The Empire of the Heracleidae

(OOC: Here's my first attempt at a TL with a POD this far back. I'm not very well versed with the Butterfly Effect, so you may have to bear with me. Other than that, I hope you enjoy it)

Part I: The Boeotian War
Chapter I: Initial Phases



In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta decided to share the spoils with its allies, but kept its ideas for a large hegemony in Greece. However, the spoils of war would not keep everyone happy and by 8 PI[1] (Protytera Igemonia – Before Hegemony) the Athenians and Thebans led many cities in Attica and Boeotia in a rebellion against Spartan dominance. Spartan generals, Lysander and Pausanias led their forces to rendezvous at the Boeotian city of Haliartus. When Lysander arrived before Pausanias, he convinced the city of Orchomenus to abandon the Boeotian League and join them. He lay siege to Haliartus, but did not venture too close to the walls with his forces. A day later, Pausanias arrived and they attacked the city together, also with an extra force of Orchomenians. The Battle of Haliartus is the first Spartan victory in the war.

In the wake of the battle, both the Spartans and their opponents prepared for more serious fighting to come. In late 8 PI, Corinth entered the war as a co-belligerent with Athens and Thebes. A council was formed at Corinth to manage the affairs of this alliance. The allies then sent emissaries to a number of smaller states and received the support of many of them. Argos joins the Spartans in response to the Spartan victory.

Alarmed by these developments, the Spartans prepared to send out an army against this new alliance. They sent a messenger to Agesilaus, who was leading a campaign in Ionia against the Persians, ordering him to return to Greece. The orders were a disappointment to Agesilaus, who had looked forward to further successful campaigning in Asia, but he set out for home with his troops, crossing the Hellespont and marching west through Thrace.

There are two more Spartan victories, first in the Battle of Nemea and then in the Battle of Cos, a naval victory that otherwise established or saved Spartan dominance at sea. The Athenian and Persian navies under Conon and Pharnabazus sailed out together to attack the Spartan fleet under the inexperienced Peisander. However, much of their fleet was destroyed by a sudden storm and they were stuck near Kos. When Peisander's fleet arrived, he could use the advantage given to him by nature to win the ensuing battle, wiping out all enemy ships and learning valuable lessons in naval warfare; using the ships as effective target practice. In the battle, most Athenian sailors were killed, not including Conon, who escaped on a piece of driftwood and ending up being rescued by a separate Persian fleet. The last major Spartan victory of 7 PI was at the Battle of Coronea, where the Greek members of the Boeotian League attempted to block King Agesilaus' march back into the Peloponnese but failed.

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[1]: 395 BCE

 
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Part I: The Boeotian War
Chapter II: Middle Phases



These victories gave Athens and her allies much cause for concern. Sparta had ensured her dominance at both land and sea, with the Athenian and Persian navies under the now deceased Conon and Pharnabazus had been utterly destroyed. Without the much needed advantage at sea, a lull in Athenian offensives began. At around the same time, civil strife erupted in Corinth. The democratic party and the oligarchic party were fighting each other up until the moment the oligarchs, supported by the Argives and Spartans, drove the democrats from the city. These exiles went to the Athenians and Boeotians for refuge. The result of this incident was that Corinth was installed with a pro-Spartan puppet government and switched sides against the anti-Sparta Boeotian League. Sparta occupies the city, under the tacit consent of the municipal government.

In 5 PI, Athens and Persia had rebuilt their fleets and started conquering territory in the Aegean, with Conon again leading the fleets. In several battles, Peisander is bested and driven back, but each time he learns from his defeats and becomes stronger for them. Other Spartan naval commanders, such as Gorgopas and Hierax are having only slightly better results. With their earlier dominance at sea in limbo, the Spartans build more ships and invest in Corinthians and Aeginans to help sail them. With the war at sea renewed, the Spartans are more intent on finishing the war in case of a decisive naval defeat. Three separate armies under Lysander, Agesilaus and Pausanias start raiding Boeotian territory directly. However, they were driven back to a defensive position when a force of Athenian peltasts under Iphicrates attacked the Corinthian port of Lechaeum in order to use it as a staging point to retaking Corinth. The Spartans were defeated by hit and run tactics of the peltasts. This led Lysander, who was commanding the force at the time, to consider adding more diversity to the Spartan army.

