BATTLE REPORT #4 - Battle of Leuctra 371 BC.

[AUSTERLITZ]

Battle of Leuctra 371 BC - The Birth of Strategy



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Ancient greece,With the defeat of Athens and her allies in the Peloponessian War-For 30 yrs Sparta has ruled supreme as the dominant power of greece in the period known as the Spartan Hegemony. However,the city state of Thebes increasingly powerful ,challenges spartan domination of central greece.


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Background:

Spartans,the dominant power of the Peloponesse or Southern greece are the leaders of the Lacaedemonians.In 378 BC with athenian help thebans overthrow the spartan garrison occupying their city under their leaders Pelopidas and Epaminondas and re-establish democracy in thebes.They attempt to unite Boetia Under them in the boetian League.The spartan military response sparks the Boetian war.After 6 years of inconclusive war,athens withdraws military support from thebes fearing it become too powerful and due to thebes capture of the city state of platea,an athenian ally.
In a attempted peace conference,the spartan king Refuses to let Epaminondas speak on behalf of all the boetians,while Epaminondas retorts that sparta has no right to speak on behalf of all lakedaemons.At this, the spartan king Agisilaeus strikes off the name of thebes from the list of Signatories of the peace treaty.Most of greece implements the treaty leaving thebes to face sparta's wrath alone.
The Spartan Army under their Second king Cleombrotus marches on thebes.They are confronted by the thebans and boetians at Leuctra whose leaders decide on battle on a 4-3 vote.Epaminondas being the main advocate of an engagement.


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Epaminondas,leader of the thebans.

Next : Armies and Tactics.

 

[GR!FF!N]

this is the battle which showed how rituals are vulnerable in the field of battle.please continue @AUSTERLITZ as this is one classic example why rituals should be avoided in the battlefield.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Spartan Army-

Commander - King CleomBrotus

Strength-
10,000 Hoplites.
1,000 Light Infantry
1,000 Cavalry.

The bulk of the spartan army is composed of its allies,the phocians,phliasians and corinthians.

Of the spartan forces.700 are spartiates - full time spartan citizens,crack troops trained from birth.300 of these are the Hippies-personal bodyguard of king cleombrotus-the spartan elite.It was 300 of these that had stood and died at thermopylae.Other spartan forces would have included spartan hoplites of lower social class but the battles were traditionally decided by the elite spartiates.



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Spartan hoplite.Trained from infancy only for war,sparta was a state that systematically bred the finest soldiers in the world through a brutal training regimen.All citizens had to serve in the army from youth to upto age 60 compulsorily,all other work and farming was done by helots-a group of second class labourers,leaving the citizens to focus entirely on honing their military skills..Sparta's hoplites were feared throughout greece and backed up its reputation with a stellar military record.



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A hoplite's equipment consisted of bronze or Linothorax Cuirass.A thrusting spear Dory,a oval round shield Hoplon or aspis.A Corinthian or Pilos helmet and close quarter short sword,the Xiphos.



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Both sides also possesed around equal numbers of light infantry-such as these Mercenary Peltasts.Useful for harassing and skirmishing,they were excellent in broken terrain but less so in pitched battle on plains.

Theban Army-

Commanders- Pelopidas and Epaminondas

Strength -
6,000 Hoplites
1,000 Light Infantry
1,000 Cavalry.

Like the spartans,a major part of the theban forces were formed by its boetian allies.


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A Hoplite.


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The elite of the theban forces were the Sacred Band Of Thebes.A 300-strong force of 150 pairs of male lovers,they were disciplined and heavily drilled-sworn to never abandon their lover in battle.Here shown without the spear.



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Both sides possesed light cavalry,though the thebans were more organized.Greece was a mountanous region and cavalry played a negligible role in greek warfare. Before the invention of stirrupps,these these light unarmoured horsemen didin't have the ability to charge or engage in melee combat with hoplites.Thier main role would be skirmishing and running down light infantry or routing enemy infantry.

Hoplite Tactics-

The hoplite was the centre of ancient greek warfare.These armoured spearmen had repulsed the might of Persia and remained the backbone of all greek armies.


