Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece. It was noted for militarism. It fought several ruinous wars against Athens, emerging as the winner but then quickly overreaching and losing its allies.

Sparta's most famous battle was at the pass at Thermopylae. There, 300 Spartans and allied forces held off a Persian army numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Although they were defeated, the delaying action bought the Greeks time, and led to the Battle of Salamis, where the Greek fleet destroyed most of the Persian fleet.