Path dependence on the development of the Spartan Navy

In the classical era, Sparta once replaced Athens to become the sea overlord of the Greek world, but its maritime advantage did not last long. Sparta lacks material resources and human resources to develop navy. During the Berlonnenian war, Persian financial support was once, which relieved the material resources. The fleet against the Athens Navy defeated Athens to win. However, Spartan's "path dependence" pursuing priority to develop infantry installed infantry has made it unable to evolve a marine strategy that has long maintained its naval hegemony.

Prioritize the development of reinstallation

Sparta has stubborn persistence on its system of heavy -duty infantry, and is strengthened by this kind of persistence to the fear of citizen elites. They are worried that if you start radical institutional changes in accordance with the navy -led strategy, it will cause fundamental damage to its deep -rooted power structure.

Sparta is known for its national system and powerful military forces for the national system. It can be seen from its military development strategy and national development strategy that its military foundation has always been the over -installed infantry and cavalry of Greece. With the development of the situation, Sparta has adjusted its strategic development direction to a certain extent. It has also been interested in developing naval power and becoming a sea overlord of the Greek world at a specific stage. However, the foundation of Sparta's founding is the army, so its strategic development direction has formed a certain "path dependence", which has caused the road of its naval development to not smooth. Victory.

In terms of geographical location, Sparta does not have the advantages of developing the navy. On the one hand, its political center is 25 miles away from the coastline and the nearest port; on the other hand, it lacks an excellent port that is a naval base. The heavy infantry of the Greek world in Subada, basically from the wealthy land owner. Through the war, Spartan conquered the Mesianian and turned it into a state -owned slave "black laborer". In order to suppress the "Black Labor" resistance, Sparta formed a standing army similar to professional soldiers. Compared to the amateur militia in other city -states in Greece, this advantage of Sparta must not be said. Since it is not easy to be threatened from the sea, and his army has an overwhelming advantage, the willingness to develop the Navy in Sparta is not so strong.

The disadvantage of the Spartan Navy is full of disadvantages

During the Hippo war, Spartan became the commander of the Greek world with its strong army strength. In order to unite Sparta, the Athens with about 200 warships also gave up the position of the Navy commander. In 479 BC, the Greek coalition defeated the Persian army in the Mikle of Saka Minor under the leadership of the Spartan general Ryo Tikids. After the Battle of Mikale, Sparta's attitude towards the war became more negative and gradually withdrew from the war. The reason is that on the one hand, Persia's threat to Sparta has basically been lifted; on the other hand, the subsequent war is basically mainly naval warfare, and Sparta has no corresponding navy power. Not only did Spartan withdraw from the war, but under the confusion of politicians Herte Maridas, he passed a decree to abandon the ocean. This caused the development of Sparta's navy to stagnate.

After the signing of "Karias Pyramid", Athens, which was strong in the war, was able to turn his eyes into Greek local affairs. During the Hippo War, Spartan's insightful people saw the bottleneck brought about by the imbalance of their military power development, and saw the role of Athens to vigorously develop the navy's role in improving its army's combat effectiveness and national strength. They foresee that there will be fierce competition between Athens and Sparta, and the lack of maritime power will have a negative impact on Sparta's overall strategy. Therefore, they called on Sparta to develop the navy.

Although Sparta recognized the necessity of developing the navy, in the process of long -term strategic development, the "path dependence" of the army still did not pay enough attention to the navy. Sparta does not want to pay a huge price for the construction of the navy. Instead, it depends on the allies that rely on the Bervonnisia Alliance to further develop the navy in order to complement each other with the powerful army of Sparta. The policy at both ends of this rat was quickly proved to be unreasonable by the cruel reality. In the first phase of the Betaronia War in 431 BC to 421 BC, the fragile naval power of Sparta and its Allied forces was hit by strong Athens Navy everywhere, leading to Bo Ron, led by Sparta The Nazari League defeated in all aspects. After the signing of "Nesic Asia", Sparta still did not vigorously develop the navy because of the two aspects: first, Sparta's trust in its own army power and "path dependence" are deeply rooted; second, the peace Testament is prohibited from being prohibited from the Testament. Spartan developed the Navy.

