After the Peloponnesian War, Spartan hegemony of Greece would seem to have been assured. A single generation, though, would have seen Sparta at the peak of its power, and its defeat by the Thebans at Leuctra, effectively turning it into a second rate power. The victory in the Peloponnesian War was a significant factor in bringing about this change in fortune, but other long term factors have also been identified which suggest that Spartan undoing had long been in the pipeline.
             Victory in the Peloponnesian War brought about Spartan hegemony and the establishment of a "Spartan Empire". The Spartan slogan of "liberation" was dropped. Around 400, for example, King Agis led an army north to punish Elis for earlier disloyalty. Lysander's puppet oligarchies were tied to Sparta far more firmly than any of Athens' subjects had been during the time of her empire. They were hated in their states both as puppets and as oligarchs, and Sparta came to be hated through them. This power of Sparta bred fear among her more independent and stronger allies. The Corinthians and Boiotians who would have welcomed Athens' destruction in 404, saw oligarchic Athens as just the Spartan satellite they feared, and so Boiotia assists the returning Athenian democrats, Corinth and Boiotia refuse to join in the campaign against Elis, and a few years later a Corinthian, Boiotian and Athenian alliance was formed.
             After the war, Sparta began, in 401, to meddle in Persian affairs. This revolved around Lysander and Cyrus. Cyrus wanted the Persian throne and tried to enlist Spartan help. Sparta gave support, but Cyrus was defeated by Artaxerxes. Then Sparta, in 400, remembered her slogan of liberation and began a war with Persia on behalf of the Asian Greeks. This was a distraction which encouraged Sparta's enemies at home, and, three years later, she was at war with Athens, Corinth and Boiotia. Lysander was killed at Haliartos in...