Brasidas: Sparta's Greatest General

so hello and welcome to yet another episode of biographics I'm your host Carl SM and today we're talking about bredas Sparta's greatest General and as with all of the videos here at biographics this one is based on an article submitted To Us by a member of our writing team that being Ru Alexander the year 431 was an important one for Greece because it marked the beginning of the greatest internal conflict that completely reshaped the ancient Greek world the pelian War it went on for decades and sought to decide once and for all who was the top dog Athens or Sparta the answer Sparta spoilers for those who didn't know it did happen like 2400 years ago and we're not here to talk about the war itself though but rather a role that one man played in it bedus of Sparta one of the most decorated officers in the city state's history calling the conflict the pelian war is a little confusing because there was actually an earlier war between the same sides more or less that is referred to as the first pipian war that lasted from 460 to 445 BC however because the second conflict lasted longer and had a much more decisive impact it sort of default to becoming the pelian war so what were the signs during this little dust up we had Athens versus Sparta of course we also had their respective allies Sparta led the pelian league a loose Confederation of allies of Greek states that been around for about a century by the time of our war meanwhile Athens formed the Delian League in 478 BC unsurprisingly with itself at the head of the table the Delian League mostly consisted of coastal and Island City States and ostensibly it came into existence to protect the Greek World against the Persian threats however it also allowed Athens to climb the pecking order pretty fast and after only a few decades it was butting heads with Sparta over who the number one power spot ranks was conflict between the two sides was inevitable especially considering one side had Spartans on it as we said the initial Clash ended in 445 BC without a clear winner following the signing of the 30-year peace treaty but 30 years was way too optimistic because just a few years later tensions were already starting to rise again the main catalyst for renewed hostilities between the two Greek Powers ended up being a war between the two completely different city stakes on one side there was Corinth a major member of the pelian league and on the other there was the Island City of corer better known today as coru which is allied with Athens at first Athens offered a defensive Alliance claiming that they would engage Corinthian ships if they tried to invent corer but would otherwise not get involved but Athens did get involved and ultimately so did Sparta which meant it was time for war again so nearby Brad I'm going to let Pascal take a break now and come in and tell you a story I recently got a new phone I was really excited to get a new phone not for any of the new bells and whistles that were present 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exploit and profit off your private information or you can figuratively tell them to do one by going to aura.com biographics to start your twoe free trial we've also provided the link below in the description and I feel like snoo is fast becoming a fixture of my presenting on biographics Geographics and its sister channel so let's let's just give snoo's moment and get some spiral on that an shall we yeah got him that's a good catch I'm back oh W get some spiral on that an eater good and thus the pelian War Began pitting the thesome span infantry against the naval superiority of Athens this conflict lasted so long it was broken up into separate phases and we're actually only going to be covering the first phase here known as the academian war after the Spartan King academus II since that is the only one that bredes took part in because as your mat found out he kicked some ass during that first phase in fact he kicks so much ass during that war that he gained a reputation as one of the greatest commanders Sparta had ever seen the main source of his long conflict was the historian fides who actually serve as a general in the war and would later write an account of it up until the year 411 BC that's the kind of firsthand account that we rarely get with ancient history but even though Theses was known to be pretty impartial he was an Athenian after all so we know which side he was rooting for plus as we're about to find out he was not a fan of bredas and for good reason so just keep that in mind as we recount everything we're about to say speaking of our protagonist we first join him in media res at the outbreak of the war in 431 BC at a Coastal Village called methon there's not much we can say about him before the war it's not like the Spartans were known for their extensive record keeping all we know is it was a son of a man named Tellis who was a spartiate AKA a for citizen of Sparta plutar also gave pra's mother's name as and I hope I pronounced this correctly aelan Onis although he lived almost 500 years later so we're not really sure how he knew brettus's mother's name but there we go as we and Zack Snyder have said Sparta had a pretty strong infantry while Athens had the advantage on the sea obviously each side would have preferred to fight on its home turf so to speak so their early strategies involved trying to go the other one into a disadvantageous battle therefore the Spartan King academus took his troops into ateka the region of Greece where Athens is located while the Athenian Fleet sailed around the pelian peninsula and attack coastal towns to create strife and Rebellion for Sparta one of those coastal towns were the aforementioned methon which made for a juicy Target for Athens since it did not have a Garrison and its walls were pretty weak the Athenians laid Siege and were surely expecting to gain entry in a matter of days if not sooner we not for the actions of bredas he was in charge of a small force of aund hites for soldiers armed with Spears and Shields whove been tasked with guarding the district upon hearing of the attack on methon predus rushed in and took advantage of the scattered Athenian Army that was mainly focused on the wall was not expecting an attack from behind the hites successfully made their way through the enemy ranks and entered the town to reinforce it at this early stage of the war the Athenians were not interested in a prolonged Siege even if they still outnumber the Spartans 10 to1 they wanted to get in and get out so in bredas made that impossible they decided to pick up sticks and leave Anthony alone his Swift actions earned bredas an honor known as the thanks of Sparta thus becoming the first officer to gain this distinction in the pelian war following his initial Triumph at methon bedus took part in several important but not necessarily crucial moments in the war more or less sliding nicely into whatever role was needed of him his next task was to act as an adviser of sorts or symbolis to cemes an admiral who commanded the Spartan Fleet during the first years of the conflict you might think this was a step down for the legendary braus but it was more of a punishment for cemes who met his first Naval encounter against Athens with failure even when he was against a smaller enemy Fleet and there was no dishonor greater for a Spartan than losing against a smaller opposing