Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnese War was the conflict between Athens and Sparta , the two main Greek city-states. Athenians and Spartans fought each other in order to gain hegemony in Ancient Greece, between 431 BC. and 404 BC

The war was won by Sparta , but the city-state did not have the strength to remain in power in Greece, which facilitated the invasion and domination of the Macedonian Empire and, soon after, of Rome.

Also read: Hellenism – process of expansion of Greek culture to the regions of the ancient world

Historical context of the Peloponnesian War

Athens and Sparta were the main city-states of Ancient Greece . Despite the particularities of each one, their influences reached the entire Greek territory. Athens, close to the coast, was a city whose main economic activity was maritime trade. Its port favored the arrival and departure not only of goods, but of ideas from elsewhere in the ancient world.

It was the Athenians who founded philosophy , the search for truth through rational thought. The agora, the public square, was where merchants did their business and philosophers discussed their ideas. Democracy was founded by the Athenians, opening space for citizens to discuss the city and its problems.

Sparta was the opposite of Athens. The city was located on the Peloponnese Peninsula, and its main economic activity was agriculture. The Spartans were known for their militarism and rigidity in training their soldiers. Unlike Athens, Sparta was politically organized as an oligarchy, that is, participation restricted to the elite.

The war between the Greeks and Persians marked one of the rare moments when city-states united in defense of Ancient Greece. Soon after the Greek victory, the differences between Spartans and Athenians became clear, and their rivalries determined the actions of the two cities to contain the enemy's advance and strengthen their domains. Sparta founded the Peloponnesian League , a military alliance between the cities of the peninsula led by the Spartans. The Athenians founded the Delian League , which united the cities around Athens.

With the two leagues formed, the polarization between the two cities grew , as each was determined to fight for dominion over Ancient Greece.

Disputes with Corinth

Athens and Corinth were rival cities . The Corinthians went to war against the city of Megara for control of the isthmus that connected the Peloponnesian Peninsula with mainland Greece, in 405 BC. The Athenians supported Megara while Sparta sided with Corinth . It was the first conflict in which the two leagues placed themselves on opposite sides. Some historians call this war between Corinth and Megara the First Peloponnesian War, which took place between 460 BC. and 445 BC

In 445 BC, the two cities signed a peace agreement, ending the conflict , but rivalries between Athenians and Spartans only increased after this war.

Beginning of the Peloponnesian War

In 440 BC, the cities of Samos and Miletus went to war, and Athens intervened overthrowing the oligarchic government of Miletus to gain support from Samos. As there were strong oligarchic groups in Athens, this action in the conflict provoked an internal rupture. Some cities allied with the Athenians threatened to abandon the Delian League.

Athens and Corinth again went to war , an example that the rivalries of the first conflict were not forgotten. The confrontation did not take place directly. The cities of Corcyra and Epidamnus went to war, and each turned to a stronger ally for help. Corcyra requested help from the Athenians, who promptly sent a military force to the region, while Epidamnus asked Corinth for help, who requested military support from other cities. Athens pressured Greek cities not to accept the Corinthians' request for support.

Sparta , who had not yet taken a stand on this war, accepted Corinth's plea for help and, after a meeting of the Peloponnesian League, he declared war on Athens, using as justification the breach of the peace agreement made in 445 BC. Thus began the Peloponnesian War, putting the two main Greek cities on opposite sides.

See also: Battle of Thermopylae – Battle involving the Spartans and the Persians

Main Events of the Peloponnesian War

The war between Athenians and Spartans lasted 27 years , alternating moments of peace and conflict. From 431 BC until 404 BC, the Peloponnesian War pitted thetwo greatest armies of the ancient world . While Sparta attacked by land, Athens counterattacked by sea. When Spartan soldiers retreated to harvest grain, Pericles, the ruler of Athens, considered attacking it, but the Athenian Assembly did not agree and the attack did not take place.