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The hoplites fought in a phalanx formation with overlapping shields.In a Hoplite vs hoplite contest pushing power and depth were key as long as they were not outflanked.



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The normal practice of the greeks was to establish their heavily armed infantry in a solid mass, or phalanx, some eight to twelve men deep. This was considered to allow for the best balance between depth (the pushing power it provided) and width (i.e., area of coverage of the phalanx's front battle line). The infantry would advance together so that the attack flowed unbroken against their enemy.



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The overlapping shield of a hoplite,covered not only himself but his neighbour on the left.This led to the Right side drift,where an advancing phalanx drifted right as each hoplite sought to reamin behind the protection of his neighbours shield.
Thus Greek commanders traditionally placed their most experienced, highly regarded and, generally, deadliest troops on the right wing[they would not have the protection of their neighbours shield] as this was the place of honour.It was common practice for greek right wing to rout its opposing left and have themselves suffer the same.The spartan kings usually positioned themselves here.

Next: The battle.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Battle of Leuctra 371 BC

Both armies establish their camps on sloped hills as the armies deploy in the distance.Before the battle some of the unwilling boetian allies are allowed by epaminondas to leave,but their departure is prevented by spartan light infantry and who drive them back again in the theban ranks.
Cleombrotus is confident as he holds the deadliest hoplites in all of greece- The invincible Red cloaks of sparta.
The spartans have never been defeated when they were superior or equal in numbers to the enemy in their history.


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The spartans deploy in traditional fashion,with cleombrotus and the elite spartiate hoplites on the right-the position of honour 8-12 man deep as usual.A screen of light cavalry in front and peltasts on the left of the phalanx.

In a major departure from tradition,epaminondas concentrates his hoplites on a massive 50 man deep column on his left directly opposite the spartans.The Rest of his phalanxes are depleted to 4 man-deep.He places the theban sacred band under Pelopidas on the extreme left of his column.In the distance the depth of these formations can't be viewed.
The peltasts of both sides engage in skirmishing,and the theban cavalry confronts the spartan and allied cavalry.



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1.The theban cavalry uncharacterastically massed by epaminondas,rout the spartan cavalry who retreat in disarray through the ranks of the allied phalanxes,throwing them into total disorder and disrupting their advance.
The theban cavalry also harasses the allied phalanxes slowing their movement.
2.Epaminondas orders the thebans to advance diagonally in echelon - known as the oblique order,such as his weaker and shallower centre and right were progressively further.The first recorded use of this manuevre in history.Epaminondas thus invented the tactic of advancing with a refused flank.
3.The spartans were unable to detect the unconventional deployment till the last moment due to the cavalry screen and the dust risen up from the cavalry battle,that obscured their view.By the time they realize something unusual is happening,epaminondas's column fifty deep smashes into them at double speed.


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1.The Spartans are stunned by the impetus of the 50 man deep theban column and attempt to hold on desperately.They try to redeploy their rear ranks to try and outflank the thebans,but are caught mid-manuevre by the theban Scared band urged on by Pelopidas.
2.The Spartan right collapses under the weight of the theban mass,cleombrotus is killed.


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3.Meanwhile the spartan allied phalanxes have reorganized and advanced on the theban right and centre but are still not in serious contact with the enemy due to the unique formation.
4.The victorious thebans turn and fall on the flanks of the nearest spartan allies who rout and flee towards their camp.
5.Seeing the invincible spartans defeated all the spartan allies turn and rout to their camp-most of them having not engaged in battle.

Losses -
1000+ Spartans.Including 400 spartiates and cleombrotus.
300 boetians.

Aftermath-

The defeat broke spartan power ending her hegemony forever.Due to the declining numbers of full spartan citizens loss of 400 spartiates as well as its best troops was a devastating blow to spartan military capability.Spartan prestige that allowed it to field large armies of allies was eclipsed.It was the first time since leonidas that a spartan king had been killed in battle and the first defeat in spartan history against inferior numbers of troops.
Epaminondas marched into lakedaemon,freeing messenia and the bulk of the helot population.This crippled sparta's economy.He would defeta the spartans again at Mantinea using similar tactics but was killed in battle-ending the period of theban hegemony.
Philip of macedon,at this time a hostage in thebes learned firsthand from the theban military organization as well as pelopidas and epaminondas.He would perfect the oblique order in his own macedonian army.He also noticed epaminondas's tactic of massing cavalry and built the companion cavalry on this concept,taking the wedge formation from the thracians.It would be this army that would conquer greece and under alexander-the known world.The oblique order was used many times by philip and alexander.Ironically city-state of thebes would be destroyed by alexander.

