persian army

Description

Around 2.500 thousand years ago the great states of Greece and Persia began a war which ended in the battle of Marathon. When Xerxes invaded in the spring of 480 BC it took seven days for his army to cross the bridges of boats. Four months later he conquered Athens when his troops stormed up a near vertical path to take the Acropolis. The soldierly abilities of Greek citizens and the use of the phalanx formation ultimately proved inadequate in the face of the Persian army. The Athenian defeat 2400 years ago turned out to be the beginning of the end for classical Greece. In time the Greek state would be ruled by the tough northern Macedonians and their increasingly tyrannical monarchs like Alexander the Great. Most professional armies have used mercenaries - the Egyptians, the Macedonians, the Greeks, all used mercenaries. King Philip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great made much use of mercenaries in his wars with the Greeks and others. The increase in the population among Greek city-states was a source of a great instability. The use of mercenaries by the richer city-states of Greece upset the balance of power and brought riot spread conflict. Philip II of Macedonia exploited this situation to unify Greece under his rule. The Macedonians are a typical example of a culture that can move with the times. They originally had problems fighting the Greeks - the Greeks with their heavy phalanxes. They although having an army made of a several different units who were not enough heavily armored to cope with the Greeks. They didn't have the organization, it was very *** approach. They brought several groups of mercenaries and obviously the communication between the mercenaries groups and the main body of army who wasn't as it should be. But they've managed to take on the *** from the Greeks of organized infantry, than they used it to organize their cavalry, than they used it to organize their archers. They adapted some of the Greek tactics, they adapted some of the Greek armor, they've made it lighter, they turned it in what they can use in their army that they've adapted. This let them to have an empire.