The Siege of Corinth lasted for the best part of the year, with numerous attempts to lift the siege being ousted by the tight Athenian defence. Soon, the Athenian siege had run its course and a newly diversified Spartan army crushed the Athenians, using from Lysander. After this, Persia had recuperated from earlier defeats and landed a large army in Boeotia, but this was driven back after a decisive naval defeat of the Boeotian League at the Sporades led to a safe route for supplies being disrupted. The Persian force fell shortly afterwards, starving itself into submission.

In 4 PI, the Athenian victory in the Battle of Rhodes resulted in the expulsion of the oligarchs and the transferal of the city’s allegiance from neutral to an active member of the Boeotian League, such was the fate of many pro-Spartan cities in the Aegean. As a result, Sparta adopts a temporary defensive position and King Agesilaus embarks on his Cretan Campaign, in order to unify the squabbling city-states of the island under the rule of Sparta. This action led to the ease of recruiting the talented and coveted Cretan archers, purportedly the best archers in the Hellenistic world. A lull in the fighting towards the winter came about, with Athens, Thebes and Persia limiting themselves to naval engagements and small skirmishes in order to rebuild land forces. Sparta and her hegemony used this to launch several small campaigns against the minor members of the Boeotian League, hoping to box the Boeotians and Athenians in.

Acarnania was invaded in the following year and, despite initial difficulties in attempting to attack the Arcananians, who lived in the mountains and avoided attacking the Spartans directly, King Agesilaus managed to draw them out into a pitched battle where the Arcananians were crushed and fled. The King advanced and managed to achieve and victory after victory, conquering Acarnanian cities and installing pro-Sparta oligarchies. In a later campaign in 2 PI, Agesilaus drove east and conquered more cities for Sparta. However, by this time the main theatre of the war had moved from the Greek mainland to the Aegean Sea.


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I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but just . . . no.

1. Sparta never had any territorial ambitions outside the Peloponese. They were really a small city with dfew resources and had lmiited power projection capabilities. It only had a total warrior population of a few thousands whereas the other Greek cities swarfed it in populations, so if Sparta looked as if it were trying to become a hegemon, a coalition would be formed and it would be destroyed-just like what happened to Thebes, Athens and even Sparta (battle of Leuctra, I believe). Sparta was only concerned with maintaining its traditions and could barely stomach an expedition outside Lacadaemonia.

2. Corinto would never side with Athens. The two cities had been enemies for decades and Corinth's oligarchy was the cassus belli for the Peloponnesian War. I know the POD dates the War, but the enmity is still there.

3. Same for Argos; Argos was a long-standing Athenian ally, and would be very unlikely to bend a knee to Sparta-they'd been enmies for decades if not centuries. Those enmities did not die in Classical Greece, let along if a city was faced with a loss of sovereignity. The thing Argos feared more than the wrath of the Gods was a Spartan-led coalition of Peloponessian cities to topple its place as a commercial power in the region.

4. A SPARTAN NAVY?? Defeating an Athenian one??? NO! No! I'm not usually one for such outburts and I like to thing myself reasonable, but the idea is laughable. Even if the Athenians were battered by a storm (wouldn't the storm get the Spartans too?) they'd still have more experience and greater numbers. Sparta was lanclocked-it never had a significant fleet, that's why it neded an ally in Corinth (which had a significant navy). At this point, Athens is nearing its heyday, and its navy is by far the largest in Greece, and the best equipped. Athens' large population of poor people provides plentiful rowers, and it has plenty of silver from the Attican mines. So no, a 'newb' Spartan navy defeating a far superior Athenian force decisively is risible. Maybe a small engagement, but not a major one, and even if they were to win a significant engagement, they'd never had naval dominance. If Spartra suddenly became a naval power, Corinth would turn against it (they watned to be naval hegemon with Sparta controlling the mainland) as would Argos, Platea and Persia (who didn't awnt even more aggressive Greeks attacking them).
So Spartan naval dominance is, in this timeframe, impossible. And even if it would happen, it would predipitrate a mass movement towards the Delian League as people realize the Spartans are serious. If Athens doesn't supplant them, then Corinth or Megara will.

