Why didnt the persians just train their own hoplites?

>>1553258
Because it was easier to hire already existing Greek mercenaries.

>>1553258
They conscripted a few from vassalized greek states. Other than that it wasnt in their millitary tradition i guess? I mean they specialized on Archery and cavalry

>>1553258
They hired a shit-ton of Greek hoplites as mercenaries. It didn't work out. Also, the main strength of Alexander's armies was the sarissa pike, much longer than the dory, and most of the Greeks didn't even use it. Restructuring a huge, incredibly diverse army like the Persians had while Alexander is rampaging through their Empire isn't exactly easy to do in 12 years (the amount of time it took Alexander to conquer them.)

Why stab someone when you can shoot them?

The Persian military is far more geared for maintaining their existing empire and honestly the eastern reaches were far more important to them than the west.

Thus light cavalry and archers filled a suitable role for that.

The Greeks largely didnt know any better, they just had heavy infantry and a smattering of skirmishers and a few city states had some cav. That the Persians largely fought them on ground favourable to hoplite warfare is a combination of greece being greece and Persian incompetence.

>>1553292
>what is the war of the Delian league?

File: 1411889187416.jpg (1MB, 2889x2042px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2889x2042px

>>1553258
>Why didnt the persians just train their own hoplites?

Same reason Europeans didn't just train their own steppe horse archers. Some military units are tailored arround or closely connected to a certain lifestyle or societal order.
That holds very true for hoplites as well.

>>1553272
Persia had been suffering humiliating defeats to the Greeks for 160 years before granicus.

>>1553292
In your opinion, how is it that the Greeks developed and utilized heavy infantry despite being in a mountainous terrain that creates an inclination for skirmishes/ skirmishers?

The Persian did have their own version of heavy closed ranks spearmen. They performed acceptably but ultimately couldn't make the difference to win in the face of a superior enemy and incompetent leaders.

>>1553407
Not him but it was due to the city states. Greece has plenty of flat lands and valleys too. It was much more successful for them fight in close order protecting each other than being loose and disorganised. Those first states that formed hoplites were thus at a huge advantage, everyone else followed suit.

>>1553407

That's a very good question.

Raiding was ingrained in greek (perhaps all) cultures at that time but I believe the invention of the hoplite style of war was the minimize the casualties in these wars between city states but still assert their dominance and win concessions.

Since they were all so close to each other you could hardly accord to wage an effective Guerilla campaign and most city states were happy to leave your farm unburned so that one could more easily pay the tribute for defeat more easily.

The greeks of the south also had no real cavalry or archery tradition. Some greek city states in the north like Athens did but they were an outlier.

Was it the new Dan Carlin episode that prompted this thread OP?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's a great history podcast (more like audiobook series really) called Hardcore History available here:

http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/

And they're always great, but the latest subject is the Persian empire and there's a brand new episode up now.