Warfare before the early 5th century BC was restricted mainly to border skirmishes
between neighboring Greek states. The objective was usually limited to destroying
the agricultural basis of the enemy´s economy in order to extract specific
political and economic concessions. While individual battles could be extremely
bloody, the total destruction of cities and complete annihilation of their populations
were usually avoided. The actual campaigning was normally carried out between
March and October when the weather facilitated troop movement over mountainous
terrain, and was broken off at the mutual convenience of the two opposing sides.
The Persian conflict (492-478 BC) established the practice of total war. This
eventually led to mass invasion and counterinvasion by both land and sea, wholesale
destruction of cities, and -- on rare occasions -- the punishment and enslavement
of entire bodies of citizens, including women and children. Many of the same
disruptive practices occurred again during the Peloponnesian War between Athens,
Sparta and their respective allies (431-404 BC). By the 4th century BC warfare
was well on its way to becoming the internationalized institution that Alexander
the Great and his followers are generally thought to have perfected.
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Attic Black Figure Olpe |
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Attic Black Figure Amphora |
