Epaminondas was one of history's great military innovators, but because his life and career were relatively short, he is often overlooked.
If he is remembered for one accomplishment, it's his victory at Leuctra. The triumph was notable not just because Epaminondas defeated Greece's most feared army with a numerically inferior force, he also used revolutionary tactics to do it.
The Challenge to Spartan Supremacy
Sparta had been Greece's dominant power since its victory over Athens in the Pelopennesian War in 404 B.C., but its expansionist policies caused hostility in other city-states. That led the Corinthian War, 395-387 B.C., during which Sparta and its allies fought a confederation of Athens, Argos, Corinth and Thebes.
That war ended in a stalemate, but bitterness remained. Hostilities broke out again in 371 B.C., with the Boeotian League -- led by Thebes -- squaring off against Sparta.
When the Spartans and their allies marched into Boeotian territory, Theban leadership was uneasy about offering battle. But Epaminondas, one of seven Boeotian generals, strongly favored doing just that. He eventually won his argument and was given command for the battle, which took place 18 miles from Thebes.
The first action was a clash of cavalry, which the more-experienced Boeotians won. Then the infantry contingents surged forward.
The Innovation of Epaminondas
In past battles, the Greeks tended to form their armies into compact rectangles or squares, with hoplites placed in ranks of even depth. The two armies would smash into each other, and the stronger phalanx would maintain cohesion and prevail.
The head-on approach was unlikely to work for the Thebans and their allies at Leuctra. Their army likely consisted of no more than 6,000 men, and they were facing a foe that numbered possibly up to 11,000.
So Epaminondas adjusted. He not only put his best troops on the left (opposite of tradition), he formed men on that side in ranks 50 deep. The Spartan king Cleombrotus, meanwhile, deployed his men in the usual way -- ranks 12 deep all across the line, with his best troops and himself on his right.
The thin Boeotian right and center were stripped of most of their mass, and were thus instructed to move forward deliberately when the army advanced. So Epaminondas' line took a diagonal shape. Troops on the right and center had yet to make contact when the robust left ran into the outnumbered Spartan right.
The Sacred Band
Leading the surge there was the Sacred Band, the cream of the Theban army. The group, led by Epaminondas' friend Pelopidas, consisted of 150 male couples. The feeling was that lovers would fight with more heart if they had to do so in front of each other.
The Sacred Band had proven its mettle at Tegrya in 375 B.C. when it routed a much larger Spartan force. That marked the first significant land battle in which the Spartans were defeated by a numerically inferior enemy. Previous defeats, at Thermopylae, by the Persians in 480 B.C.; and Sphacteria, by the Athenians in 425 B.C., came against forces many times their size.
At Leuctra, the Sacred Band again savaged the Spartans and this time, the stakes were much higher. The historian Plutarch described the initial collision:
"In the battle, Epaminondas, bending his phalanx to the left, that, as much as possible, he might divide the right wing, composed of Spartans, from the other Greeks, and distress Cleombrotus by a fierce charge in column on that wing, the enemies perceived the design, and began to change their order, to open and extend their right wing, and, as they far exceeded him in number, to encompass Epaminondas. But Pelopidas with the three hundred came rapidly up, before Cleombrotus could extend his line, and close up his divisions, and so fell upon the Spartans while in disorder..."
The Spartan right was overwhelmed, Cleombrotus was killed and his army shattered. Casualty accounts vary. The historian Diodorus places Theban losses at 300 and Spartan casualties at over 4,000. Xenophon has the Spartans losing only 1,000.
Sparta Falls, Thebes Rises
Sparta never had an abundance of manpower, and could never really replace those lost at Leuctra. In addition, the Spartans no longer had an aura of invincibility in land warfare. Never again would they reign supreme in the Hellenic world. That role went to Thebes.
Epaminondas became embroiled in political battles and fell in and out of favor. He was killed at the Battle of Mantinea in 362 B.C., where the Thebans defeated a force of Spartans, Athenians and Mantineans.
But the Greek city/states were weakened by generations of warfare as well as their centuries-long internal dissension. So they could not prevent themselves from being conquered by Macedonia. The climactic battle took place at Chaeronea in 338 B.C., with the Macedonians vanquishing a force of Thebans and Athenians.
The Influence of Epaminondas
The king of Macedonia was Phillip II, had been a captive in Thebes, where he was educated in military and politics affairs by Epaminondas. That undoubtedly influenced Phillip as he built Macedonia into a mighty war machine later led by his son, Alexander the Great.
Epaminondas' use of an unbalanced line at Leuctra was revolutionary. The "echelon" or "oblique" attack (which he also used at Mantinea) became a basic part of military tactics.
Sources:
Diodorus, The Library History of Diodorus Siculus, translated by C. Bradoford Welles, Loeb Classical Library
Plutarch; Lives, translated by John Dryden, Internet Classics Archives
Warry, John Gibson; Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome, University of Oklahoma Press
Xenophon, Hellenica, translated H.G. Dakyns, FullBooks.com