5. You refer to Conon several times-do you mean Cimon? The only Conon I know was alive at the end of the Peloponnesian War, long after the POD.

6. The Athenians would never take the offensive against the Apartans at this time. Their strategy was to hide behind their Long Walls and burn Attica and then wait the Spartans out. Any offensive would be pretty much suicide, especially in TTL.

So I'm sorry to be so negative, but this is just unfeasible. I'd like to hear your reasoning.
 
I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but just . . . no.

1. Sparta never had any territorial ambitions outside the Peloponese. They were really a small city with dfew resources and had lmiited power projection capabilities. It only had a total warrior population of a few thousands whereas the other Greek cities swarfed it in populations, so if Sparta looked as if it were trying to become a hegemon, a coalition would be formed and it would be destroyed-just like what happened to Thebes, Athens and even Sparta (battle of Leuctra, I believe). Sparta was only concerned with maintaining its traditions and could barely stomach an expedition outside Lacadaemonia.

Actually, they were previously campaigning in Ionia and, during the Peloponnesian War, they attempted to absorb Athens' empire but failed to do so. They do, in fact, have much ambition outside of the Peloponese. Sparta already had a hegemony at this time, and allies in the form of the Peloponnesian League. The point of TTL is Sparta's hegemony not being destroyed. Your facts are quite wrong here.

2. Corinto would never side with Athens. The two cities had been enemies for decades and Corinth's oligarchy was the cassus belli for the Peloponnesian War. I know the POD dates the War, but the enmity is still there.

Tell that to history mate.

3. Same for Argos; Argos was a long-standing Athenian ally, and would be very unlikely to bend a knee to Sparta-they'd been enmies for decades if not centuries. Those enmities did not die in Classical Greece, let along if a city was faced with a loss of sovereignity. The thing Argos feared more than the wrath of the Gods was a Spartan-led coalition of Peloponessian cities to topple its place as a commercial power in the region.

Argos is currently under heavy Spartan influence. It would be an idiot city if it were to attempt to rebel after such victories from Sparta and would more than likely adopt and opportunistic scheme to benefit from the formation of the Boeotian League by allying with Sparta.

4. A SPARTAN NAVY?? Defeating an Athenian one??? NO! No! I'm not usually one for such outburts and I like to thing myself reasonable, but the idea is laughable. Even if the Athenians were battered by a storm (wouldn't the storm get the Spartans too?) they'd still have more experience and greater numbers. Sparta was lanclocked-it never had a significant fleet, that's why it neded an ally in Corinth (which had a significant navy). At this point, Athens is nearing its heyday, and its navy is by far the largest in Greece, and the best equipped. Athens' large population of poor people provides plentiful rowers, and it has plenty of silver from the Attican mines. So no, a 'newb' Spartan navy defeating a far superior Athenian force decisively is risible. Maybe a small engagement, but not a major one, and even if they were to win a significant engagement, they'd never had naval dominance. If Spartra suddenly became a naval power, Corinth would turn against it (they watned to be naval hegemon with Sparta controlling the mainland) as would Argos, Platea and Persia (who didn't awnt even more aggressive Greeks attacking them).
So Spartan naval dominance is, in this timeframe, impossible. And even if it would happen, it would predipitrate a mass movement towards the Delian League as people realize the Spartans are serious. If Athens doesn't supplant them, then Corinth or Megara will.

