Sparta Reborn

Valdemar II

Banned
Israel is closer.....

I tend to agree with you, Israel does share many trait with Sparta. A bad relationship with their neighbours, a large non-citizen population, a very militaristic society and a bad case of paranoia. The only country which was more like Sparta was apartheit South Africa.
 

Kaptin Kurk

Banned
I tend to agree with you, Israel does share many trait with Sparta. A bad relationship with their neighbours, a large non-citizen population, a very militaristic society and a bad case of paranoia. The only country which was more like Sparta was apartheit South Africa.

Well, that and a highly effective army which they're reluctant to actually use in pitch combat with their neighbors because its main purpose to keep the subject population in line and not fight foreignors, and who the hell knows what's going to happen if that army is gone too long or sent too far. (Well, neither Israel or S.A. were that bad, but there are echoes.)
 

Valdemar II

Banned
Singapore, Israel, S. Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland are probably the closest. Basically the countries which have meaningful National Service laws i.e. not like a lot of the European ones where deferment is easy and training is only intermittent and short-term.

Then again all of those are more like the Roman Republic rather than Sparta- all male citizens are required to serve. A proper Spartan analogue would have all male citizens as actively serving professional soldiers.

I feel that sometimes that Singapore armed forces in truth are overrated (no offense it isn't the quality I'm thinking about, it's more the quentity compared to their neighbours), their true defense is more that any invasion of Singapore would destroy Singapores value as a wealthy citystate (something like killing the goose which lay Goldegg).
 
Ehh...

That's not at all comparable to what the Spartans had. Maybe I just missed my agoge, but I don't recall doing any sort of military training, even if, technically speaking, I'm part of the reserve militia.

I know there's some big differences, but you don't need to be snide.

It is generally agreed that Sparta mainly failed because all the soldiers were high-maintenance, full time professionals. Militia is much better, requiring an incredibly low sum to maintain in comparison to full time soldiers.

Ideally, the Militia train themselves to an extent, keeping themselves skilled in basic weapons maintenance and use, as well as other, useful skills, which might be of use in supporting the Federal military.
 
You want a happy country that is disproportionately powerful for its miniscule size?

If you didn't ask for it in Europe, my first thought would have been "Sorry, it's in OTL and called Singapore." But since you said Europe, my first thought was, "Sorry, it's in OTL, and it's called Luxembourg."

Now this is serious. IIRC, every Luxembourgian male between 16 and 60 is legally a military reserve. (The gov't can call them up.) (Or is that Liechtenstein? I can never remember which of the two that is.) Luxembourg is also home to the rregistration for every purely NATO aircraft, including 17 E-3 Sentry AWACS planes. And if someone attacks Luxembourg, the entire might of the Western world comes down on them without Luxembourg having to lift a finger. THAT is power.
 
I tend to agree with you, Israel does share many trait with Sparta. A bad relationship with their neighbours, a large non-citizen population, a very militaristic society and a bad case of paranoia. The only country which was more like Sparta was apartheit South Africa.

Paranoia? When they're attacked on a semi-regular basis, wouldn't it be insane not to be prepared?
 

MrP

Banned
I know there's some big differences, but you don't need to be snide.

It is generally agreed that Sparta mainly failed because all the soldiers were high-maintenance, full time professionals. Militia is much better, requiring an incredibly low sum to maintain in comparison to full time soldiers.

Ideally, the Militia train themselves to an extent, keeping themselves skilled in basic weapons maintenance and use, as well as other, useful skills, which might be of use in supporting the Federal military.

Well, the thing is that this isn't the requested scenario. Everyone in the ancient Greek world had a militia. But the Spartans were totally bonkers so they had better trained blokes.

Paranoia? When they're attacked on a semi-regular basis, wouldn't it be insane not to be prepared?

Israel is both threatened and paranoid. The one doesn't exclude the other.
 
I'd fling late 1800's Prussia as a potential nominee. Very Militaristic, somewhat small population, dominated by a military elite.

No slaves though, and no widespread man-love that I'm aware of however.:eek:
 
I know there's some big differences, but you don't need to be snide.

It is generally agreed that Sparta mainly failed because all the soldiers were high-maintenance, full time professionals. Militia is much better, requiring an incredibly low sum to maintain in comparison to full time soldiers.

actually Sparta mainly failed because they ran out of citizens to fill the ranks (which had roots in it's system of land distribution and criteria for citizenship). Hence one defeat broke it's back (though that one defeat was bound to happen sooner or later).
 
I feel that sometimes that Singapore armed forces in truth are overrated (no offense it isn't the quality I'm thinking about, it's more the quentity compared to their neighbours), their true defense is more that any invasion of Singapore would destroy Singapores value as a wealthy citystate (something like killing the goose which lay Goldegg).

That's generally the whole point, if you're talking about Indonesia. However, that's not the main problem with Indonesia- their troops are more numerous and more experienced than ours but they lack the sealift capacity to mount an invasion. Our navy and air force outclass theirs which makes it possible for us to halt any real attempt at an invasion in it's tracks. Basically if they ever did manage to invade desipte all that we wouldn't be able to hold them in ground combat but all they'd get is a shattered, ruined city.

Where Malaysia is concerned, however, things match up a bit more evenly. Assuming the entire reserve was mobilised, the numbers of Malaysian troops aren't quite that overwhelming. Given that a Malaysian declaration of war against Singapore would lead to huge levels of unrest in the Malaysian Chinese and Indian minorities, it's not as if they'd be able to field all their forces against us. With our air superiority, tech superiority and, quite possibly the ability to equal or possibly outnumber Malaysian troops at the actual fighting front combined with the intangible moral benefit of our troops being free citizens defending their home (which will also play really well on international news feeds) I think the Singaporean defence strategy is actually workable. Basically it just involves pushing forward into Malaysia to seize the water plants that the Republic depends on and then screaming for the US Navy to come back us up.
 
Now find a way to incorporate mainstream spartanish Aryan man love and you get a cookie.

Well, Hitler dies in some freak accident after some polite political maneuvering, Himmler emerges as the new Fuhrer.

Himmler's latent homosexual urges are released to run riot, really taking flight in his all boys club, the SS, which already had a disturbing preference for paraphernalia typically associated with extravagant homosexuals.

Quite suddenly, handsome men with overdeveloped physiques are in charge and just like OTL when all and sundry joined the algemeine SS to further their careers, men of all stripes embrace man love as a way to rise further in their careers, e.g. sleeping their way to the top....


Where's my cookie? :)
 
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