In short: nothing different from the rest of the Greeks, just better. A LOT better.

Now the long answer:

The question depends on the time period, but if I take it that you are most interested in 5th century BC fighting (the time of the Peloponnesian War between the Spartans and the Athenian Empire 431-404BC) then the answer is simple: pretty much like all the other Greek city-states of the 5th century BC. The difference is they were a LOT better at it than all the other Greek city-states-- until their defeat by the Thebans in 371BC at the Battle of Leuctra marked the collapse of the Spartan system.

So first, how did the Greeks fight? The 6th and 5th centuries BC marked the development of what historian Victor Davis Hanson categorises as Hellenic Agrarian War: city-states whose economies depended on agriculture tended to fight each other over fertile land, with armies composed largely of landed (i.e. owning) farmers, with property qualifications for participation in the state and the army. These warriors were called hoplites, after their "hoplon" or heavy shield. Hoplites wore upwards of 35kg of armour, and can be classed as heavy infantry. These hoplites fought in close-ranked formations--each man shielding his vulnerable right side with the shield of the man on his right--of usually 8-ranks deep, which were called "phalanxes."

Phalanxes were largely composed of heavy infantry, but did also include a small number of protective cavalry (composed of the rich, who could afford a horse) and light-infantry called peltasts, who were from poorer classes and could not afford either horse, nor the hoplite's expensive armour. Since the stirrup had not yet been invented, the cavalry were of limited use as the riders could not "charge home" and were restricted to throwing javelins--and so were really only useful for pursuit, or some scouting. The peltasts used bows, slings, and throwing javelins, but got out of the way when the phalanxes met.

The phalanx is a cumbersome, limited type of formation, which depended on level ground to operated. Greek warfare in the 6th and 5th centuries BC were almost completely devoid of what we might call "tactics": quite simply, two phalanxes met on some mutually-agreed open ground, then advanced until they were within a hundred metres of each other or so, then charged at each other in close formation. When the two sides met the contest usually lasted only a few minutes, maybe up to an hour, of pushing and stabbing with their spears and, at the worst, their short swords. One side would eventually break, drop their heavy shields and swords, and run. The winning side was usually two tired to chase, as the losers could run away faster once their kit was dropped. The winners would collect the dropped equipment and erect large "trophies" of their victories. Casualties were usually about 15% of the total engaged forces, with 2/3rds on the losing side, according to V.D. Hanson and others. Leadership was provided by an appointed general (in the case of the rest of Greece) or a "Battle King" (in the case of Sparta, where this was an inherited position) who fought in the front rank of the right-wing of the army--where, one might realise, actual leadership other than bravery was impossible, and death common.

So what made the Spartans so fearsome? Professionalism. Spartan society depended on slave labour on a massive scale, provided by captive "helots", the population of the entire state of Messania, who did all the farming and labour so that the very small number of Spartan citizens could pursue the art of war. Thus freed from the farming that occupied the rest of the Greeks, Spartan warriors trained from the age of 7 onwards in communal barracks--you can look this up elsewhere--for war. Fighting in close ranks in the phalanx is hard, very hard--lack of professionalism or training meant a break in the "shield wall" and so defeat. Since they could train at this from youth, all the time, the Spartan army was the best at this type of warfare. They marched in perfect step to the tune of pipes (something like modern bagpipes), did not cheer or scream at all, as other city-state hoplite armies did, and kept in perfect order. And unique amongst 5th century Greeks, they were dressed in uniform--scarlet cloaks, and bronze shields with a lamda painted on them (like an upended letter "V"--this was the Greek initial for Lakedaimon, their name for their city). The approach of this silent, scarlet death-machine of life-long professional killers was enough to make almost every army in the ancient world break and run before they had even met.

But full Spartan warriors were pretty thin on the ground, and over time there were fewer and fewer of them, and the Spartans depended more and more on freed-slave soldiers and Perioeci, or non-citizen free men. Allies were also required. So for instance, at the battle of Thermopylae (of the movie "300" fame) there were about 300 full-Spartan warriors ("Spartiates"), but at least another 600 Helots and/or Perioeci. On top of that there were at least 5,000 other allied troops. At Leuctra there might have been only 500 Spartiates amongst an allied army of over 10,000--not because, like at Thermopylae, most of the army stayed at home, but because the Spartan society was collapsing and there were no more Spartans to send.

As a quick note, almost all armies in Greece at the time were very poor at siege warfare. They lacked the equipment and the tactics to storm cities, and usually depended on starving out the enemy inside the walls, or on treachery to get someone inside the city to open the gates.

Through the length of the Peloponnesian War hoplite battle became less and less common (if you were there, would YOU choose to fight the Spartans?) and so hoplite armour and phalanx formations became less and less common. War was conducted by raiding parties and marines, and so the peltast became more and more common. The Peloponnesian war was not won by Spartan hoplites, but by the Spartan navy and marines (funded by gold from the hated Persians, and made up largely of allies and mercenaries under Spartan command) who destroyed the mainstay of the Athenian Empire, their navy (once feared at sea as much as the Spartans were feared on land), at the battle of Aegospotamia, in the modern Sea of Marmara, in 405 BC.

KCG, Reading, UK.

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