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Aetolian campaign
The Aetolian campaign, often referred to as "Demosthenes' Aetolian campaign", was a failed Athenian offensive in northwestern Greece during the Archidamian War. In 426 BCE, Demosthenes was dispatched from Athens to the Corinthian Gulf in command of a fleet of 30 ships. Arriving in the northwest, he quickly assembled a coalition force from Athens' allies in the region and besieging the city of Leucas. Before that siege reached a conclusion, however, he was persuaded to abandon it in favor of an attack on the tribal region of Aetolia. Leaving Leucas, he set out towards Aetolia, losing along the way several major contingents from his army, whose leaders were apparently unhappy with his change in strategy.
At first the invasion met with little resistance, and several towns fell easily, but before long an effective Aetolian force was gathered by summoning tribesmen from throughout the region. Demosthenes, meanwhile, having alienated his Acarnanian allies and failed to rendezvous as scheduled with reinforcements from Locris, was critically short of the peltasts (spear throwers) whose range and mobility could prove decisive in the rough terrain of Aetolia. After seizing the town of Aegitium, Demosthenes's army came under heavy attack from high ground and was driven into a retreat that soon became a rout. A great number of his men perished, and any notion of taking Aetolia had to be abandoned. The battle emboldened Sparta's allies in the region, meanwhile, and lasting damage to Athenian interests was avoided only through a tactically brilliant defense of Naupactus and Acarnania (which fully restored Demosthenes' military reputation).
==Prelude==
In the summer of 426 BC, Athens, having ended the immediate threat to its security by quashing the Mytilenean revolt in the previous year, took a more aggressive stance than in previous campaigning seasons. A major fleet of 60 ships, commanded by Nicias, was sent to attack first Melos and then Boeotia (resulting in the Battle of Tanagra). Demosthenes and Procles, meanwhile, with a fleet of half that size, were dispatched to round the Peloponnese and operate in the northwest and the Corinthian Gulf.〔Thucydides, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 3.91〕 Upon its arrival in the northwestern theatre, this relatively small Athenian force was substantially augmented by the addition of Messenian hoplites from Naupactus, 15 Corcyraean ships, a great number of Acarnanian soldiers, and smaller contingents from a number of Athens' other allies in the region.〔Unless otherwise noted, all details regarding the early maneuvering and Demosthenes strategical decisions are drawn from Thucydides, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 3.94-95.〕 With this formidable force, Demosthenes fell upon and destroyed a garrison of Leucadian troops, then attacked and blockaded the city of Leucas itself. Leucas was a significant Peloponnesian base in the region, and the Acarnanians enthusiastically advocated besieging and taking the city. Demosthenes, however, chose instead to follow the advice of the Messenians, who wished to attack and subdue the tribal region of Aetolia, which they asserted was threatening Naupactus.
Thucydides notes that Demosthenes made this decision partly to please his Messenian allies, but also states that he also wished to, if possible, pass through Aetolia, increase his army on the march by adding to it the men of Phocis, and attack Boeotia from the lightly defended western approach. Furthermore, as Nicias was simultaneously engaging in operations in eastern Boeotia, Demosthenes may have considered the possibility of forcing the Boeotians to fight on two fronts.〔Kagan, ''The Archidamian War'', 202〕 Accordingly, he pulled up stakes at Leucas and set out for Aetolia. Before he arrived there, however, his force was appreciably diminished by the departure of several major contingents; the Acarnanians, upset that their preferred strategy of taking Leucas had been spurned, returned to their home country, and the Corcyraean ships also departed (apparently out of unwillingness to participate in an operation that offered their city no clear benefits〔Kagan, ''The Archidamian War'', 203〕).
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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