Thucydides was an Athenian, but had very little reason for offering a distorted view of the war that was eventually won by Sparta.
Jackson states, "Thucydides was an active participant in Athens for a time, he had a network of contacts, while banished to Thrace he observed the war there first hand, and as an Athenian exile he traveled along the Peloponnese" (Jackson, p.175). Thucydides wrote of a Sparta that used an eight deep fighting stance against the Athenians who could not, or did not, adapt to a style that would lead to victory when battling against that type of tactic.
Other army tactics began to be used after the Peloponnesian War, many of which were introduced by the Spartans in order to maintain their military might. One such tactic would play a key role in the battle of Leuctra.
Of particular relevance to Leuctra, however, was the battle of Nemea in 394 B.C. In this action the right wings of both armies began by moving to the right with the aim of encircling their opponents. Encirclement was not new, but the deliberate attempt to prepare for it in the approach march certainly was" (Cawkwell, p. 399)
The Spartan army adapted tactics and techniques designed to overpower, overwhelm or overcome their targeted enemies but their enemies learned from these engagements as well. When Sparta adapted an eight man deep wedge formation that forced their opponents into attacking into the strongest part of the army, other armies adapted the same tactic and took it a step further, sometimes lining up 12 and 16 deep. Sparta in the battle of Leuctra "abandoned their ancient favored depth of eight and formed up twelve deep, and sought to move to their right" (Cawkwell, p. 399) most likely in anticipation of the same movement they experienced approximately twenty years earlier at Nemea. The Thebans, however, did not react accordingly. Instead they piled their army fifty-deep and moved to the left, leaving no room for Spartan encirclement. "It is clear that the Spartans were confronted by a wholly new tactical situation. They fought with great bravery but were utterly out-generalled" (Cawkwell, p. 399).
Where Cawkwell sees the Spartans as being entirely 'outgeneralled" other observers might see a society that had run its course, that had self-destructed by violating its own standards.
An example of one of the primary violations was the one that allowed for no silver or gold currency in Sparta, instead the created iron spits that were to be used as payment for almost every conceivable item. Other societies, however, did not take kindly to iron spits for payment. It became necessary for Spartan government to hold a certain amount of gold and silver...
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