The Peloponnese War was a civil war between Athens and Sparta that took place in Ancient Greece between 431 and 404 BC. This military conflict lasted 27 years and ended with the victory of Sparta.
Causes
Map depicting conflict and neutral territories during the Peloponnesian War
During the conflicts of the Medical Wars, the League of Delos had been created in order to protect the Greeks from the Persians.
This alliance consisted, especially, in the monetary contribution of the cities for the purchase of war material. However, the League began to benefit Athens at the expense of other Greek cities.
With funds obtained from the Delian League, Athens had become the political, economic and cultural center of Greece.
Sparta did not accept this situation and entered the dispute for the political and economic hegemony of Greece. It then creates another league with the objective of fighting the league commanded by Athens - the Peloponnese League .
After 10 years of hard fighting between Athens, who led by sea, and Sparta, who led by land, in 421 BC. the Peace of Nicias was signed .
This agreement stipulated a 50-year truce between the adversaries, however, peace only reigned for eight years.
In the battle of Aegospotami, Sparta finally defeats Athens.
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- Sparta and Athens
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Consequences
The goddess Athena (standing, right) helps Greek soldiers during the conflict between Sparta and Athens
With the defeat, Athens begins to lose what it had gained in the Medical Wars and the cities of Asia Minor are returned to the Persians in exchange for gold.
Sparta thus conquers Greek hegemony. The Spartan system of government was military and the Greek cities change the democratic regime to the authoritarian one. This phenomenon is known as "Tyranny of the Thirty ".
There is a social and political destabilization and the ruin of Greece begins, which allowed the invasion of the Macedonians a century later.
Curiosity
Thucydides, Greek historian, witnessed this conflict and wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War. The work consists of eight volumes that report in detail the events of this war considered by historians as the most important in ancient Greece.
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