At Mantinea on July 4, 362 BCE, Thebes won a tactical victory but Epaminondas was mortally wounded; his death blunted Theban capacity to sustain hegemony, contributing to a renewed balance-of-power stalemate in Greece.
On July 6, 371 BCE, Epaminondas led Thebes to a decisive victory over a Spartan army at Leuctra, breaking Spartan military prestige and marking the emergence of Thebes as the leading land power in Greece.
Pelopidas and the Thebans won at Tegyra, an important morale and prestige breakthrough—often highlighted as an early sign that Spartan hoplites could be beaten in set battle by a smaller force.
Chabrias commanded an Athenian fleet to victory over Sparta off Naxos, reinforcing Athens’ naval recovery and weakening Spartan influence in the Aegean during the shifting alliances of the period.
Athens issued the Decree of Aristoteles (377 BCE), the key epigraphic “charter” for a new maritime confederacy designed to resist Spartan power while promising limits on Athenian control over allies.
Theban exiles returned and overthrew the pro-Spartan leadership; the Spartan garrison on the Cadmea surrendered, restoring an anti-Spartan Theban government and reigniting large-scale conflict in central Greece.
Spartan general Phoebidas seized the Theban acropolis (the Cadmea), installing a pro-Spartan regime and garrison—an occupation that helped set the stage for Theban resistance and the later Theban–Spartan War.
Persian king Artaxerxes II dictated a settlement (387–386 BCE) requiring Greek states to accept “autonomy,” while Persia regained control over Greek cities in Asia Minor; the peace ended the Corinthian War and strengthened Sparta’s role as enforcer.
Athenian peltasts under Iphicrates defeated a Spartan hoplite detachment near Lechaeum, a widely noted demonstration of how light troops and combined arms could upend traditional hoplite warfare.
A large hoplite battle near Nemea ended in Spartan victory over the allied coalition, demonstrating Spartan battlefield resilience even as the wider war expanded across Greece and the Aegean.
A decisive naval defeat inflicted by Persian-led forces (including the Athenian Conon) shattered Spartan sea power, enabling anti-Spartan operations and Athenian recovery efforts in the Aegean.
Agesilaus II led Spartan and allied forces to victory at Coronea, helping Sparta avoid defeat on land in central Greece despite mounting pressures in the broader conflict.
A coalition centered on Thebes, Corinth, Argos, and Athens formed to challenge Spartan dominance after the Peloponnesian War, with substantial Persian backing shaping strategy and financing on the anti-Spartan side.
Early in the war, Spartan forces suffered a major reversal at Haliartus in Boeotia; the prominent Spartan commander Lysander was killed, undermining Spartan momentum and leadership.
The Corinthian War and Theban Hegemony (395–362 BCE)
