For 200 years, fighting the Spartan army was a death sentence. But one general named Epaminondas used a tactic that looked like total suicide—until it worked.
Instead of matching the enemy line, he broke the rules of Ancient Greece warfare. He stacked his men 50 ranks deep and left his weak side open. This strategy, known as the Oblique Order, didn’t just win the Battle of Leuctra; it crushed the Spartan King in minutes.
This is the story of how a simple geometry trick destroyed the greatest warriors in history and ended Spartan dominance forever.
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Most of the Spartan army was actually allied troops. Sparta was always a much weaker empire than they let on. They were nothing without their allies: a tiny army that could get enveloped and crushed by any major regional competitor.
At the Battle of Leuctra, only one small unit on the right flank of the "Spartan" army was actually Spartans. The enemy general stacked up his strongest troops against that unit, crushed it, and then the rest of the army ran away. The staggered echelon formation was just to discourage the rest of the "Spartan" army from flanking the elite troops on the left.
To be real. The Thebans really crushed the Spartans at the battle of Mantinea. The rest of the story is that there was a young Macedonian hostage by the name of Phillip who watched this all unfold. When he went back to Macedonia and became King he tinkered with the Macedonian phalanx by increasing the length of the spear. He also added three things that neither the Spartans or Thebans did. He added more skirmishers or peltasts, he developed a competent cavalry arm to deliver the knockout blow and he developed the imperial guard to function both as a phalanx or skirmishers thus providing the hinge between his heavy cavalry and the main phalanx. On his death he gave this army to Alexander and the rest is history.
Half truth and half not so true
Spanish?
He placed the Sacred Band, with 300 couples of gay men, at the front of left wing. The Spartans were defeated by gay men.
Spartans NEVER ran…
Long live Sparta
Spartans never ran from anyone with yoir dheild or on it
Wrong description of the right wing. Horsemen were used as screen on the right side, so the Spartans didn't know it was weak. Otherwise, if the Spartans attacked head on and win on the right side but lost the left side, they would be about even and the outcone would still be uncertain.
Deadly s army on earth and how would you know that .yous forgot about the maori worries..
Wrong
You face hell in front of your face
The two Thebian generals completely destroyed the Spartan myth
The specific time Sparta had so many problems who Spartan army was a joke.
7th century BCE believe me even god was bowing to Spartans.
Empires rise and fall.
Many people can beat Mike Tyson today who is old and seek. But no one had the guts even to speak to him in his prime
They don't run
Spanish??????????? – dislike
The got the racial identity of the Spartans wrong, they were blackmen with dreadlocks. There are incapable of telling the truth, identity thieves.
The tactic is called an oblique order . It looks like a set of door steps.
Yep, the famous Battle of Leuctra. 150 gay couple (300 men) sacred band destroyed spartan.
Well, it was the same with Spartan if you read the history of young recruited and process to become citizen. They had a gayish relationship with their older male in barracks.
It was just an OT, but so many times i met or read homophobic ppl comments, how spartan was super masculine heterosexual. Without knowing history beside that stupid movie 300
To be real the Spartans aren't as badass as the movie makes them look there still regular dudes & will rout if they get scared.The Spartans with the help of other armies was able to hold of Persian because they fought in a way where they couldn't get flanked in fact Sparta originally choose to surrender something not alot of people know because of there hype.
The Persians totally crushed the Spartans the movie 300 was full of a lot of lies to promote I don't know I guess fairy tales
No fight is fair. Men fight to win. What ever gives you the advantage you take it especially in life and death
Alexander the Great said that fighting the Spartans was like sweeping away mice. They probably didn’t handle the Macedonian phalanx too well.
No matter how bad you are. There's always somebody badder or smarter.
Did you say ran? Spartans never ran or retreated from the battlefield. They fought till their last breath. Fact check that story.