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The Battle of Crannon in 322, fought between the Macedonian forces of
Antipater and Craterus and the forces of a coalition of cities including Athens
and the Aetolian League, was the decisive battle of the
Lamian War. The Macedonian victory, though
militarily unspectacular, convinced the other Greeks to sue for peace.
Opponents:
Macedon versus Athens, Aetolian League, and Thessaly
Commanders and leaders:
Macedon - Antipater,
Craterus,
Allies - Autiphilus , Menon of Pharsalus
Strength:
Macedon - 40,000 infantry, 3,000 slingers and archers, 5,000 cavalry
Allies - 25,000 infantry, 3,500 cavalry
Casualties and losses:
Macedon - 130 dead
Allies - 500 dead
Prelude:
The Athenians, upon learning of the death of Alexander the Great in June of
323, decided to turn against Macedonian hegemony in the rest of Greece.
Recruiting a force of mercenaries and joined by many other city-states, the
Athenians were at first able to bring superior numbers against the enemy as
Antipater, the Macedonian viceroy in Europe, was lacking sufficient troops due
to the Macedonian campaigns in the east. Forced to take refuge in Lamia,
Antipater called for reinforcements from Asia. The first to respond, Leonnatus, led his forces
against the Athenian cavalry but was killed in the subsequent battle. Though
the Athenians defeated Leonnatus and his reinforcements at Rhamnus, Antipater
was able to leave from Lamia with his and Leonnatus' remaining forces. The
arrival of a third Macedonian force under the leadership of Craterus decidedly
shifted the numerical superiority to the Macedonian side.
Battle:
Antipater and Craterus now marched their combined army south to force the
Athenians and their allies into battle. The Athenians, after calling together
their dispersed forces, met the Macedonians near Crannon in Thessaly. Relying
on the high reputation of the Thessalian horse, the Athenian general Antiphilus
decided to try to win the battle using cavalry, as in the prior battle with
Leonnatus. The battle therefore opened with the clash between the Athenian-led
and Macedonian cavalry. With the cavalry of both sides occupied, Antipater
ordered his infantry to charge the enemy line. The Athenian infantry was driven
back by the more numerous Macedonians and withdrew to the high ground from
where they could easily repulse any Macedonian assault. Seeing their infantry
in retreat, the Athenian cavalry disengaged from the battle, leaving the field
and handing victory to the Macedonians.
Aftermath:
While the Athenian led army was still intact, it was clear that the Macedonians
had gained the advantage in the war. After conferring with his cavalry
commander, Menon of Pharsalus, Antiphilus therefore sent an embassy to
Antipater the next day asking for terms. Antipater refused to conclude any
general peace with the Athenian led alliance as a whole, insisting instead that
each city send its own ambassadors. While these terms were at first rejected,
the subsequent Macedonian capture of several Thessalian cities caused a rush of
defections as each city strove to make a separate peace. Athens, abandoned by
her allies, was at last forced to surrender unconditionally. In the peace
imposed by Antipater, the Athenians were forced to accept a Macedonian garrison
as well as a replacement of democracy with an oligarchy under the leadership of
Phocion.
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The battle of Crannon was the
decisive land battle of the Lamian War, an attempt by a
Greek coalition led by Athens to win freedom from Macedonia. The Athenians had
been able to raise a sizable army from amongst the many mercenaries left
unemployed by the end of Alexander’s Persian wars. Under the command of a
general called Leosthenes the Greeks had advanced
to Thermopylae, and then to the town of Lamia, in the south of Thessaly. There
Leosthenes had been killed by a slingshot fired from the town walls. Meanwhile,
the Athenian fleet had suffered two defeats at sea, at Abydos and then
Amorgos. This allowed Macedonian
reinforcements, under
Craterus to reach Greece. The Greek army abandoned the siege of Lamia, and
moved north to oppose them. At Crannon, the Macedonians won a major victory
over the Greek army. Alexander might have been dead, but his army was still
largely intact. In the aftermath of the battle, the Macedonians threatened to
besiege Athens. Faced with this threat, the Athenians surrendered. Their
democratic institutions were dramatically modified to increase the power of the
wealthier citizens, who had opposed the revolt, and a Macedonian garrison
placed in the Piraeus. The defeat at Crannon marked the end of ancient
Athens’s last attempt to regain her own liberty. Later in the wars of the
Diadochi she would regain many of the internal freedoms lost in 322 BC, but
always as a gift from a foreign king.
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