The Battle of Leuctra, 371 BC ⚔️ How did Sparta lose its military power?

Sparta was an ancient Greek city-state located in the region of Laconia, in the Peloponnese. It was known for its military prowess, as its soldiers were considered to be among the best in the ancient world.

Sparta's power began to decline after a series of military defeats, particularly at the hands of the Thebans and their leader, Epaminondas. These defeats weakened Sparta's military dominance and allowed other city-states, such as Thebes and Athens, to become more powerful.

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🧾 Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:12 Sparta's decline
6:00 The Battle of Leuctra
10:49 Aftermath

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[monsteras]

When Epaminondas was about to die in the battlefield of Mantinea, his soldiers told him "pity you have no children to heritage you" and Epaminondas answered "i have two daughters, Leuctra and Mantinea".

[Kalah_]

Nice video. In 371 B.C., Sparta was already a weakened power, unable to field as many spartiates as earlier years. Thus, most of their army consisted of helots or other unwilling allied troops. The outnumbered Thebans gambled that if they managed to rout the spartiates from the field, the rest of the Spartan army would be unwilling to fight, as they were not the most willing of participants anyway. The Thebans, therefore, put "all their eggs in one basket", gambling everything on crushing the Spartan right. As it turned out, the Thebans were correct; they werent't really fighting an army of some 11.000 hoplites, but actually an army of some 1.000 Spartans. The rest left the field as soon as they saw their oppressive masters defeated.

[TheStrategos]

Epaminondas was a military genius and also a skilled and capable politician.

[denniscleary]

Absolutely love the Greek and Persian wars, the Athenian empire had so much promise. Keep up the great work 👍

[theblindlucario]

Epaminondas needs no children for his legacy are the victories he delivered Thebes. What a legend and pioneer.

[buffdude]

Wow! For some reason I have not seen any of your videos in the past but I love your channel! You, HistoryMarche, History Dose, and Kings and Generals are my favorite channels now! Great content would love to see the Diodoci wars.

[SkynetVanNoided]

I always forget that the Spartans had two simultaneously reigning Kings. Such an interesting system.

[Hillbilly]

Great video again, HofH. The collab with HistoryMarche was brilliant too. I look forward to Wherever you go! LoL. Cheers from Tennessee

[monsteras]

"Epaminondas, the first man of Greece" -Cicero.

[Marko-odeb]

Battle did not played out as explained here in video.

Acording to Xenophon - Thebans had more cavalry which was also better equipped and trained.
Once they routed the Spartan cavalry it run over it's Spartan ranks in rout, so it means cavalry was somwhere in front of infantry or had skirmish much earlier because Xenohpon stated that cavalry battle was most likely over before Cleombrotus gave signal to advance.
So Spartans didn't had time to get back in formation when Theban Sacred Band charged at them.
Also, Theban cavalry played significant role in charging at unprotected Spartan flanks, they didn't stand idle once they routed enemy cavalry. (Hellenica - Book 7 Chapter 4, Section 13)
There is also serious chance that Thebans used phalangites and that explains deep formation. We know that because later at battle of Sparta, Xenophon mentions that "this time both sides had weapons with enough reach, so they could clash with eachother" (Hellenica 7.5.17).

[historycentral]

loved the collab with history marche keep doing work with him

[Spiderfisch]

Every time Sparta gets beaten up i rejoice

[maddielenihan]

Another great video- your explanations are nuanced and thorough :)

[davidedbrooke]

Been there to the battlefield and viewed the Theban triumphal trophy.

[monsteras]

Cleombrotus himself died in the battlefield of Leuctra. It was the first time that a Spartan King dies in a battle since Leonidas in Thermopylae.

[Manchevo]

In reply to a comment claiming that ancient Macedonians were considered "Greek" ;
The Macedonians and the kingdom itself were never considered "Greek" in the ancient times. In fact, historians and orators back then considered the Macedonians as "Barbaroi" or literally "non-kinsman/ non-Greeks". The term "Barbarians" was applied to any people that didn't speak the Greek language of old, including Macedonians, Thracians, Illyrians, Persians, Egyptians, Medes, Phoenicians, Galatians etc.
The noble Macedonian house ruled over multiple smaller tribes in what was Macedonia and non of them were considered "Greek" by any ancient historian. They were probably much more related to their nearby neighbors, the Illyrian, Paeonian and Thracian tribes who also had their own distinct cultures. Fact alone that multiple Greek city-states like Athens and Thebes openly rebelled against Macedonian rule while Macedonian kings, Alexander specifically, was expanding the borders north all the way to the Danube river. Even before, in the Greco-Persian wars, Macedonia was a vassal and an ally to the Persian empire and lend support to the Persians. And it is at this point (that many people want to quote ancient historians) when Herodotus, the so called "father" of ancient history, said that 'Thessaly was the first Greek land to fall under Persian rule'. And even decades after Alexander, the Greeks fought against the Macedonians, making multiple alliances (Achaian League, Aetolian League, Roman alliance) against them before they all fell under Roman rule and were incorporated into the large Roman Empire, after the Roman-Macedonian wars.

It is in the 19th century, with the Bavarian (German) fascination of ancient Greece, that the first Kingdom of Greece and terms like "Hellenism" and "Hellenistic" were created (Gustav Droysen). Even the Bavarians themselves helped model Athens to be like Munich and this stuff is documented.

[jjkoij]

wonderful! will you do Platea as well?

[brokenbridge]

I think this was a nice video. I just hope we get to see a new video on Fredrick the Great soon.

[thehungryhungarianXi]

Great video! There's one thing that has always interested me tho and that is how the loved ones of fallen soldiers would've been informed of their passing in battle, if they were informed at all. Or did they just hear rumors and have to hope for the best? If you could make a video about this, that would be pretty tight

[Futurist]

I love classical Greek history. All your videos are of amazing quality!