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Which Greek state (tribe, country)had an army you like most?
#1
I am in doubt to answer this question myself. The time period is enormous and the territory is not small too – from Spanish colonies to India.<br>
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Army of Phillip, father of Alexander the Great (in a wide sense it may be considered Greek) is out of the question. IMHO it is best of all antiquity (excluding Chinese region).<br>
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And what about others?<br>
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When speaking of Greek military we usually imagine phalanx as their main force. But we shouldn’t forget that there was a country, which cavalry equaled (or even outdid) best Asiatic horsemen. It is Thessaly, of course. Rather peculiar military culture, in some aspects close to Sparta. Knights of antiquity. They were especially important for Philippus II and Alexander the Great which realized the strength of cavalry.<br>
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Regards,<br>
<br>
warrior11<br>
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#2
I'll say Thebes. They were rather more innovative than the rest. <p></p><i></i>
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#3
Kalvan,<br>
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Do you mean the army of Epaminondas? Without him the Theban army was not that strong.<br>
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Thessalians and Thebans happened to fight against each other.<br>
But Thessaly was unlucky that Jason of Pherae, Tagus of all Thessaly had already died. Macedonia was partially dependent on him too. He was a man of boundless ambition and meditated nothing less than extending his dominion over the whole of Greece, for which his central situation seemed to offer many facilities.<br>
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The Thebans despatched an army of 8000 hoplites and 600 cavalry against Alexander, who, by the murder of his two brothers, had become despot of Pherae and Tagus of Thessaly. They were beaten and forced to retreat, and the army was in such danger from the active pursuit of the Thessalians and Athenians, that its destruction seemed inevitable. Luckily, however, Epaminondas was serving as a hoplite in the ranks. By the unanimous voice of the troops he was now called to the command, and succeeded in conducting the army safely back to Thebes.<br>
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Only after being saved by Epaminondas, Thebans beat the Thessalians in B.C. 364 on the hills of Cynoscephalae.<br>
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But as you can see the armies were approximately equal.<br>
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A weak point of the Thebans was that they didn’t use the advantage of their victories – they couldn’t annihilate the routed.<br>
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#4
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Do you mean the army of Epaminondas? Without him the Theban army was not that strong.<hr><br>
There were other commanders that used Theban hoplites well. They defeated the Athenians at Delium rather soundly. It was Thebes that destroyed the power of Sparta and freed the helots, something Athens couldn't do in over half a century of war. It was from Thebes that Philip of Macedon learned much that he incorporated into his own army later.<br>
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Quote:</em></strong><hr>A weak point of the Thebans was that they didn’t use the advantage of their victories – they couldn’t annihilate the routed.<hr><br>
That was not so much a feature of hoplite warfare until Alexander came along. They did at least make use of cavalry, which almost none of the other <em>poleis</em> did.<br>
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#5
The short answer would have to be Sparta. 8)
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#6
Why not Massalia (modern Marseille).

Their hoplites repaulsed the Celts. Their navy crushed Carhedonians and Etruscans. It was a free ally to Rome until they bet on the wrong horse (Pompeius) and even mighty Ceasar had trouble to brink them down.

Kind regards
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