Force therefore to ensure he didn't lose again he was sent not one not two but three Commissioners to make sure he got the job done braus timates and lerron he was told in no uncertain terms do not screw up again for the next battle the Spartans plan to take Retreat and La the Athenian Fleet comprised about 20 vessels into a straight and it worked sort off the enemy Fleet led by a guy named formo took the bait and followed the Spartans into the narrow Water by the time they realized what had happened the Spartans had turned around and pressed the attack 11 Athenian ships managed to escape but nine were sunk it was a great result for initial encounter but the Spartans got too cocky too fast wanting to sink another enemy ship one Spartan vessel sailed ahead of the others but the Athenians did some fancy maneuvering turned around struck the Spartans ship and sunk it instead one of the three Commissioners Tim mcraes was aboard that vessel and as it plunged into the water he committed suicide out of Shame all the other Spartan shits panicked and while trying to turn around too quickly some of them ran ground While others took their tails between their legs and sail to Corinth in safer Waters ultimately though both sides claim victory in that battle though neither one truly covered itself in glory that is likely why cemus and brus settled on a risky plan to attack the port of Athens itself perus they were going to sail from Corinth to Meera in ateka and from there launched a naval attack on pereus thinking that the port would not be heavily guarded since the Athenians would not expect a strike right at the heart of their Naval headquarters and they were right and their plan very well might have worked but for unknown reasons the Spartans chickened out at the last moment and opted instead to attack the Athenian port on the island of cnis and this was successful it's just that pereus would have been a much bigger prize common thinking suggests that cemus and brus didn't want to go back home without one solid Victory under their belt so they just took what they could get braedius his next engagement came in 427 BC when he once again acted as symbola this time to a guy named and again I hope I pronounce this correctly alas who was trying to put down rebellion in corser but for whatever reason the kerans decided to act against the advice of Spartans when it came to defending against a much greater enemy Force so when bredas heard that the Athenian fleet was approaching he basically said screw this I'm going home and left the city to their fate brus then showed up at the Battle of pyos in 425 BC which ended up being a decisive victory for Athens even though brus himself was single out for bravery with which he fought plutar gives us a quick account which almost certainly didn't happen the way he tells it but it's just too badass not to include the historian says that during a battle a spear penetrated through b' shield and pierced him and at that point Bas pulled out the spear and killed his opponent using his own weapon later when asked how he was injured brus replied in typical laconic Spartan fashion when my shield betrayed me in 42 4 BC it was tied for bredas to cast off the kid gloves no more advising other guys he was given command to his own Army and sent to th to cause some trouble but before he sat on his way he heard of an incoming attack on marara so he sailed from there first and together with the boans and the megarians managed to drive back the Athenians from there predus traveled to thessaly where he met up with an ally King picus II of Macedon and there's a lot of Greek words coming up so he's going to go nice and slowly through this next section folks like you know bear with me the king wanted to fight his neighbors the lysan led by King arabas but predus had other ideas he wasn't there to settle a personal Grudge instead he asked for an audience the Lan because even though he was a Spartan and not really one for long speeches even his greatest critics were forced to admit he wasn't a bad speaker during this meeting he persuaded them to revolt against Athens it didn't really take though and just a year later the lysan switch sides again and with reinforcements defeated the macedonians and the Spartans in battle all of these were just side quests though and nothing to do with predus as end gwiin th he was there to take anolis a key City in the region and he did quite easily in fact he laid Siege and because he knew the enemy reinforcements were on the way predus offered generous terms of surrender guaranteeing the safety of those who wanted to leave and allowing those who stayed to keep their property the people of antholis were happy with this Arrangement turns out they weren't really fans of Athens that much anyway allegedly only hours after brus entered the city the Athenian reinforcements AR led by his longtime rival thusis himself Athens was Furious with the loss of anolis and put the entire blame on fuses who was brought to trial and charged with again hopefully I pronounce this correctly prosia which basically meant he'd failed as a general thusis was found guilty and sent into exile for 20 years thus ending his part in the war and this story Reedus's involvement would also end shortly thereafter following the loss of antholis the two sides agreed to a one-year Armistice once it ended in 422 BC though Cleon one of the most prominent Athenian generals March the thust saying determined to take back the city again and here is where BEDA showed that fearsome reputation the Spartans had well earned although the two sides were about even Cleon preferred to wait for reinforcements trapped inside the city predus reason that if they were going to just sit around and do nothing they would almost certainly lose so instead he opened the gate and led a sudden audacious charge right into the center of the enemy Force the gamble was a stunning and rousing success the Athenians were left shocked panicked and confused and broke ranks to run away because I can't imagine there were many SS it's more terrifying on the ancient Battlefield than a bunch of Spartans running directly towards you ready to stab you Cleon himself was killed in this battle and the day was one there was just one problem though bredas had been mortally wounded during the fighting he survived long enough to receive word of their Victory and then died and was buried as a hero in amphipolis after both Spartan and Athens had lost two of their best Generals in one battle they signed a peace treaty in 421 BC it didn't last and the pelian war resumed who knows if you like this video maybe we'll cover sander another one of the top Spartan leaders and bring the war to its conclusion if you want to see more videos like this you can like the video if you got any comments your favorite Spartan quotes any favorite like you know figures from that point in history he wants to cover on another episode we can do that if you want to see more subscribe and check out like the sister channels to um uh biographics in particular top 10s and go check out like you know my um smooth headed predecessor talking about some badass Spartan quote some articles I wrote like five six years ago I know I'm certainly going to go look them back up to see which ones I forgot butchered and or didn't mention in this video either way hope everyone watching this has the day that they deserve and as always cheers