Quote Originally Posted by denuseri View Post
Sparta did it for oh, around 400 years or so, give or take a decade.

Of course it wasnt a nation by todays standards per say, but still it worked for them.

They also managed to dominate all the other greek city states for the better part of their existeance with their system too, including Athens, until of course Phillip and Alexander the Great came along.
Ah yes, in the 10th Century BC...Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights), Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans), Perioikoi (freedmen), and Helots (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanxes were widely considered undefeatable in battle.

In Sparta they also had two "kings" who ruled...and only the Spartiates were true citizens. Much of what I read on Sparta is exciting, to be sure, but not translatable in today's society.