The clan was created to bring together a group of BF2 on-line gamers to
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in May 2007 and recruiting started in July 2007.
The origin of the “Spartan” in Spartan War Fighters
Spartans are the epitome of being a warrior and are synonymous with
dedication to becoming the ideal soldier. They necessitate respect as professional
war fighters.
The most important traits of Spartans were toughness, obedience, and
fearlessness. A fictional testament to the discipline and toughness of the Spartan
culture is the tale of a Spartan boy and a fox, in which a boy steals a fox cub and
is caught by the land owner. The owner confronts the boy and after a lengthy
interrogation the boy suddenly drops dead. The owner discovers that the fox has
eaten the boy's insides and the boy had bled to death. Another great example of
Spartan toughness of mind and body that actually occurred is the march from
Sparta to Athens in 490 BC; a distance of 140 miles accomplished in less than
three days.
Spartan philosophy, Who needs numbers? This idea enabled them to do
something unprecedented: Fight to the death. Sparta was the only city state in
Greece to buy the arms and armor for its soldiers. The mark of the Spartan army
was a red cape and red helmet crest with a shield displaying the symbol lambda
which is a Greek letter standing for Laconia, or Lacedaemon the area surrounding
Sparta. The primary weapon used by the Spartan soldier was the spear and the
secondary weapon was the short sword used for close-in fighting. They would
simply march at the enemy or hold their ground, either way they simply let the
spears do the talking. The formation used in battle was the phalanx. It was a tight
formation that moved as one and provided an almost impenetrable wall of spears.
If one man fell, the next soldier would come forward to take his place. Their style
of fighting influenced other city state armies in the region as the Spartan Army
would easily lay waste to armies of superior numbers.
Teamwork and the individual’s effort to benefit the group were extremely
important. The shield (aspis) symbolized an individual soldier's subordination to
his unit which was an integral part to the army’s success. The shield further
symbolized a soldier’s solemn responsibility to his brothers-in-arms. It was
critical that the shield not be lost. Spartan mothers sent their son off to battle
with the wish of "bear your shield or be borne on it", in other words, "either return
victorious or return dead". If a Spartan soldier (hoplite) were to return to Sparta
alive and without his shield, it was assumed that he threw his shield at the
enemy in an effort to flee; an act punishable by death or banishment. Of note,
soldiers losing his helmet, breastplate or greaves (leg armor) was not similarly
punished, as these items were personal pieces of armor designed to protect the
individual soldier. However, in a phalanx, the shield protected the soldiers on both
sides and to the rear. The greatest honor to be bestowed upon a Spartan solider
was death in the heat of battle.
For centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled.
In fact, Sparta possessed the most formidable army in the Greek World from
550 to 371 BC. Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece devoted to military
training. It regarded itself as the natural protector of Greece. The society was
devoted to maintaining a disciplined and ready fighting force of its male citizens.
Spartan males left home for military boarding school at the age of 7 and were
required to serve in the army until age 30.
(2) Perhaps the most widely known event of Spartan war-machine
effectiveness is related to the conflict with Persia. The Spartan stand at the
Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC has been repeatedly cited as an example of the
advantages of discipline, training, and courage against overwhelming odds.
In the Battle of Thermopylae, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the
invading Persian Army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece near the east
coast. The Greeks were vastly outnumbered 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and
about 6,000 other the Greeks held back the Persian force of 1,000,000 for three
days in one of history's most famous last stands. The small force led by King
Leonidas of Sparta blocked the pass through the mountains to delay Persia’s
massive army from passing into southern Greece.
King Leonidas dismissed the majority of the Greeks on the third day and
stayed behind with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers. The Persians
succeeded in taking the pass and killing all of the remaining Greeks, but sustained
heavy losses (20,000 dead). The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army
offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for the Persian arrival.
This led to the subsequent Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis leaving
much of the Persian Empire's navy destroyed and heavily influenced the Persian
King’s (Xerxes) decision to withdraw back to Asia. He decided to leave a portion
(50,000 Persian soldiers) of his army in north-western Greece for the winter.
And in the spring, his army marched south to confront the Greeks. The Spartans
assembled at full strength and led a pan-Greek army that defeated the Persians
decisively at the Battle of Plataea. This battle ended the Greco-Persian War and,
with it, the expansion of the Persian Empire westward into Europe. The defiance
of the Greeks to be subjugated by the Persians preserved a culture that would
prosper under democracy and be the founding principals for modern day western
governments.
Even after the decline of Sparta as a regional power, it still necessitated
respect. The father of “Alexander the Great”, Philip II, sent a message to Sparta
saying "If I enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground", the Spartans
responded with a single, brief reply: "If". Philip of Macedon created a league of
the Greeks on the pretext of unifying Greece for an invasion of Persia. The
Spartans were excluded from the league because Philip understood the risk of
attempting to pressure by use of force Laconia to fight with his army.
After Philip’s death and upon the conquest of Persia, Alexander sent 300
suits of Persian armor to Athens with the following inscription "Alexander son of
Philip, and the Greeks - except the Spartans - from the barbarians living in Asia".
The 300 suits was symbolic of the sacifice of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae.
The whole gesture of sending the suits to Athens was directed against the
Spartans who were not interested in participating in the conquest of Persia.
He wanted the Spartans to know the lesser Greeks were able to defeat the
Persians without the Spartans.
The source for this Spartan History is Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta
Historical Context of Spartan Dominance
1194 –1184 BC Trojan War
776 BC First Olympics
753 – 510 BC Roman Kingdom
550 - 371 BC Spartan ground dominance
510 – 27 BC Roman Republic
490 BC Battle of Marathon (1)
480 BC Battle of Thermopylae (2)
479 BC Battle of Plataea
476 – 404 BC Athenian naval dominance
352 – 336 BC Philip of Macedonian
336– 323 BC Alexander the Great
387 BC Sack of Rome by the Gauls
218 – 212 BC Hannibal’s Invasion
73 – 71 BC Rebellion led by Spartacus
49 - 44 BC Julius Ceasar
27 BC – 14 AD Augustus Octavian
31 BC Defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra
27 BC – AD 476 Western Roman Empire
72 – 73 AD Fall of Masada
122 – 130 AD Construction of Hadrian's Wall
286 - 1453 AD Eastern Roman Empire
410 AD Rome sacked by the Visigoths
434 - 453 AD Attila the Hun
455 AD Rome sacked by the Vandals
The fall of the Western Roman Empire brought upon the period of the Middle
Ages.
(1) 1st Marathon run. The origins of the "marathon" comes from the legend of a Greek
soldier who was sent from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to request assistance in
the fight against the Persians. The Persians were defeated by the existing Greek soldiers
on-site without outside assistance. It is said that the soldier ran the entire distance
without stopping, but moments after proclaiming his message to the city he collapsed dead
from exhaustion. The mountainous path taken by the soldier has a distance of about 34.5 km
(21.4 miles). The modern day marathon is a long-distance running event that measures
42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards).
(2) The Thermopylae portion of the “Spartan” history
The origin of the “War Fighter” in Spartan War Fighters
A war fighter is a professional who dedicates his life to fighting and
winning his country’s wars. The war fighter is a manager of violence who
orchestrates the actions of his brothers-in-arms amidst chaos. He will not accept
defeat and will never quit. He is determined to lead himself and his fellow fighters
to victory on the field of battle.
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