Oh for goodness sake. Please read up on your Classical Greek history before berating me about this point. There are numerous cases of a Spartan fleet defeating an Athenian one. Athens is not "nearing its heyday" and has been under the Spartan yoke for years. Sparta the city may be landlocked, but not Sparta the city-state. It controls ports and cities throughout Greece. Sparta had a strong navy, but made the OTL mistake of giving it to Peisander, who was Agesilaus' brother-in-law and was inexperienced. He faced a larger combined Persian and Athenian fleet at Cnidus (the battle in OTL) under the experienced veteran of the Peloponnesian War, Conon. Here, he has had luck by finding them stuck in the aftermath of a storm that has trapped them near Kos and destroyed and damaged many of their ships. Since they are stuck and unable to have much success at getting unstuck, then they do not have much room to manoeuvre and so are toasted by the comparatively fine Spartan navy.

Sparta has been the power in Greece for quite some time, and Athens has only had so long to revive its navy. Megara is an ally of Sparta and Corinth has a weaker navy than Athens, so its ability to supplant Sparta's position on the water is doubtful at best.


5. You refer to Conon several times-do you mean Cimon? The only Conon I know was alive at the end of the Peloponnesian War, long after the POD.

This Conon.

6. The Athenians would never take the offensive against the Apartans at this time. Their strategy was to hide behind their Long Walls and burn Attica and then wait the Spartans out. Any offensive would be pretty much suicide, especially in TTL.

They do not have their Long Walls, so that strategy is defunct already.

So I'm sorry to be so negative, but this is just unfeasible. I'd like to hear your reasoning.

Please read up a bit more on Classical Greek history before exploding on me. My answers are in red.

Also, it the the Corinthian War, not the Peloponnesian War.
 
This is interesting, but I have one question: How is Sparta going to combat its decline in population? Sparta's population consistently fell in size after the Peloponnesian War, apparently according to Aristotle because of Sparta's Law of Inheritance, keeping only Spartans in control of Spartan land. (which is pretty obvious) Its armies went from several thousand during and after the Peloponnesian and Corinthian war to significantly less at Leuctra and only around a thousand by the Punic Wars, IIRC. Subsequently the Spartan economy tanked with a falling population and trying to maintain an army to keep control over Greece, and that as much as anything led to Sparta's fall. I myself have thought of a longer Spartan Hegemony TL, but haven't been able to figure out how to reverse this without ruining what makes Sparta Sparta.

That said, good luck to you, and wish you the best on this. You seem well versed on this and have read Thucydides and stuff, so good job, and I await your answer.
 
This is interesting, but I have one question: How is Sparta going to combat its decline in population? Sparta's population consistently fell in size after the Peloponnesian War, apparently according to Aristotle because of Sparta's Law of Inheritance, keeping only Spartans in control of Spartan land. (which is pretty obvious) Its armies went from several thousand during and after the Peloponnesian and Corinthian war to significantly less at Leuctra and only around a thousand by the Punic Wars, IIRC. Subsequently the Spartan economy tanked with a falling population and trying to maintain an army to keep control over Greece, and that as much as anything led to Sparta's fall. I myself have thought of a longer Spartan Hegemony TL, but haven't been able to figure out how to reverse this without ruining what makes Sparta Sparta.

That said, good luck to you, and wish you the best on this. You seem well versed on this and have read Thucydides and stuff, so good job, and I await your answer.

A small response to that is me thinking that Lysander seemed quite the revolutionary and I shall take liberties with that. He did want to take away power from the Kings and Eunuchs after all (or am I confusing him with someone else).
 
(OOC: A short post, I'll be in Egypt by tomorrow and so won't be able to update for about a week)

Part I: The Boeotian War
Chapter III: The War for the Aegean



The Athenians had been busy. Once they reconstructed their navies, they started to establish other cities along the Hellespont and in the Aegean as their allies, eventually taking Lesbos and many major states, placing a duty on all ships passing Byzantion in order to restore a source of revenue that the Athenians had relied on in the late Peloponnesian War. Several Spartan naval commanders, including Anaxibius, Gorgopas and Hierax, are sent out to conduct numerous raids in the Aegean while Peisander is ordered to keep important islands secure. Whilst Peisander was officially the navarch of the entire Spartan Navies, Lysander held considerable influence and was well respected for his victories in the Peloponnesian War, and so he gained effective control over the fleets. During a campaign against Abydos, Anaxibius and his men are ambushed and killed by a force of Athenians led by Iphicrates.

