Only 15% of American soldiers in World War II, when being attacked by Japanese troops in a suicidal banzai charge, actually fired their weapons at the enemy. True or false?

Tag words: banzai charge; phalanx; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; John Keegan; Greeks; hoplites; SLA Marshall; Men Against Fire; Professor Roger Spiller; Vasily Grossman; A Writer at War; blood up; German Landsknecht; Swiss pikemen; Battle of Agincourt; charge;

As the two heavily armed and armoured phalanxes of Greeks finally collided to begin the decisive struggle to determine the victor, the sound made by that collision wasn’t the sound you would have expected. Very far from it. More of that later in the programme.

Tag words: Phalanx; charge; hoplite army; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Plutarch; Corinthian helmet; trot; Spartans; Thebans; Thucydides; History of the Peloponnesian War; Xenophon; Battle of Plataea; Persian troops; wicker shields; javelins; bows; slings; Tyrtaios;

Herodotus tells us that no Greek could hear even the word Persian without terror. But then Greece found itself in a battle for survival against this power. How was it possible for the Greeks to face and defeat this all powerful empire?

Tag words: Persians; hoplites; Herodotus; Histories; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Spartans; skirmishers; cavalry; Greek warfare; phalanx; Thucydides; History of the Peloponnesian Wars; Battle of Mantineia; Battle of Leuktra;

Fill in the blank: Had it not been for the SOMETHING I do not think that we should have won the war. I’ll give you the answer later in the programme.

Victor Davis Hanson. Les Carylon. William Manchester. Larry Siedentop. John Keegan.

Tag words: CS Lewis; chronological snobbery; Greek phalanx; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Les Carylon; The Great War; William Manchester; Goodbye to Darkness; Larry Siedentop; Inventing the Individual; Persian empire; Australian Imperial Force; Prime Minister Billy Hughes; General Monash; Pompey Elliott; Kenneth Macksey; Panzer Division; Onasander; Plutarch; John Keegan; The Face of Battle; Homer; The Iliad; Xenophon; Battle of Leuktra; Spartans;

Who issued this legendary order: All privates will retreat, all commanders will cover their withdrawal.

Victor Davis Hanson

Tag words: Phalanx; Persians; Aemilius Paulus; Battle of Pydna; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Spartans; Battle of Plataea; Thucididyes; History of the Peloponnesian War; hoplites; Aratos; Aristophanies; god Phobos; god Pan; Nelson Mandela; Guderian; Rommel; Israeli Defence Force; IDF; The Israeli Army; Edward Luttwak; Dan Horowitz; Palmach; operation Nachson; Harel Brigade; Corinthian helmet;

True or false? You could grab a Greek’s spear and break its head off with your bare hands.

Victor Davis Hanson.

Tag words: Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; hoplite; thrusting spear; Persians; Aeschylus; The Persians; Marathon; Salamis; Plataea; Darius; Battle of Thermopylae Pass; Homer;

The Greek phalanx was normally eight ranks deep. Which rank did the Greeks place their best troops in? This is a trick question. I’ll give you the answer during the programme.

Victor Davis Hanson

Tag words: Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Shield; Helmet; Greaves; Breastplate; phalanx; hoplite; Spartans; Romans; killing zone; Persians; Persian Wars; Corinthian helmet; coif; phalangites; Missiles; spears, swords, javelins, arrows, stones; bullets;

The men of Patton’s Third Army had a boast andt the Greeks, who had been at Marathon, had theirs too, that they said to their dying day. What was it?

Victor Davis Hanson.

Tag words: Patton’s Third Army; Battle of Marathon; phalanx; Herodotus; Persian Army; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Aeschylus; Battle of Salamis; greaves; a shield; breastplate; helmet; spear; sword; shield; Spartans; Plutarch; Death Road; Highway of Death; Gulf War