Essay On Peloponnesian War

He witnessed the formation of Periclean democracy, including the institution of public pay for the democratic jury-courts. Athens also became the first organized global naval power worldwide. He witnessed the long war ending Athenian greatness. This knowledge is important because it suggests Socrates' spent his youth and early manhood during the divides of Post-war and Pre-war Europe. According to University Press, Inc., this was “The War fought between the two leading city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) took place between the Athenian empire and Peloponnesian league lead by the Spartans. The Peloponnesian league was a coalition of the Thebes, Corinth and Sparta. The war was divided into 3 phases: The Archidamian War, The Sicilian war and The Ionian or Decelean War phase. The war commenced on 4 April 431 B.C. when the Thebans launched a surprise attack on Plataea, who was a partner of Athens. The war ended on 25 April 404 B.C. when Athens

The peace officially lasted only five years, years that saw the gradual rise to eminence in Athenian politics of Pericles’ cousin, Alcibiades, a brilliant, ambitious, dissolute, and unstable youth, who initially succeeded Cleon as leader of the lower-class war party against the restrained and unglamorous Nicias. Athenian intrigues to support Argos against Sparta only ended in the defeat of Argos and the strengthening of Spartan prestige. By killing all the adult males of the island of Melos and enslaving the women and children as a punishment for Melo’s insistence on staying neutral in the war, Athens underlined its ruthlessness. By deciding, against Nicias’s advice, to send off a large naval expedition to Sicily to attack the

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.

In his ambitions to conquer Sicily and then move on to Italy and the Peloponnesus, he also shows this thirst.12 The Athenians recognized Alcibiades's brilliance and ruthlessness so they elected Nicias as a general to "[temper] his rashness."13 Alcibiades resorted to violence to gain glory, Pericles, on the other hand, attempted to prolong peace and settle matters with diplomacy. He once tried to persuade the cities to send delegates to meet in Athens to discuss restorations of temples destroyed during the war with Persia, but nothing came of his plan because of Spartan opposition.14 He even went so far as to bribe the chief magistrates of Sparta to buy time to prepare for war, which he knew was inevitable.15

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

The Greeks closest to the Persian Empire after the war created the Delian League to protect them from the Persians. The Greeks chose the Athenians to lead them. The Spartans were originally asked to lead them, but the kind was very arrogant, so they retracted their offer. The Spartans then created the Peloponnesian League because they didn’t think the Athenians should lead the Delian League because they were getting too much credit for defeating the Persians in the war. The two leagues didn’t get along at all. This rivalry eventually turned into the Peloponnesian War. This war went on for about 30 years. After the war, the government changed in Athens.

The Peloponnesian War brought disease, destruction, famine, widespread civil wars, and a huge loss of life. The war was a complete catastrophe for Athens, who never fully regained their empire back. Sparta won the war, but they didn’t become a great city and a new empire was never built. Sparta attempted to lead the Greeks, but soon fell short and new leaders were called forth.

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

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.

Greek was a very corrupt place at the time of Leonidas this was because they needed resources and

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.

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The Delian League was created by the Athenians, and was an alliance between the poleis in an attempt to protect themselves against the Persians. The Athenians became oppressive and began sending garrisons to the other poleis. They destroyed any allies that wanted to remove themselves from the alliance. The Athenian goal of taking control over the entire Mediterranean region made other poleis anxious, and Sparta, the only other superpower of the Greek world, now removed itself from the league in 431 BCE. This ignited the Peloponnesian War that lasted for 27 years. It was known that Sparta had the stronger army and Athens had a more advanced navy, so Pericles developed a plan for the Athenians. The Athenian population would be placed within

He used the money from the Delian league’s treasury to make the Athenian navy the strongest in the Mediterranean. Pericles also used money from the Delian League to beautify Athens. Without him we wouldn’t have the amazing Athens that we do now.