100,000 of Napoleon’s troops would’ve taken up so much more space than 100,000 of anybody else’s :)