Meanwhile, the Athenians attacked Aegina while Peisander was engaged with Persians at Crete. Gorgopas was the closest commander available and was called to campaign closer to the Greek mainland. A Spartan fleet sailed east to Rhodes under the command of Antalcidas, but was eventually blockaded at Abydos by the Athenian commanders in the region. The Athenians on Aegina, meanwhile, soon found themselves under attack, and were withdrawn after several months. A while after the withdrawal, the Spartan fleet under Gorgopas ambushed the Athenian fleet near Athens, capturing several ships and destroying several others. As a result the Athenian general, Chabrias landed his troops on Aegina during a journey to Cyprus and ambushed Gorgopas, slaying him.

With these developments; the deaths of several of his commanders, Lysander looked for a way to end the war quickly. Whilst Thebes and Athens had less and less support and allies ever since the taking of Corinth, they were still going strong with Persian support and a steady supply of money and food from the Black Sea. Remembering his war-winning victory in the Peloponnesian War, Antalcidas planned to sail to the Hellespont and take control of the area. He escaped the blockade at Abydos and rendezvoused with his navy at Syracuse. Lysander had led another fleet to sail with Antalcidas’.


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A small response to that is me thinking that Lysander seemed quite the revolutionary and I shall take liberties with that. He did want to take away power from the Kings and Eunuchs after all (or am I confusing him with someone else).
I'm going to take this to mean that he reforms Sparta away from tradition. While him and Agesilaos were buddies, I don't know if that's going to fly - Agesilaos IIRC was one of the most traditionalistic Kings Sparta had had since the Persian Wars. But I suppose if anyone is going to reform Sparta to make itself hegemon and expect to keep it for a long time, it'd be Lysander, so I'll let you take this liberty without further complaint. Lysander was really the only famous non-monarchial Spartan politician/general (along with Pausanias, maybe, and Brasidas if you want to be kind to him) so I'd say 'yes that'd be him' to your last sentence, though I don't remember for sure.
 
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I'm going to take this to mean that he reforms Sparta away from tradition. While him and Agesilaos were buddies, I don't know if that's going to fly - Agesilaos IIRC was one of the most traditionalistic Kings Sparta had had since the Persian Wars. But I suppose if anyone is going to reform Sparta to make itself hegemon and expect to keep it for a long time, it'd be Lysander, so I'll let you take this liberty without further complaint. Lysander was really the only famous non-monarchial Spartan politician/general (along with Pausanias, maybe, and Brasidas if you want to be kind to him) so I'd say 'yes that'd be him' to your last sentence, though I don't remember for sure.

I think Agesilaus and Lysander may have had a falling out during the end of the Peloponnesian War and, after his OTL death, Agesilaus discovered an attempt by Lysander to increase his own power by making the Spartan kingships collective and that the Spartan king should not automatically be given the leadership of the army. I think that, while they were old friends, they may have disliked each other towards the start of the Corinthian War.
 
I think Agesilaus and Lysander may have had a falling out during the end of the Peloponnesian War and, after his OTL death, Agesilaus discovered an attempt by Lysander to increase his own power by making the Spartan kingships collective and that the Spartan king should not automatically be given the leadership of the army. I think that, while they were old friends, they may have disliked each other towards the start of the Corinthian War.
As earlier stated, I didn't remember that; its been a little while (for me anyways, I generally skim read books, thus I read really fast, but I don't maintain as much of the knowledge that I should've learned for a long time - it's a bad habit) since I read up on purely Spartan history (though I'm in the midst of reading Thucydides' Peloponnesian War right now :cool: (midst meaning a little after the plague)).

Any update?
 


