The Battle of Chaeronea...

for years I had refused to systematically study the history of ancient Greece.
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the exploitation of ancient Greek history by
Goldilocks,
gladiators,
racists,
Nazis and all kinds of fascists,
was pushing me away.
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until the issue of the Prespa agreement blew up.
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then,
something happened inside me and I made a conscious decision that I would not give them a single stone of history.
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history, whether ancient, modern or contemporary, is wonderful and illuminates the path to the future...
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the Battle of Chaeronea...
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after the middle of the 4th century BC the Macedonians of Philip sweep everything in Greece.
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attacking everywhere,
they win everywhere and subjugate everyone....
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so, with the wind of victory, they decide to go down south as well....
that's when the southern Greeks need them and they band together.
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heads are the Athenians and the Thebans
and with them are Corinthians, Megarians, Akarnans, Euboeans, Boeotians and many more...
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have set it up on the plain of Chaeronea, just outside Livadia, and are waiting for them.
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so, as of today, August 2, 338 BC, the Macedonians arrive there,
line up across from each other and the battle begins...
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the details of the battle are many but the stratagem that determined the victory was made by Philip who pretended to retreat...
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the foolish generals of the Athenians see this and send the army after them.
there is heard the stentorian voice of Stratocles calling out:
don't stop chasing them all the way to Macedonia...
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the Athenian soldiers fall into a mad scramble to catch up with the retreating soldiers.
the Athenian corps is detached from the line-up and they leave a huge gap between them and the holy company
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the holy company was a select corps of Thebes consisting of 150 pairs of lovers.
the best war machine of the time.
for 30 years they were winning everywhere.
they had even defeated the Spartans and in two battles
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so sees the 18 year old Alexander (the well-known) who had the leadership of all the cavalry, the gap created and seize the opportunity.
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he went into the void with the whole cavalry and cut them down.
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then,
there,
the holy company is finally over.... massacred them. not ONE is left alive
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Meanwhile, the Macedonians, who were retreating, stop abruptly, spread out their sharis, and begin to counterattack with a steady step....
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the ones who were chasing around aimlessly, suddenly got screwed.
they couldn't go forward or back... they were crushed...
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a river nearby was stained red with blood...
1000 dead and 2000 captured
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a general of the Athenians, Lysiklis, after a plea by Lycurgus, was sentenced to death...
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in his speech Lycurgus
he said:
«You were a general, Lysicles, when a thousand citizens were killed, two thousand were captured and a trophy was set up for the defeat of the city,
while all of Greece was enslaved to Philip!
And all this happened while you were the army chief.
And you dare now to live and see the sunlight and enter the marketplace, having become a living monument to the storm and shame of the country.»
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and yet the most incompetent and harmful general of the Athenians
Charis the Athenian
survived and even appointed him commander-in-chief to probably lead them to other disasters...

Author of the article:

Yannis Golias