338 BC
Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)
The setting
Near Chaeronea, Boeotia, Greece
Plain in the valley of the Cephissus river, flanked by high ground and a stream, where the allied Greeks blocked Philip's route south.
Reveal the outcome
Recorded sideMacedon (Philip II, with Alexander)
Recorded resultvictory
Decisive Macedonian victory establishing hegemony over Greece
How the atlas explains it
Philip's combined-arms army (the long-sarissa phalanx plus heavy cavalry) outreached and outmaneuvered the allied hoplites. By engaging and then drawing back his right, he tempted the Athenians to advance and open a gap in the allied line; the wing under Alexander exploited the gap, broke through, and annihilated the Theban Sacred Band, after which the allied army collapsed.
What followed
Established Macedonian hegemony over Greece and led to the League of Corinth, setting the stage for Alexander's invasion of Persia; it ended the era of the independent Greek city-states as great military powers.