Most of Demosthenes' major orations were directed against the growing power of King Philip II of Macedon.
Since 357 BC, when Philip seized Amphipolis and Pydna, Athens had been formally at war with the Macedonians.
In 352 BC, Demosthenes characterised Philip as the very worst enemy of his city; his speech presaged the fierce attacks that Demosthenes would launch against the Macedonian king over the ensuing years.
A year later he criticised those dismissing Philip as a person of no account and warned that he was as dangerous as the king of Persia.

In 352 BC, Athenian troops successfully opposed Philip at Thermopylae, but the Macedonian victory over the Phocians at the Battle of Crocus Field shook Demosthenes.
In 351 BC, Demosthenes felt strong enough to express his view concerning the most important foreign policy issue facing Athens at that time: the stance his city should take towards Philip.
According to Jacqueline de Romilly, a French philologist and member of the Académie française, the threat of Philip would give Demosthenes' stances a focus and a raison d'être.
Demosthenes saw the King of Macedon as a menace to the autonomy of all Greek cities and yet he presented him as a monster of Athens's own creation; in the First Philippic he reprimanded his fellow citizens as follows: "Even if something happens to him, you will soon raise up a second Philip [...]".

The theme of the First Philippic (351–350 BC) was preparedness and the reform of the Theoric fund, a mainstay of Eubulus' policy.
In his rousing call for resistance, Demosthenes asked his countrymen to take the necessary action and asserted that "for a free people there can be no greater compulsion than shame for their position".
He thus provided for the first time a plan and specific recommendations for the strategy to be adopted against Philip in the north.
Among other things, the plan called for the creation of a rapid-response force, to be created cheaply with each ὁπλῑ́της (hoplī́tēs) to be paid only ten drachmas per month (two obols per day), which was less than the average pay for unskilled labourers in Athens—implying that the hoplite was expected to make up the deficiency in pay by looting.

From this moment until 341 BC, all of Demosthenes' speeches referred to the same issue, the struggle against Philip.
In 349 BC, Philip attacked Olynthus, an ally of Athens.
In the three Olynthiacs, Demosthenes criticised his compatriots for being idle and urged Athens to help Olynthus.
He also insulted Philip by calling him a "barbarian".
Despite Demosthenes' strong advocacy, the Athenians would not manage to prevent the falling of the city to the Macedonians.
Almost simultaneously, probably on Eubulus' recommendation, they engaged in a war in Euboea against Philip, which ended in stalemate.
Most of Demosthenes' major orations were directed against the growing power of King Philip II of Macedon. Since 357 BC, when Philip seized Amphipolis and Pydna, Athens had been formally at war with the Macedonians. In 352 BC, Demosthenes characterised Philip as the very worst enemy of his city; his speech presaged the fierce attacks that Demosthenes would launch against the Macedonian king over the ensuing years. A year later he criticised those dismissing Philip as a person of no account and warned that he was as dangerous as the king of Persia.
In 352 BC, Athenian troops successfully opposed Philip at Thermopylae, but the Macedonian victory over the Phocians at the Battle of Crocus Field shook Demosthenes. In 351 BC, Demosthenes felt strong enough to express his view concerning the most important foreign policy issue facing Athens at that time: the stance his city should take towards Philip. According to Jacqueline de Romilly, a French philologist and member of the Académie française, the threat of Philip would give Demosthenes' stances a focus and a raison d'être. Demosthenes saw the King of Macedon as a menace to the autonomy of all Greek cities and yet he presented him as a monster of Athens's own creation; in the First Philippic he reprimanded his fellow citizens as follows: "Even if something happens to him, you will soon raise up a second Philip [...]".
The theme of the First Philippic (351–350 BC) was preparedness and the reform of the Theoric fund, a mainstay of Eubulus' policy. In his rousing call for resistance, Demosthenes asked his countrymen to take the necessary action and asserted that "for a free people there can be no greater compulsion than shame for their position". He thus provided for the first time a plan and specific recommendations for the strategy to be adopted against Philip in the north. Among other things, the plan called for the creation of a rapid-response force, to be created cheaply with each ὁπλῑ́της (hoplī́tēs) to be paid only ten drachmas per month (two obols per day), which was less than the average pay for unskilled labourers in Athens—implying that the hoplite was expected to make up the deficiency in pay by looting.
From this moment until 341 BC, all of Demosthenes' speeches referred to the same issue, the struggle against Philip. In 349 BC, Philip attacked Olynthus, an ally of Athens. In the three Olynthiacs, Demosthenes criticised his compatriots for being idle and urged Athens to help Olynthus. He also insulted Philip by calling him a "barbarian". Despite Demosthenes' strong advocacy, the Athenians would not manage to prevent the falling of the city to the Macedonians. Almost simultaneously, probably on Eubulus' recommendation, they engaged in a war in Euboea against Philip, which ended in stalemate.
Demosthenes