Victory in the Peloponnesian War brought about Spartan hegemony and the establishment of a "Spartan Empire". The Spartan slogan of "liberation" was dropped. Around 400, for example, King Agis led an army north to punish Elis for earlier disloyalty. Lysander's puppet oligarchies were tied to Sparta far more firmly than any of Athens' subjects had been during the time of her empire. They were hated in their states both as puppets and as oligarchs, and Sparta came to be hated through them. This power of Sparta bred fear among her more independent and stronger allies. The Corinthians and Boiotians who would have welcomed Athens' destruction in 404, saw oligarchic Athens as just the Spartan satellite they feared, and so Boiotia assists the returning Athenian

democrats, Corinth and Boiotia refuse to join in the campaign against Elis, and a few years later a Corinthian, Boiotian and Athenian alliance was formed.

This was compounded by an improvement in the armies of other Greek states. Aristotle stated that in the past, Spartan superiority had been the result of that fact that they alone trained for war, but during the fourth century, others began to match them in their professionalism. Before, such as at First Mantinea, superior courage and soldiery had made up for failures in command. According to Nepos and Plutarch describe how the Thebans under Epaminondas set about military training with Spartan zeal. He insisted that his hoplites not just be trained as athletes, but also as soldiers. Xenphon said that the Thebans in Arcadia in the winter of 370/69 BC regularly trained. This meant that the Spartans no longer held their monopoly on valour and military prowess. This was worsened further still by the fact that Sparta was being left behind in the development of new military tactics. For example, the Spartans generally fought in formations of no more than eight to twelve ranks deep. During the Peloponessian War, other states had begun using formations of up to twenty five ranks deep, and at Leuctra the Thebans drew up in a formation fifty ranks deep. Also, the Pathos in Lechaeum in 390 saw the new effectiveness of lightly armed troops, and at Tegyra in 375, the Thebans used professional infantry jointly with cavalry for the first time. The Spartans were confronted with a totally new tactical situation, and although their troops still fought well and bravely, they were utterly out-generalled.

One advantage that the Spartans had formerly had was the exceptional training and prowess of their soldiers. The Spartiates' whole lives were devoted to war and they were enabled to do this because they alone had the free time through the labours of the other classes. Since non-Spartiates fought alongside them, the non-Spartiates must have had a great deal more military training than was usual elsewhere during the fifth century. The Greeks thought that Spartan drills were extremely complicated and the non-Spartiates would have needed to be well trained in them to avoid complication; for example, the manoeuvre ordered by Agis at Mantinea, as described by Thucydides, during the advance into action, would only have been conceivable if all parts of the army were well trained in it. Isocrates asserts that the Perioikoi fought in the front rank from time to time when there too few Spartiates, and they must have been well enough trained in weapons drill so that they wouldn't let the side down and expose the army to danger. All members of the Spartan army were required to keep fit and train while on campaign, by law, and Herodotus, Xenophon and Plutarch all praise the non-Spartiate elements of the armies. Still, the Spartiate element would have been superior in weapons t

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)