Recovery, away from the trenches, took up to twelve weeks. This was extremely painful and most soldiers had to be strapped to their beds, which meant ... ... level about the difficulty of life in the trenches of the war. Heavy punishment is the rote. This system of education was called the agoge, “a system that might uncharitably be described as consisting of buggery, beating, and spear drill which taught them to be soldiers. Sometimes, he has to survive without proper food for days. It was suggested that this was based on a theory that “stronger children would be born to couples who yearned lustily for each other rather than being almost sated with sexual activity. They set out to make themselves mighty warriors that they could keep the Helots in place for all time. World War 1: American Soldier’s Letters Home. Essay No. The boy soldiers would undergo the severest of discipline. However, it was not beneath the Spartans to make fun of the Helots whom they deliberately get drunk and made to look like fools with vulgar songs and dances. The physical superiority of the Spartans was what set them apart. It was said that Sparta was a state praised for its sobriety. The Greek state of Sparta was unlike any other Greek state. However, if you ask someone the same question nowadays, the answer would be different. A few years later the Thebans invaded the Peloponnese, liberated Messenia, and reduced Sparta to a second-rank power. However, a traitor enabled the Persians to outflank them and they preferred a suicidal stand than endure the ignominy of retreating (Potter 2004, 216). After which he was then sent to fight on the front line. It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions. A soldier is the most disciplined lot of the nation. In busy sectors the constant shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death, whether their victims were lounging in a trench or lying in a dugout. His role is to fight for a nation or a region. He is obligated to serve until the age of sixty (Jarde 1926, 127). A soldier is the pride of nation. They decide his fate if he is to live or die. The battle formation was the phalanx, in which the hoplites, formed in files of various depth, supported and protected one another. On the military side of it, drunkenness would make the Spartans open to surprise attacks. There are high chances that he might end up injuring himself badly. Soon, Athens and several other cities joined the fight against Sparta. British civilians had expectations of their government following the First World War ... ... trench-warfare. Life as a soldier in World War I was no “walk in the park” for anyone involved. In contrast with the other Greek states whose children were reared by slaves, these boys were trained under the tutelage of masters who were adults of high rank. The other, Aristodamos, was similarly humiliated; he was nicknamed “the trembler” and no Spartan would talk to him. At Sparta, in fact, the boys at the altar are so received with whips, “that much blood flows out from their flesh,” sometimes even, as I kept hearing when I was there, to the point of death; not only has none of them ever cried out, but none has even groaned (Kennell 1995, 149). They were reared by the state. They were made examples to the young Spartans against drinking to excess, that intoxication can lead to death due to lack of control especially in time of warfare and not the least important lesson, that Helots are inferior to Spartans. The defense of the pass was suited for hoplite warfare. This ritual was meant to develop comradeship and secure society and its traditions of homoioi or “the equals” or “those who are similar” as opposed to developing kinship and affection for the family which tended to cultivate individualism and familial influence over the soldier.