The Battle of Oreos was fought in 432 BC during the Peloponnesian War, when the Spartan army of Brasidas captured the Euboean town of Oreos from its Athenian garrison army and fleet. The victory at Oreos was part of Sparta's strategy to isolate the city of Athens and erode its influence by capturing its smaller possessions.
Background[]
In 432 BC, the Battle of Potidaea provoked the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League into going war with Athens and its Delian League empire in order to protect Corinth from Athenian oppression. There was much debate in Sparta as to whether or not to enter the war, with the war factioning mentioning the bloodshed at Potidaea and the peace faction warning King Pleistoanax about the chaos that the war would bring about. Pleistoanax, frustrated, declared, "Then from the chaos, we shall rise!" Shortly after, Sparta and its allies declared war on Athens, and the Spartans set about isolating Athens and dismantling its vast empire.
While the Spartan armies in the Peloponnese prepared for operations against Athenian possessions in southern Greece, the army of Brasidas, positioned at the Thessalian town of Lamia (near Thermopylae pass), opened a northern front against Athens. Brasidas and his army briefly marched through the Thessalian League's coastal territory, angering the Thessalian king Kleophon. After Lakes' Athenian army left the town of Oreos to defend Chalcis from the Boeotian League threat, Brasidas and his army crossed onto the island of Euboea and attacked the vulnerable town. Oreos was held by 560 troops under Demaratos and reinforced by 280 marines under Leosthenes, who faced over 2,000 Spartans.
Battle[]
The Spartans charging at Oreos
Brasidas and his army drew up their battle formation just outside of the town, with their skirmishers forming the first line, their infantry (hoplites) forming the second line, and the cavalry being massed on their right. The Spartan army showered the Athenian garrison with arrows, slings, and other missiles as they marched out to fight, and, while one half of the Spartan army charged them to finish them off, the other half deployed along the shore to resist the landing of Leosthenes' garrison fleet. The Spartan missile troops wreaked havoc on the Athenians before they could fully disembark, with few of them making it to fight the Spartans up close. The Athenian marines were massacred, and ships loaded with dead Athenians sailed back into the Aegean Sea in retreat. The Spartans had secured victory with just 64 losses, and they went on to win the local people's loyalty after several years of occupied.
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