The militaristic system the Spartans put in place was a web that caused them grief as long as it existed. I call it a “devil’s bargain” because Sparta willingly exchanged culture and normalcy for military superiority. As Aristotle said,
“The whole regime is directed toward securing a high standard in one department only, namely the military field. This is, of course, the key to victory; so the Spartans did well while they were at war but came to grief when they had acquired an empire. This is because they did not know what to make of peace time. They had made their training for war paramount to training for anything else.”