Sparta

Within ancient Sparta, a nation built on war, and death, the people, both men and women, fought to protect themselves and each other. During the time of ancient Sparta the well drilled spartans won against their greek enemies because they were better trained. When two phallanxes went to battle, the spartans would maneuver so that their line extended to the right a bit more than their enemy.  Remember that most greeks were militia, meaning they responded to their city state's call for men and they showed up.  The phallanx was pretty easy for a novice to fight in. Keep up with the men around you, cover the right side of the man's chest to your left with your shield. Since most men were right handed, their spears were wielded in their right hands.  To protect their right side, most men would step to the right to get the most coverage from the sheild to their right.  This caused the phallanx to advance in a kind of oblique to the right mode.  The mass of men would move forward, but at a slight angle to the right. This played into the Spartan's hands.  The slight overlap to the Spartan's right, meant that as the enemy advanced slightly to their left, they could signal with horns and a small detachment would wheel to the left forming a lying down L.  The foot of the L would be at right angles to the enemy line that was now pressed against the advancing Spartan line.  The pressure to their front and left would cause the enemies line to collapse. This worked for the Spartans until the battle of Leuktra where they were defeated by the Thebians.  They failed to heed to the old warning that you should not fight the same enemy too often as you will soon teach them everything you know.  That is what happened.  The Spartans and Thebes had been at it for 69 years.  Eventually a general named Gorgidas formed a unit of hand picked men.  The unit was comprised of couples, yes, you heard right, they were homosexual lovers.  The theory was that they would fight harder as to not...