The Battle of Mantinea,  has nothing and everything to do with our next in the Greatness Evolved Series, The Rise of Macedon.

Nothing that happened at Mantinea in 362 B.C. in this version of the battle we will watch is related to Philip II.

However in case readers wonder how Sparta and Athens fought on the same side: the rise of Thebes challenged the ambitions of both Athens and Sparta, so the two enemies joined together. Though Thebes won the battle, Epaminondas, its greatest general and leader, was killed and the Theban Hegemony fell after just ten years.

This is a primary factor that allowed Philips ascent, and all that follows.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ogf3zVXxow]

What is relevant for us however is the use of forces.

Epaminondas was even in Phillips time seen as an innovator in the use of tactics and application of forces, that wrought changes to a static system of small scale battle amongst the Grecian States.

It is easy to imagine that if Philip was indeed the thinker, leader and General that history states he was that he took notice of these innovations and learnt from them. More important  is the likelihood that Philip in his quest for martial advantage wrought his own changes upon military theory and practice at the time.

It is these changes, that we hope to explore in our linked campaign of Phillips rise to power and preparations to head East.

Each battle fought we will have an opportunity to explore via the lens of Great Battles of History from GMT the discrete weapons systems, the morale of his forces and the enemy, the historical maneuver and how the game system plays these out. Importantly we will see how Philips tactical approaches might have functioned as well.

Related articles

• The Rise of Macedon Campaign (meshtime.com)