I am a Greek citizen in ancient Greece. My city-state just lost a phalanx battle with another city-state, but I survived. How does the result of battle typically change the political status quo, how will the changes be decided, and by whom?

by portlanddefender

I've just finished reading Victor Davis Hanson's The Western Way of War, and while he does a detailed job of describing what these battles were actually like, there is no discussion of the political outcomes of these battles between two infantry phalanxes. I just don't understand the stakes.

I presume that the battles were often about territory, and so the winner presumably took some territory from the loser (or took unchallenged ownership of previously-disputed territory). But were there other typical changes to the status quo apart from borders moving?

And how were the "consequences" decided? Were the stakes somehow agreed-upon before the battle commenced? Were there post-battle surrender negotiations? Were there ancient Potsdam Conferences?

DanKensington

As this is a Greek Warfare question, we of course turn to the work of u/Iphikrates for insight. More can always be said, of course, so if anyone else would like to have a go at what the Greeks fought over, please don't let this post stop you!

For the meantime, here are some previous answers that deal with the stakes of Greek wars:

Also, I must note that there's been a good bit of change in the study of Greek warfare since the turn of the millennium, and that going past Hanson could well be in order. For this, I commend to your attention Iphikrates' flair profile, specifically the historiography section. (It's also an excellent resource for Greek warfare in general!)