Ocean hegemony

The opportunity to truly develop the navy in Sparta was the failure of the Athens worker expedition to Sicily in 415 BC. The Athens fleet took two years in this expedition, but ended in failure, on the one hand, the Athens Navy was severely damaged; on the other hand, Spartan had sufficient reasons to develop the navy because of the initiative to destroy and the contract stirred up the war. end. From 413 BC, Sparta began to build naval ships with allies and recruited paddlers. By 412 BC, Sparta had more than 50 warships, and the number of Athens fleets after being hit hard was basically the same. However, because the Spartan Navy has not established a long time, its combat effectiveness is still far from the Athens Navy. Athens relying on a strong technical foundation and quickly rebuilt the Navy, the warship soon returned to about 150 ships. Although the Sparta Navy fought a beautiful victory in Corinth Bay in 413 BC and did not rely on the Allied forces to defeat the Athens Navy, this victory failed to last. Later Several battles in the Seleas Wasan area were defeated by the Athens Navy. The real rise of the Spartan Navy was after the general Laishande served as the Navy commander in 407 BC. He knows that Persia has been looking for opportunities and regaining international affairs in the Eastern Mediterranean since 449 BC. As a result, Lishande used a large amount of money provided by Persia to vigorously develop the navy, and only 90 warships he personally commanded. According to Sparta law, the Navy commander can only be held one year and must not be repeated. Therefore, Lishande stepped down in 406 BC, and the Spartan Navy also defeated in the Battle of the Aquestus. However, Athens broke the humerus, and the Citizenship Congress executed six generals in the crime of rescue the soldiers in Aquiseis's naval battle. Sparta broke the convention and once again appointed Leishande as the navy commander. The Spartan Navy reached its heyday and had more than 200 warships. In 405 BC, the Athens Navy was completely destroyed in the battle of Yanghekou. The following year, Athens was forced to sign the peace contract with Sparta to accept Spartan's leadership, and the Navy only retained 12 warships. As a result, Sparta finally established the status of maritime overlords in the Greek world. During this period, the military forces of other countries in the east China Sea were weakened in long -term war. Therefore, Sparta actually became the sea overlord at the East Mediterranean world at that time.

In the following decades, Spartan took advantage of the strong comprehensive advantages of the sea and the army, and was in the east China Sea international relations, and even had evil with their gold master Persia. Although Sparta later rebuilt with Persia, it is too late because the enemy has rebuilt the Navy through the financial support of Persia while Sparta and Persia. Sparta has once again played a negative role in the "path dependence" of the army. On the one hand, it did not fully pay attention to the re -rise of the Athens Navy; on the other hand, the focus of the national development strategy was also transferred to the revitalization of the army. Each state affairs. This caused the maritime advantage that Sparda to establish after the end of the Berloninini war quickly reduced until it disappeared, and led the whole body to cause the Sparta Army to lose its advantage. In 371 BC, Sparta was defeated by the rearracking Dibis and surrendered his control over Merisia. The state -owned slave "Black Raushi" in the Messenia region is one of the foundation established by the Spartan military empire. After losing Missenia, Spartan is no longer unable to rebuild hegemony and eventually become an ordinary in Greece world. City -state.

As one of the most powerful city -states in the ancient Greek world, Sparta's history of naval development shows that a country with a geographical location of the land and sea must not only pay attention to the army and abandon the competition for sea power. It must pay attention to the strategic development of the navy. The relatively indifference of Sparta's growth in the power of Athens, which led to the formation of the layout of the territory of Athens and Sparta, and eventually triggered the Berlonnenia war. For any of them, to win the Beroboonnie War and even the final war, they must achieve the victory of naval warfare and land war at the same time.

(Author Unit: History and Cultural Institute of Hangshan Teachers College)

Source: China Social Science Network-Journal of Social Sciences of China

Author: Zhou Hongxiang Wang Xiaohui

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