The Peloponnesian War: Overview, Outcome, And Effects

The Peloponnesian War pitted the Athenians against the Spartans. The Peloponnesians’ were an alliance of city-states controlled by Sparta. These two powerful city-states became locked in a struggle for dominance of the eastern Mediterranean area. The roots of the conflict and in particular this expedition is highly complex. As Thucydides says in his history of the war, the underlying cause was Spartan fear of Athens' expansive power. But, the triggering event was Athens' aggressive behavior towards Corinth, an ally of Sparta.

Athens and Sparta were both dominant powers in ancient Greece. However, a legendary rivalry existed between the two. When Athens ended its alliance with Corcyra in 433 B.C. and began to surround Potidaea, it threatened Corinth’s position. Sparta feared that Athens was becoming too powerful and tried to avert war. The Spartans believed that peace was possible if the Athenians would revoke measures against Sparta's ally, Megara. The Athenian leader, Pericles, refused to concur with this because Sparta and Athens had earlier agreed that conflicts would be solved by negotiation. If the Athenians would yield to Sparta's request, they would in fact be accepting Sparta’s orders. This was unacceptable, and as a result, war broke out. Athens and its Delian League were attacked by Sparta and its Peloponnesian League. Diodorus mentions that the Spartans did not just declare war, but sought additional support from Persia.

The Peloponnesian war lasted from 431 to 404 B.C. and was profoundly influenced by two Athenian men, Pericles and Alcibiades. Though Pericles and Alcibiades were related by blood they were quite different. Pericles was a diplomat, he approached matters with a level head and tried to find a solution that did not end in bloodshed. Alcibiades was less stable, he either fought, manipulated, or ran when confronted with a problem. Both men spoke eloquently enough to move almost the entire city of Athens, using their words to bend people to their will.  What was different between them was what their will was, one cared about the city and its wellbeing, the other cared about his own wellbeing.

Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.

The Peloponnesian War between the city-states of Athens and Sparta (and their respective allies) lasted from 431-404 BC. Conflicts between the two cites dated back further, however, with

Their leaders refused Sparta’s offerings of peace and the war continued. Both the Spartans and the Athenians gained some victories, but the end came in 405 B.C. during the battle of Aegospotami. Sparta had gained aid from the Persians and were able to defeat the Athenian navy once again. The following year the Athenians finally surrendered and Sparta dismantled its empire.

In 431 B.C., even before the Peloponnesian War, Athens’ strength compared to other Greek polises was evident. Athens had islands, a powerful, a well-trained navy, and one, if not the best, general at the time: Pericles. Pericles says in his speech that, “war is inevitable,” but in fact the war was preventable (72). Even with all of the military strengths and assets that Athenians had afforded to them, they chose to be merciful to the Peloponnesians who were in no shape to go to war. They did not have the experience, money, manpower, or means to participate in a lengthy war and Pericles makes the citizens aware of this (70). Pericles is both modest and humble for choosing to point out these facts which in turn helps the Athenians see the potential

peloponnesian warlasting from 431- 404 B.C., in which Athens and it's allies were defeated by Sparta and it's allies.

existing wars between each other” (Hdt. VII.145.1) in order to fight against Persia. However, only one Peloponnesian state (Sparta) offered help throughout the wars.

Sparta invaded Attica in 431 B.C, and easily gained control of the area surrounding Athens. Athens was most known for having a superior navy, while Sparta was known for having a superior army. This caused the war to drag on, because neither side could easily gain total domination of the land and sea. Sparta tended to use a strategy that involved annually invading Athenian territory, and destroying anything that helped the Athenians survive. Farms and other resources were targeted by the Spartans, but the effectiveness of this strategy is questionable. Athens was protected by its "Long Walls" that it had constructed earlier, so it was near impossible for the Spartan army to break through and ravage Athens. Not to mention, these walls ran all the way to the port supplying Athens. There was no way that Sparta could match the Athenian navy, so Athens could receive supplies from outside from their port. It soon became clear that the war would be won not from battle alone, but from time itself.

Undeniably, the ancient Greek society places a heavy emphasis on values and traditions. The two texts of the “Clouds” by Aristophanes and “History of the Peloponnesian war” by Thucydides, although contextually divergent, are actually conceptually convergent. Both texts are built around the central theme of the collapse of conventional values. While the breakdown of traditional values in the “History of the Peloponnesian war” is presented in a more metaphorical and symbolical manner, the downfall of conventional values in the “Clouds” is on a more direct basis. Although both texts essentially convey across the same solemn message that the relinquishment of

Athens and Sparta had formed a league against Persia. Even with the league, Greece was at a major disadvantage. In the words of Eric V. D. Luft, “Modern estimates put Xerxes's troop strength as high as 350,000. The sheer size of this unwieldy mass contributed to its undoing. (2004)” The Greeks only had 7,000 men. Even outnumbered, the Spartans still showed immense bravery. “When told the Persian arrows would darken the sky in battle, one Spartan warrior supposedly responded, "That is good news. We will fight in the shade! (William J. Duiker and Jaskson J. Spielvogel, 2001) (p. 105)" In 480 BCE, the battle of Thermopylae broke out. The Athenian and Spartans fought for many days but suffered very heavy losses. On the second night of the battle, a Greek traitor helped the Persian army. He informed the Persian army on how to get around the Greek army and attack from behind. Luckily, Leonidas, the Spartan general, was able to guild the Athenian army to safety. However, he returned to Thermopylae to fight Persia with the rest of the Spartan army. “He [Leonidas] sent most of his forces back to Sparta and remained with only a small guard, determined to fight to death. (Eric H. Cline and Sarolta A. Takalcs, 2007) (p. 84)” As the Spartans fought to the death, Athens was evacuated and residents were sent to Salamis. After the Persians defeated the Spartans, they burned

The Peloponnesian war (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens against the Peloponnesian led by Sparta. Thucydides famously claims that the war started “because the Spartans were afraid of further growth of Athenian power, seeing as they did have the greater part of Hellas was under the control of Athens”. The two main protagonists from opposing sides Lysander and Alcibiades had the most influential impact on the end of the war.

of events which I am going to look at to see if there was a single

The Peloponnesian War was the turning point in Athenian hegemony in Ancient Greece. It was fought in 431 B.C. between the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. According to Thucydides, Athens’ imposing hegemonic status and its overwhelming quest for more power made the Peloponnesian War and Athens’s eventual fall from power inevitable. Despite the Athenians having a far more superior navy and being considerably wealthier, they were defeated and made subjects of Sparta. In this paper, I will discuss Thucydides’ and Socrates’ reasons for why