Part I: The Boeotian War
Chapter IV: Lysander's Checkmate




Beforehand, the Athenians had been placing some cities across the Aegean under Athenian control. Thrasybulus, the Athenian general who had been subverting said cities, was in collaboration with King Evagoras of Cyprus and Akoris of Egypt, both of whom were at war with Persia. Alarmed by the sudden appearance of something resembling the Athenian Empire (although it was directly struggling against Spartan possessions in the Aegean), the Persians attempted to side with the Spartans to prevent further Athenian support for their enemies. However, the Spartans refused, well aware that the Boeotian League was close to breaking, with Aegisilaus continuing campaigns against Thebes and Athens on the mainland and the numerical superiority of Sparta and her allies at sea. Aegesilaus was looking forward to being able to continue his campaigns in Asia Minor against the Persians and the rest of the Spartan government wanted a complete victory and unconditional surrender of Athens and Thebes. They knew that the Persians would not let them force such surrender or let them keep their Anatolian possessions. They refused.

Lysander and Antalcidas led their large fleet to the Hellespont, where they met fierce resistance in the form of an amassed fleet led by Conon and Thrasybulus. Lysander was eager to defeat his old rivals from the Peloponnesian War in personal combat and so, in the ensuing battle, he leads his marines to board Conon’s ship and seeks out his military opponent. After slaying Conon in combat, they took control of the ship to show that the admiral was dead, breaking the Athenian’s moral. Attempting to turn back to regroup, they were rallied by Thrasybulus, but they had already broken formation and were swarmed by the Spartan ships. The fleet was devastated, Thrasybulus was captured and the Hellespont was taken. Antalcidas then travels northwards and conquers the city of Byzantion.

When news of the Spartan victory at the Battle of the Hellespont reached the mainland, Aegisilaus and Pausanias gathered their forces from all around their territories and that of their vassals, puppets and allies and led and assault on Boeotia. They smashed through Boeotian League armies to Thebes, laying siege to the city. Several months after the start of the Siege of Thebes and several attempts by the Boeotian League to lift the siege later, the Athenians had begun to starve, stripped of their food and monetary support. Unable to feed their army, the Athenians go to the Spartans to barter for peace, but the Spartans are not interested in bartering and demand unconditional surrender. The Athenian government refuses and goes to the Persians for help, who contribute a small amount of it, afraid of the now extreme power of Sparta.

After Lysander and Antalcidas return to Greece, having put other commanders in charge of the Hellespont and Byzantion, the Spartans and their allies back an oligarchical revolution in Athens, casting out the democrats and installing a government subservient to Sparta. The Spartans send Antalcidas in the later parts of 1 IE (388 BCE) to bring the terms of Athenian and Theban surrender to the Boeotian League. The terms are thus:

  • Thebes is to submit to the superiority of Sparta under an oligarchy of Thebans selected by Sparta. A tribute is to be paid every summer.
  • Athens is to remain an oligarchy, one selected by Sparta out of a choice of Spartan citizens. An identical tribute to the Theban tribute is to be paid. The Athenians are to surrender their empire to Spartan governance, and their fleet is to be dissembled and otherwise handed over for incorporation into the Spartan Navy.
  • Other Boeotian League members that have surrendered but have not been conquered are to allow Sparta to select leaders for oligarchies. These oligarchies will be subservient to Sparta.

The Peace of Antalcidas is ratified on the turn of the new year, marking the beginning of the Chronia ek Igemonia – the Years of Hegemony, referenced historically as Yystera Igemonia; After Hegemony.

Despite the defeat of the Boeotian League, Persia remains strong and still technically at war with Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies. However, the coast of Anatolia and its cities are under Spartan rule and the Persians allow a temporary truce in order to deal with the wars it is fighting against Cyprus and Egypt.

With the end of the Boeotian War, the main commanders of the conflict (including Pausanias, Lysander, Agesilaus and others) briefly enjoy a Hero's Return that is the subject of a famous painting.
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Quotes:

Asked once how far Sparta's boundaries stretched, Agesilaus brandished his spear and said, "As far as this can reach."
 
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It'll be interesting, to say the least to see how Sparta will fend off Philip and Alexander, provided you don't have any butterflies prepared to kill them off that I can't think of.
 
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