Leuctra, Battle of

Theban defeat of the Spartans July 371 BC, southwest of Thebes (now Thivai, Greece). The defeat finally ended the 30-year period of Spartan dominance over Greece and the Thebans assumed the hegemony over the Greek states.

This was the first time that Epaminondas, the Theban commander, used his innovative tactics which foreshadowed the famous phalanx, later developed so successfully by Philip of Macedon and then Alexander the Great. Until this time, hoplite battles had always been fought by the two sides confronting each other in two long lines; Epaminondas concentrated hoplites 50 deep at one point in the line in a wedge formation and used this local superiority to drive a hole through the Spartan line. As the other Spartans left their formation to come to the aid of their overwhelmed companions, the rest of the Thebans fell upon their disorganized ranks, killing over 1,000 of them.