Next: Battle Analysis

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Battle Analysis -

Reasons for Theban success-

1]Concentration of Force-A primary principle of victory,the thebans concentrated their best hoplites into a massive mass that simply overwhelmed the spartans by weight.Here is a great ancient example of the later german concept of 'schwerpunkt' or focal point.To concentrate maximum force on the decisive point of a battle thus gaining local superiority even if inferior overall.

2]Economy of Effort- Directly complimentary to the above,Geramn military theorist Carl von clausewitz proclaimed that any forces not engaged in the decisive point should be the bare minimum necessary for defense in other less crucial sectors.Epaminondas's tactics was exactly that.

3]Shield Your weakness - There are several ways to shield weakness - Terrain,to use your strength to do so or deception.Epaminondas here used Manuevre to shield his weakness.By refusing his shallow centre and flank his depleted ranks mostly never even came in contact with the enemy formations.

4]Surprise- Epaminondas's tactical innovations,to place his elite troops on his left flank and the oblique order attack took the spartans completely by surprise.Here genius overcame spartan valour.This oblique order would be much emulated by future commanders such as alexander the great and particularly Frederick the great of prussia-whose favourite tactic it was.Today this is one of the seven so called classic battle manouvres.

 

[GR!FF!N]

@AUSTERLITZ

you missed to point another major flaw of Spartan deployment..

Sparta always deployed their best men to the right side of their line to counter Phalanx's right hand drift.they generally posted their relatively weak soldiers to the left.so,when Thebes deployed massive 50 men deep phalanx formation to attack the right of Sparta's formation,its their best men who got killed.according to Xenophon,Spartan soldiers initially prevailed them,but got overwhelmed and was hurled back with over 1000 casualty.also,the Spartans were disordered not because they were taken in the flank but because they were caught in mid-manoeuvre, extending their line.the rest of the Spartan allies didn't even fight seeing Spartan right getting destroyed.

but this is the battle where Echelon Formation was created,a formation that is still in use.

another thing,in movie 300,it was showed that Spartans countered persian cavalry with an unusual deployment,looked like a VEE or Double Echelon,can you tell me if Sparta ever used that kind of deployment??

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

@AUSTERLITZ

you missed to point another major flaw of Spartan deployment..

Sparta always deployed their best men to the right side of their line to counter Phalanx's right hand drift.they generally posted their relatively weak soldiers to the left.so,when Thebes deployed massive 50 men deep phalanx formation to attack the right of Sparta's formation,its their best men who got killed.according to Xenophon,Spartan soldiers initially prevailed them,but got overwhelmed and was hurled back with over 1000 casualty.also,the Spartans were disordered not because they were taken in the flank but because they were caught in mid-manoeuvre, extending their line.the rest of the Spartan allies didn't even fight seeing Spartan right getting destroyed.

but this is the battle where Echelon Formation was created,a formation that is still in use.

another thing,in movie 300,it was showed that Spartans countered persian cavalry with an unusual deployment,looked like a VEE or Double Echelon,can you tell me if Sparta ever used that kind of deployment??

The spartan deployment was not flawed.It was the standard deployment pattern, for all greek armies.
Every greek army of the period placed its weaker hoplites on the left.
Its not as if depth alone could win u the battle,because the more u increased ur depth less extended ur line and more shallow other parts of ur line-so increasing depth alone wouldnot have led to theban success as other side and centre would have collapsed.The major genius was to come up with the refused 'dropping away' pattern flank.
Secondly,its never said spartans were outflanked but rather as u said caught in mid manuvre trying to extend their line to outflank the massive theban column itself.
The formation is called Wedge.Sources are not clear about whether spartans used this formation,but it packs together available power into a mass,so its good for a small confined area like the pass at thermopylae,as well as preventing flanking.But at thermopylae,as long as greek flanks were secured by pass such a formation would have been unnecessary,and indeed no sources indicate its use.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Battle of Leuctra 371 BC - The Birth of Strategy



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Ancient greece,With the defeat of Athens and her allies in the Peloponessian War-For 30 yrs Sparta has ruled supreme as the dominant power of greece in the period known as the Spartan Hegemony. However,the city state of Thebes increasingly powerful ,challenges spartan domination of central greece.


