Peloponnesian War The Start Of The Collapse?

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.

The Peloponnesian war was fought between the two city states in ancient Greece, being Athens and Sparta. These two cities had alliances that, between them, included close to every Greek city-state. The Peloponnesian war was inevitable because Athens was too hungry for power, and tried to take total control of Greece. Athens’s growth in military and economic power led to the beginning of a bloody war.

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

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

The two dominating Greek city states, Sparta and Athens, have there own strengths that make them the strongest throughout Greece. Sparta is "located in the southeastern Peloponnesus, in an area known as Laconia" (Spielvogel 53). Athens is on the peninsula of Attica (Geography). Sparta is know for their immense military might (Spartan Military). Athens is known better for their "leading naval force in Greece" (Women of the Ancient World). Their government systems were very different but very effective. Each Greek state was able to conquer a lot of land using different tactics. This brings up the thought that every country or state could be effective if all the people supported the cause. Political correctness however tends to breed idiots. With this being said, unenforced laws leads people to start thinking that they can get away with whatever they want or better yet, defy the lawful order of an officer. This can than become deadly and spread, until it cripples the system and a new one takes over. What does this new system believe in? Are they idea 's that are realistic? Or are they the idea 's of tree-hugging hippies who thinks everyone is going to "play ball." Well little does the tree-hugging hippie know, is that "The Man" who was "keeping him down" actually did know what he was talking about. Maybe the thirty plus years of military experience wasn 't complete garbage. Maybe it was keeping him and his family safe from the psychopaths and terrorists that

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.

Yet this inevitably led to them getting involved in conflict and caused strain with the agreements of the Thirty Year’s Peace. Corinth speaks “you do wrong, Athenians, to begin war and break the treaty.” (1.36) The Athenian reply indicates that they believe their involvement to be just: “Neither are we beginning war, Peloponnesians, nor are we breaking the treaty; but these Corcyraeans are our allies and we are come to help them.” (1.53) From this point forward is where Thucydides identifies where “fresh differences arose between the Athenians and Peloponnesian's, and contributed their share to the war. Corinth was forming schemes for retaliation, and Athens suspected her hostility.”

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.

Based on this previous relationship with Athens, Sparta’s demands were less harsh. The demands were that Athens tear down all the city walls, reduce their naval fleet to 12 ships, permit all exiles to return, and ally with Spartan. The authors theory on to why Sparta didn’t destroy Athens, besides the fact that they were vital in the Persian War, was that Sparta may have been worried about Thebes expanding southward and becoming a larger power. This would most likely result in conflict, as Thebes and Corinth were showing increasing amounts of apprehension to Sparta, even though they were in the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League.

The Peloponnesian war involved Greece’s two most prominent city-states, Athens and Sparta, between 431-404 BC. Both Athens and Sparta held numerous alliances, causing essentially the entire ancient Greek world to be engulfed in war. There were many events that sparked the feud between the Athenians and the Peloponnesian league and made war inevitable. The Peloponnesian war was perhaps one of the most momentous wars of its time and was primarily caused by both Sparta and Athens interfering in events between their respective allies. A notable occasion was Athens intervening in a dispute between Spartans ally, Corinth, and her colony Corcyra over the city of Epidaurus. The revolt of Potidaea against Athens and the Peloponnesian Leagues

Peloponnesian War Many factors contributed to the starting of this war. Both Sparta and Athens are partially to blame for the starting of this, however, Corinth is the city that pressured Sparta into telling Athens to “stop mistreating our allies” (Hunt 100). Their reasoning stems from Athens trying to exercise power on too of many of Sparta’s Peloponnese-based alliance’s cities. Athens is most to blame for the Peloponnesian war because of their relentless drive, failure to negotiate peace with Sparta when they had the chance, as well as their wealth and control of the Delian league.

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