Relationship Between The Reforms Of Military System And The Polis Constitution In Ancient Greece

This thesis attempts to reveal the relationships between the military system and the political system, based on the main line of military system changing in ancient Greek city-states periods.The heart of the ancient Greek polis is citizens who were the true master of the city-states. In the early days of the polis, each polis generally applied a system of citizen soldiers. According to the account of personal wealth, each citizen of a city-state provides different military service.Typically, a city-state of citizen soldiers mainly includes four parts: heavy infantry, light infantry, cavalry, navy and sailors. The heavy infantry based on the class of the small and medium-sized landowners is the most representative and the most effective city-states in archaic and classic period. The development and the nature of the heavy infantry became important factors to promote the development of the polis democracy. Meanwhile, a series of political reform in the polis also promoted the continuous development and improvement of the system of heavy infantry.The rise and development of Athenian naval were closely related with its unique internal and external environment. Against the background of external military threats and internal political crisis, Athenian naval developed into a powerful group. At the same time, with the continuous development of the Athenian navy, the oars and the sailors coming from the third and fourth grade encouraged the political leaders to give them more political rights and then pushed the Athens to continue forward on the road of democracy.After the Peloponnesian war, ancient Greek polis fell in crisis. The development of the land acquisition and the big economic slavery made the peasantry of the polis become homeless proletarians, resulting in the economic and social basis of the polis of the collapse. In addition, the polis society and mental outlook had also changed. The traditional civil collective consciousness constantly were challenged by self-interest. At the same time, the Greek mercenaries grew more and more rapidly, and gradually prosperously. In short, because of economic and political crisis after the Peloponnesian War, the mercenaries developed; and in turn, the mercenaries also contributed to the development of polis crisis.The transformation of the ancient Greek polis military system had closely relationship with the change of the political system. The relationship was not one-way but a two-way. On the one hand, the political system is the foundation of military system and determines the specific composition of military system; on the other hand, the change of the military system is also the important basis of the change of the political system.