empathetic response causes profound problems. To be effective soldiers, men must be persuaded to kill other men. They must be persuaded to give up their recognition of another manâs humanity.
There are different ways of persuasion. One strategy is to dehumanize the enemy, making his death seem less significant. Helots were ideal for this dehumanizing, since they were both foreigners and enemies. They lived separately from the Spartans and often spoke different languages. Their work was demeaning. They were beaten and ridiculed. On occasion they were forced to get drunk, and then to sing and dance to amuse the crowd. They were treated as less than human, which made them perfect targets for homicide. Moreover, since Helots were forbidden to carry weapons, these first kills would be easy ones.
All this was invaluable battlefield training: no other city-states offered practice killings. Only certain warriors were selected for the ritual, which gave the krypteia a glamorous elitist luster. The dark, bloody bond , forged in secrecy and violence, strengthened the brotherhood between soldiers. It offered a shared sense of godlike power, the belief that they were above the laws of man and of human nature.
Sparta was an unparalleled success as a military power. Its soldiers were legendary heroes: it was Sparta that brought down Troy. It may have been the most successful warrior culture in history.
Part of Spartaâs military success depended on its treatment of the family, which was entirely subordinate to the state. The state superseded the authority of parents over their infant children, ordered small boys to leave home, required close male bonding, and banned marriage for men under the age of thirty. The state was a deeply and intimately invasive presence within every aspect of the life of the individual.
The reasons for Spartaâs failure were the same as the reasons for its success: everything was subordinated to the military. The stringently exclusionary citizenship requirements meant that Spartans could not replace the warriors whom they lost in battle. The requirement to wait until thirty to start a family meant fewer children and a diminishing population. Since they could not accept non-Spartans as citizens, eventually their ranks became too diminished to fight effectively. The soldiers were outnumbered by their Helots, who were allowed neither to fight nor to become citizens. Spartaâs rigidity in obeying its own strict laws was finally the cause of its downfall.
So, wrote Conrad, do we count them a success or a failure?
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
His own initiation took place at Quantico, in Virginia. Officer Candidates School lasted only ten weeks, but in some ways it was just as transformative as the agoge. And in some ways the Marine culture was based on that of Sparta.
Conrad expected the physical duress, push-ups and drilling, exhaustion. And the mental tedium, the psychological stress. That was the point, wasnât it? It was a kind of brainwashing, a relentless conditioning process meant to break you down, devalue everything you were so that you could start over with a new body and a new way of looking at the world. A new mind. It was obvious what was happening, but because it was so extreme, and because there was no alternative, it was completely effective. Everything happened right in front of the candidatesâ eyes, with their acquiescence. There was nothing they could do about it except quit, and the whole reason they were there was that they would not quit, that they were prepared to endure.
On the first day, when the new recruits boarded the shabby white bus that would take them from the airport to Quantico, a young second lieutenant stood up and came down the aisle. He set his gaze into the distance and began to shout over the noise of the engine. There was no preamble.
âHonor, courage, and commitment are the Marine Corps values,â he called out. âIf you canât
There are different ways of persuasion. One strategy is to dehumanize the enemy, making his death seem less significant. Helots were ideal for this dehumanizing, since they were both foreigners and enemies. They lived separately from the Spartans and often spoke different languages. Their work was demeaning. They were beaten and ridiculed. On occasion they were forced to get drunk, and then to sing and dance to amuse the crowd. They were treated as less than human, which made them perfect targets for homicide. Moreover, since Helots were forbidden to carry weapons, these first kills would be easy ones.
All this was invaluable battlefield training: no other city-states offered practice killings. Only certain warriors were selected for the ritual, which gave the krypteia a glamorous elitist luster. The dark, bloody bond , forged in secrecy and violence, strengthened the brotherhood between soldiers. It offered a shared sense of godlike power, the belief that they were above the laws of man and of human nature.
Sparta was an unparalleled success as a military power. Its soldiers were legendary heroes: it was Sparta that brought down Troy. It may have been the most successful warrior culture in history.
Part of Spartaâs military success depended on its treatment of the family, which was entirely subordinate to the state. The state superseded the authority of parents over their infant children, ordered small boys to leave home, required close male bonding, and banned marriage for men under the age of thirty. The state was a deeply and intimately invasive presence within every aspect of the life of the individual.
The reasons for Spartaâs failure were the same as the reasons for its success: everything was subordinated to the military. The stringently exclusionary citizenship requirements meant that Spartans could not replace the warriors whom they lost in battle. The requirement to wait until thirty to start a family meant fewer children and a diminishing population. Since they could not accept non-Spartans as citizens, eventually their ranks became too diminished to fight effectively. The soldiers were outnumbered by their Helots, who were allowed neither to fight nor to become citizens. Spartaâs rigidity in obeying its own strict laws was finally the cause of its downfall.
So, wrote Conrad, do we count them a success or a failure?
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
His own initiation took place at Quantico, in Virginia. Officer Candidates School lasted only ten weeks, but in some ways it was just as transformative as the agoge. And in some ways the Marine culture was based on that of Sparta.
Conrad expected the physical duress, push-ups and drilling, exhaustion. And the mental tedium, the psychological stress. That was the point, wasnât it? It was a kind of brainwashing, a relentless conditioning process meant to break you down, devalue everything you were so that you could start over with a new body and a new way of looking at the world. A new mind. It was obvious what was happening, but because it was so extreme, and because there was no alternative, it was completely effective. Everything happened right in front of the candidatesâ eyes, with their acquiescence. There was nothing they could do about it except quit, and the whole reason they were there was that they would not quit, that they were prepared to endure.
On the first day, when the new recruits boarded the shabby white bus that would take them from the airport to Quantico, a young second lieutenant stood up and came down the aisle. He set his gaze into the distance and began to shout over the noise of the engine. There was no preamble.
âHonor, courage, and commitment are the Marine Corps values,â he called out. âIf you canât
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