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 Acarnania n allies and failed to rendezvous as scheduled with reinforcements from Locris , was critically short of the peltast s ( 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 . Upon its arrival in the northwestern theatre , this relatively small Athenian force was substantially augmented by the addition of Messenian hoplite s from Naupactus , 15 Corcyra ean ships , a great number of Acarnania n soldiers , and smaller contingents from a number of Athens ' other allies in the region . 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 . 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 ) . Campaign . If Demosthenes was daunted by these significant breaches in his coalition , he did not reveal it with his immediate actions . Establishing a base at the city of Oeneon in Locris , he began to advance into Aetolia , after making plans to rendezvous with a Locrian force in the Aetolian interior . His army advanced successfully for three days , reaching the town of Tichium on the third day . Here , Demosthenes called a halt while the plunder captured up to that point was transported back to his base . Some modern scholars have also suggested that the Locrian force that Demosthenes had planned to meet up with had been scheduled to join him at or before Tichium , and that his delay there was in part caused by his concern over their absence . The Locrians practiced a style of warfare similar to that of their Aetolian neighbors , and could have provided Demosthenes with skilled javelin throwers ; in their absence , the Athenian - led force was critically deficient with regard to light missile troops , where its opponents were strongest . Nonetheless , his confidence bolstered by the Messenians , who assured him that the element of surprise would guarantee success as long as he continued to strike before the Aetolians had a chance to combine their forces against him , Demosthenes continued inland . The Messenians ' advice , however , was already out of date . The Aetolians had learned of Demosthenes ' plans even before he invaded , and by this time they had assembled a substantial force from throughout the region . Demosthenes advanced to the town of Aegitium , which he took easily , but he would go no further . The inhabitants of Aegitium retreated to the hills around the town , where they joined the main Aetolian army , and soon Demosthenes ' force came under assault from the surrounding high ground . Moving with relative ease over the rough terrain , the Aetolian javelin throwers were able to fling their weapons and retreat easily before the heavily encumbered Athenian hoplites could reach them ; without the Locrians , Demosthenes could rely only on a contingent of archers to keep the Aetolian skirmishers at bay . Even with the archers defending them , the Athenians were receiving the worst of the struggle ; when the captain of the archers was killed , his men scattered , and the rest of the army shortly followed them . A bloodbath ensued . Demosthenes ' co - commander Procles was killed , as was the Messenian guide . Leaderless troops of fleeing soldiers raced into exitless dry canyons or became lost on the battlefield , while the fast moving Aetolians mowed them down ; the largest escaping contingent became lost in a forest , which was then set on fire around them . 120 of the 300 Athenians who had marched with Demosthenes were killed ; casualties among the allies are not known , but were presumably of a similar order . Such losses were particularly exorbitant when contrasted with the toll of a traditional hoplite battle , in which casualty rates of over 10 % were highly unusual . Aftermath . After returning to Naupactus , the defeated Athenian force sailed for home , leaving behind it a newly precarious strategic situation and a commander with a severely shaken reputation ; the Aetolians were emboldened by their victory and began preparing for an offensive against Naupactus , and Demosthenes was so concerned about his potential reception in Athens ( where the assembly was known to deal harshly with disgraced generals ) that he chose not to return home with his fleet . In the upcoming months , however , the strategic situation would be stabilized and Demosthenes ' reputation restored by his spectacular victory at Olpae .