The Curse of Triumph

Despite their fame for military invincibility the proud Spartans started to suffer successive defeats beginning in the 4th century. Finding previous theories unable to account for this upheaval in a satisfactory manner this paper attempts to fill the lacuna by explaining from the Spartans' perspective. By examining major battles during the Peloponnesian War and Spartan hegemony this paper argues that the ancient Greek world underwent a military revolution during the Peloponnesian War and Sparta's later debacles were the result of its failure to adapt to this change. In particular the Spartans failed to appreciate the rising importance of military technology irregular military elements and unconventional military tactics. Underlying this tardiness to change might be Sparta's impressive victory in the war which reinforced their commitment to the old method of fighting.