The Battle of Leuctra was a battle between the Thebans and their Boeotian allies, led by Epaminondas, on the one hand; and the Spartans and their allies, led by King Cleombrotus, on the other. It happened in 371 BC, during the Boeotian War. The battle took place in Central Greece, 11 kilometers from Thebes and ended with the Thebans victorious.
The Athenians and their allies, including the Thebans, waged war against the Lacedaemonians, who were unable to invade Boeotia for two consecutive years. As a result, the Thebans conquered the Boeotian cities. Since the Thebans went on campaigns and conquered the otherwise friendly cities of Athens, the relationship between Athens and Thebes became increasingly hostile. Athens sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon to ask for peace. The Lacedaemonians agreed to peace, under which the parties pledged to withdraw from their allies’ towns, dissolve land and sea forces, and grant autonomy to all cities. The Thebans refused to sign the peace treaty on these terms, and remained hostile.
The People’s Assembly of Sparta sent messengers to King Cleombrotus with the order not to disband troops, but to lead them immediately against the Thebans if they did not agree to the autonomy of the Boeotian cities. As a result, Cleombrotus invaded Boeotia and camped near Leuctra.
Cleombrotus decided to battle the Thebans. Lacedaemonians’ allies did not expect an attack. The commanders of the Thebans believed if they did not fight, the surrounding cities would fall away from Thebes, and Thebes would be besieged. Then the Theban people would starve. Among the Thebans, disagreements arose, but they received good omens and predictions as to the outcome of the battle.
Armies
The number of soldiers in the armies of Sparta and Thebes cannot be known with great accuracy. Sources do not have exact data on the number of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Modern authors assume that the Lacedaemonians, along with their allies who did not participate in the battle, had a numerical superiority in this conflict. The estimates of the forces directly involved in the battle are as follows, Lacedaemonians had about 10,000 to 11,000 foot soldiers and about 1,000 cavalry. The Thebans / Boeotians had about 6,000 to 7,000 foot soldiers and about 1,500 cavalry in their ranks.
The Course of the Battle
The battle took place between the Lacedaemonians and the Thebans/Boeotians. The Lacedaemonians were lined up in 12 rows, the width of the front slightly less than 200 men. The Thebans/Boeotians who took part in the battle were lined up opposite the Lacedaemonians with a depth of 50 rows. The width of the front is unknown. Theban commander Epaminondas selected the best warriors and put them on his side.
In front of the hoplites (foot soldiers), cavalry was deployed on both sides. Before the infantry attack, a short skirmish of cavalry took place, in which the Theban cavalry broke the Lacedaemon cavalry. This predetermined the outcome of the battle. When retreating, the Lacedaemon cavalry crashed through the ranks of their hoplites, after which Theban detachments attacked the disorganized rows of the Lacedaemon hoplites, followed by the remaining forces. At the beginning of the battle, Spartan King Cleombrotus was wounded. The Lacedaemonians succeeded in driving the Thebans back and rescuing Cleombotus from the battlefield. However, the Spartan king later died of his wounds. As a result of a stubborn battle, the Thebans overran the Lacedaemonians and they were pushed back to their camp. The losses of the Lacedaemonians amounted to about 1,000 men, of whom about 400 were elite Spartans. The Thebans’ losses are unknown but probably less than the Spartans.
The Reasons for the Defeat
Different historians interpret different sources and causes of the defeat of the Lacedaemonians in different ways. We can assume the direct cause of the defeat was the complete loss of command staff. The reasons for this loss are explained differently. According to Plutarch, the reason is the attack of the Theban cavalry on the flank of the Lacedaemon army, but not all historians agree with this.
Theban Commander Epaminondas had two great strategic innovations. First, he had put his Hoplites in deep rows of 50 men. That was a revolutionary idea, because the tradition had been 12 men in a row. Then he put the stronger part of the army on the left and gave instructions to the right side to avoid engaging the enemy if possible. This made Thebans a very dangerous fighting force on the battlefield.
Battle Results
In the battle, the Lacedaemonians-Spartans lost their reputation as invincible, but the immediate effect was not great. The main loss was psychological, 90% of the army of Lacedaemonians and their allies survived and returned to the Peloponnese. However, after a while, allies began to break away from the Lacedaemonians and allied themselves with the Thebans, which in the following year made possible the attack of the combined armies of the opponents of Sparta, led by Epaminondas to Lakonia. This battle actually led to the loss of Sparta’s positions, which were never been restored, and the temporary and relative dominance of the Thebans in Greece. Shortly after this battle, the main force in Greece would be Philip II and the Macedonian army that destroyed the city-state of Thebes and it shortened hegemony over Greece.
Sources:
- JK Anderson. Military Theory & Practice in the Age of Xenophon – Berkeley: University of California Press
- John Buckler and Hans Beck. Plutarh on Leuctra
- Christopher Tuplin (ed.). Xenophon and his World
- Raphael Sealey. A History of the Greek City States
- Victor Davis Hanson (ed.). Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome
- John VAFine. The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History
- Delbruck G. History of military art in the framework of political history
- Cornelius Nepot, About the famous foreign generals, Pelopid