Peasant mobs have nothing to worry about because no farming society farms all year round. There are specific farming seasons. Wars are often fought after that. Of course, if they die in droves during a war, then there'd be hardly anyone to take care of the farm lands in the next season.



And peasants don't go to war with no armor. Simple armor of furs or coats woven by their wives was cheap and enough for mobs to wear. And working for decades with farming tools, axes, etc. meant most of them were surprisingly deft with the tools they brought. Of course, they were all ineffective compared to the simple spear, which they would've gotten anyway: just take a long pole you have lying around on the farm and ask the local blacksmith to add a pointy metal bit onto it. Might be shoddy, but amassed in the hundreds?



I do have scorn for the Spartan knockoffs though. I dislike people worshiping fantasies about warriors. Spartans died out because they were ineffective and strict asceticism was pointless. Otherwise they wouldn't have kept losing to the REAL 300; 150 pairs of homosexual lovers of the Thebesian Sacred Band. Investing in the economy to beget wealthier citizens who can, as soldiers, buy better equipment for themselves and hire auxiliary specialists from foreign lands to outnumber the enemy was a much more efficient way to fight a war, like the Romans did. And unlike the Spartans, the Romans could afford to not be soldiers all the time and build cities, make culture, have fun, learn things, and leave legacy.... all the while during the Roman Empire, Spartans' homeland became nothing more than a tourist spot that put on a show mimicking the old "whip young boys to become tough" part of their obsolete training program.