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The Peloponnesian War Should it have happened? |
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A Brief History
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The Peloponnesian War Should it have happened? |
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A Brief History
It has been called the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. A war fought because of jealousy, and lust for power. The Peloponnesian War was fought for 27 years, from 431-404 B.C.E., mainly between Sparta and Athens. With the eventual defeat of Athens, Sparta and its allies ended Athens' 75-year reign as the richest and most powerful Greek city. Sparta and its allies, throughout the Peloponnese of Greece constituted the Peloponnesian League. Athens and its many islands and cities of the Aegean Sea and Western Asia Minor, about 200 states in all, made up the Delian League. It was a war between an old-fashioned oligarchy and a radical democracy; a war that would forever change history.
The fighting ranged from Eastern Sicily, to mainland Greece, even as far east as Byzantium. The fighting was both on land and at sea. Similar to World War I, the Peloponnesian War was mostly a stalemate, due partly to the low military technology. Land armies couldn't storm fortified cities because of the lack of siege equipment, so they had to surround the city and starve the populace out, which took months, even years. Sparta turned out to be invincible on the land, and the Athenians were at sea, which fueled both sides' strategies. Most of the information that archaeologists know today comes from archaeological evidence, such as the Athenian legislative decrees. most of our knowledge though comes from ancient writers such as Thucydides, Plutarch, and Aristophanes who witnessed and documented the war. (Sacks, 1995)
Throughout history, Sparta had always feared the Athenian growth of power and influence. Athenian cultural appeal and democracy spurred jealousy. Athens' slow growth of military aggression also worried the Spartans, as well as their allies. The immeadiate cause of the war started with the Thirty Years Peace of 446 B.C.E. It stated that the Athens was not to interfere with any problems with other Greek cities. Pericles, the leader of Athens, stated at the start of the peace that "the future is inevitable." Athens eventually broke the peace by dominating the Aegina and interfering with trade designs with Megara. This angered the Corinthians, a Spartan ally. Athens and Corinth slipped into an undeclared war, 433 B.C.E. The Corinthians begged with the rest of the Peloponnesian League to interfere. The league took a vote and decided to declare war against Athens in 432 B.C.E.
Unlike the Peloponnesian League, Athens could afford a war. They had a 200 warship navy, impregnable fortifications around the city, and financial reserves from tribute paid by their Delian League allies. In order to win, the Delian League would have to avoid the dominating Spartan land army. To do this they would rely on their fortifications and weaken the Spartans by amphibious attacks from the sea. After 27 years of fighting, two events occurred that allowed Sparta to gain the upper edge and win the war. The first was the Athenian naval disaster at Syracuse in 413 B.C.E. The second happened the next year when Persia allied with Sparta. This brought in funds, warships, and much needed manpower. Without these two events, Athens would have won the Peloponnesian War.
Pericles, the influential leader of Athens that almost led his people to a great military victory over Sparta and its allies. He eventually was killed during the plague of Athens.
Courtesy of www.ancientgreece.com