The absence of a single speech in the decisions made about the war strategies used by Athens meant that countless chances to attack Sparta while it was vulnerable were wasted. In addition, the Athenian soldiers who remained in the city fell victim to a plague, and many died, depleting their ranks during the war.

In 421 BC, Athens and Sparta signed a peace agreement , which became known as the Peace of Nicias, establishing a 50-year truce between the two cities. However, this agreement was never fulfilled, and, in 414 BC, its determinations were abandoned .

Athens was facing political problems, and power struggles, with the lack of a common understanding of the war's destinies, caused the Athenians to weaken and make room for a Spartan reaction. . Athens allied with the city of Argos, rival of Sparta, and tried to attack the Peloponnese, but without success. In 413 BC, theSpartans imposed a harsh defeat on the Athenians , when they controlled the silver mines belonging to Athens. Without this metal, Athenian soldiers were left with reduced numbers of weapons and a financial hole in the public accounts.

Sparta received important help from Persia, and its strengthening in the final period of the Peloponnesian War deepened the crisis in Athens, which, at every moment, was losing allies. The cities that were part of the Delian League, realizing the eminent Athenian defeat, tried to change sides and ally with the Spartans.

End of the Peloponnesian War

In 405 BC, the Athenians were defeated by the Spartans in the Battle of Aegospotami. The following year, the Spartan king Pausanias ordered the siege of Athens. The starving population surrendered, thus ending the Peloponnesian War and Athenian power over Ancient Greece.

What were the consequences of the Peloponnesian War?

With the defeat of Athens, Sparta became the greatest city-state of Ancient Greece . The democracy founded by the Athenians gave way to oligarchic governments. The Persians, who allied with the Spartans, dominated some Greek cities.

However, Sparta's rule was short-lived because of the rigidity of its relations, and this provoked dissent among its allies. The riches of war generated disputes and ruptures among former allies. In 371 BC, Sparta went to war with Thebes and was defeated. Ancient Greece no longer had the same vigor of the heyday of the 5th century BC. In 338 BC, the Greeks were dominated by the Macedonians .

How important is the Peloponnesian War?

The importance of the Peloponnesian War was in the demonstration of forces of the two largest city-states of Ancient Greece :Sparta and Athens. The consequences of this war led to the end of Greek civilization, making room for foreign rule in its territory, first Macedonia and then Rome.

Summary of the Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War was a conflict between Sparta and Athens for the domination of Ancient Greece.
The rivalry between the two cities began at the end of the war between the Greeks and Persians. Sparta founded the Peloponnesian League, and Athens, the Delian League.
Conflicts between Spartans and Athenians began when their allied cities clashed and asked for help from both.
The Peloponnesian War lasted 27 years and ended with the victory of Sparta.
The consequences of the war were the end of Athenian rule, the short Spartan rule, and the invasion of the Macedonians.

Resolved exercises

Question 1 - (FGV SP) The Peloponnesian War, which took place in Greece between 431 and 401 BC, was:

A) a defensive war waged by the Greeks against the invasion of the Persians and the threat of loss of their main trading centers in the Mediterranean Sea.

B) a struggle between Dorians and Achaeans at the time of the occupation of Greek territory that resulted in the formation of the cities of Sparta and Athens.

C) a struggle led by the cities of Sparta and Corinth against the hegemony of the Confederacy of Delos — led by Athens — over Greek territory.

D) a war between Greeks and Romans, for the desire to implant a hegemonic culture over the peoples of the Near East.

E) an invasion of Greek territory by the troops of Alexander the Great, at the time of the expansion of the Macedonian Empire that he inherited from his father.

Resolution

Alternative C. The Peloponnesian War was a conflict between Sparta and Athens and their allies, with each city forming leagues.

Question 2 - The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) resulted in the weakening of the economic and military power of the Greek city-states that had dominated the eastern Mediterranean region. This weakening later made it possible for the Greeks to be conquered by:

A) Macedonian Empire

B) Persian Empire

C) Roman Empire

D) Egyptian Empire

E) Carthaginian Empire