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    What Does The Evidence Reveal About The Nature and Role of The Army in Persian Society During This Period

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    What Does The Evidence Reveal About The Nature and Role of The Army in Persian Society During This Period

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    cameroncans16
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    What Does the Evidence Reveal About the Nature and Role of the Army in Persian Society During This Period

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    What Does The Evidence Reveal About The Nature and Role of The Army in Persian Society During This Period

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    What does the evidence reveal about the nature and role of the army in

    Persian society during this period? In your answer, refer to Source M, other
    sources and your own knowledge. 15 marks

    The Persian army played an integral role during the Achaemenid period due to the nature of
    the army. It allowed the Persians to conquer land, letting them grow their substantial
    number of nations in the empire. The army were also extremely useful in letting the Persians
    defend against rebellion, and disparities between foreign forces. The sheer size of the army
    followed by the smartness in its composition allowed for an effective and almost unbeatable
    military force. There were many different contingents, including the immortals depicted in
    Source M, which allowed for the army to be highly regarded.

    The Persian army was made up of several different contingents, including namely the
    immortals, which were the highest regarded. Source M depicts the group, whose ranks were
    never to fall below 10,000. The Immortals were the best of the best of the Persian warriors,
    1000 of which were recruited as the kings’ personal guard, accompanying him at all times
    during battle. The Susa Bricks, display the respect the position commanded, the high esteem
    at which they were held and the pride Darius held in his military. The rest of the army was
    made up from military levy’s taken from Satrapies, meaning the army had a range of
    different nations present. Xenophon provides a vague figure of 120,000 in the standard army
    generally. Herodotus tells us that Xerxes took 1.7 million men into Greece to fight in the
    Greco-Persian wars. Since it was such a large army, the king organised his troops into a
    decimal system to ensure orders were properly administered. There would be myriads of
    10,000 men led by a Hazarpatis, who were generally wealthy nobles, or family members of
    the king. The military’s best strategy was to have archers at the back who would rain down
    arrows to weaken the enemy troops, then they would use the cavalry to break the enemy
    formation and have the rest of the ground troops wipe out the enemy.

    The army was used for many different reasons, the main being external and internal issues.
    The army would help the king, claim territory, as well as attack. They would come on
    campaigns with the king, and the multinational nature of the army was helpful during these
    escapades. Darius conquered the Saka tribe in Central Asia around 520BC for the sole reason
    of incorporating and taking advantage of their native strategies and the equipment they
    used. The army was used in all important wars, like the first and second Persian wars. The
    army was useful in the sack of Sardis, which was a punishment to the Ionians for revolting.
    The army was also used to defend against internal issues, such as suppressing revolts, like
    the Ionian revolt, but also the numerous others, particularly at the start of Darius’ reign.
    They would take care of administrative policing, ensuring the Satraps paid their tax and
    military levy, and would also protect the citizens.

    For these reasons, the Persian army played an integral role during the Achaemenid Empires
    reign.

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