Did Sparta Achieve Her Goal :: essays research papers

Did Sparta Achieve Her Goal?Sparta is the most formidable urban center known in history. Famous for her impressive military power, she proved that specialness didnt lie in numbers, it lay in Spartan discipline. Sparta started out as a small city fighting only to survive against confrontation invaders. Her goal was to avoid turn thumbs down from other city-states and she very nearly succeeded in achieving it. Using self-denial, strong discipline and harsh training, Sparta focused almost all her forethought on achieving her goal. Known as the tamer of men, her strength made all besides Spartan men shrink in fear. However, Sparta did not operate war any more lightly then any other army, she simply waged it better. Despite the cold, military driven surface, Sparta often engaged in merriment. Festivals were celebrate with vigor, men were good to their families and their women were renowned for their beauty. Nevertheless, they always refused to become distracted from their purpose . Civil wars and ancient rivalries made it painfully clear that Sparta had no intention of allowing Athens or any other rival take over. However, she was still quite willing to join arms with the same rivals to fight off foreign invaders. When Greece was threatened by Persia, Sparta halted her competition with Athens and relentlessly fought back the enemy forces. After her triumph over the Persians, Spartas temporary peace with Athens was short-lived. The Greeks soon returned to their petty affairs. For 75 years Sparta and Athens fought for supremacy. Eventually, Sparta won, but in doing so she finally allowed all of Greece to witness her tragic flaw. Militarily, Sparta was more than impressive. However, in many of the city-states she now had in her power, she treated up harsh discipline and dictatorships. This proved that Spartas weakness lay in organizing peace among her new found successes. When the disaster of Spartas catastrophic defeat from little Thebes reached her people, t hey continued to celebrate their Youth Festival refusing to show any emotion-this was still Sparta. It would be long before Sparta would fade away, but nevertheless she piano withered away ironically still displaying the quiet, stubborn Spartan discipline. Her goal of surviving against all other forces was so close to being attained but she made a small but dire mistake. Foolishly underestimating the power of Thebes, Sparta failed to see that Thebes was incredibly similar to her younger self. Sparta began as a small city merely waging war in order to survive Thebes had the same motivation for war, except that their key to survival was to knock out Sparta.