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A very welcome analysis, flawed from my point of view because of the spelling errors.

Lacedaemonians, not Lacaedemonians.

Boeotian, not Boetian.

Hippeis, surely, not hippies.

Perhaps this is some kind of modern variant spelling.



Background:

Spartans,the dominant power of the Peloponesse or Southern greece are the leaders of the Lacaedemonians.In 378 BC with athenian help thebans overthrow the spartan garrison occupying their city under their leaders Pelopidas and Epaminondas and re-establish democracy in thebes.They attempt to unite Boetia Under them in the boetian League.The spartan military response sparks the Boetian war.After 6 years of inconclusive war,athens withdraws military support from thebes fearing it become too powerful and due to thebes capture of the city state of platea,an athenian ally.
In a attempted peace conference,the spartan king Refuses to let Epaminondas speak on behalf of all the boetians,while Epaminondas retorts that sparta has no right to speak on behalf of all lakedaemons.At this, the spartan king Agisilaeus strikes off the name of thebes from the list of Signatories of the peace treaty.Most of greece implements the treaty leaving thebes to face sparta's wrath alone.
The Spartan Army under their Second king Cleombrotus marches on thebes.They are confronted by the thebans and boetians at Leuctra whose leaders decide on battle on a 4-3 vote.Epaminondas being the main advocate of an engagement.


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Epaminondas,leader of the thebans.

Next : Armies and Tactics.

Battle of Leuctra 371 BC - The Birth of Strategy



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Ancient greece,With the defeat of Athens and her allies in the Peloponessian War-For 30 yrs Sparta has ruled supreme as the dominant power of greece in the period known as the Spartan Hegemony. However,the city state of Thebes increasingly powerful ,challenges spartan domination of central greece.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Background:

Spartans,the dominant power of the Peloponesse or Southern greece are the leaders of the Lacaedemonians.In 378 BC with athenian help thebans overthrow the spartan garrison occupying their city under their leaders Pelopidas and Epaminondas and re-establish democracy in thebes.They attempt to unite Boetia Under them in the boetian League.The spartan military response sparks the Boetian war.After 6 years of inconclusive war,athens withdraws military support from thebes fearing it become too powerful and due to thebes capture of the city state of platea,an athenian ally.
In a attempted peace conference,the spartan king Refuses to let Epaminondas speak on behalf of all the boetians,while Epaminondas retorts that sparta has no right to speak on behalf of all lakedaemons.At this, the spartan king Agisilaeus strikes off the name of thebes from the list of Signatories of the peace treaty.Most of greece implements the treaty leaving thebes to face sparta's wrath alone.
The Spartan Army under their Second king Cleombrotus marches on thebes.They are confronted by the thebans and boetians at Leuctra whose leaders decide on battle on a 4-3 vote.Epaminondas being the main advocate of an engagement.


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Epaminondas,leader of the thebans.

Next : Armies and Tactics.

 
And I was not comfortable with your use of the word strategy in your heading. This was purely tactics at play.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

 
And I was not comfortable with your use of the word strategy in your heading. This was purely tactics at play.

Yes,sorry-a lapse at that.Why can't i EDIT my posts?mods?

 

[Joe Shearer]

I found that editing my posts was possible only by pressing the pencil symbol below my personal details. This was a chance discovery.

 

[GR!FF!N]

how come,all the ranks got revised???I was demoted from Lt General to Colonel..LOL..

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

I found that editing my posts was possible only by pressing the pencil symbol below my personal details. This was a chance discovery.

Still can't edit the older posts,pencil symbol doesn't appear.

 

[GR!FF!N]

Still can't edit the older posts,pencil symbol doesn't appear.

look to your far left,left most button of your "Thank and reply " bar...