the Peloponnesian War B.C.E.

At the end of the Persian Wars, Athens had built up a huge navy and was determined to prevent future invasions of Greece. To do so, Athens recruited other city-states as allies.

This alliance was known as the Delian League because it was originally based on the island of Delos, half way between Greece and Asia Minor.

Each of these city-states paid “protection money” to Athens. Eventually, many of these city-states began to feel like Athens was ruling them like an empire. They felt like Athens was taking their money to build monuments in Athens instead of protecting them. Athens responded that they were not being attacked so Athens could use the money as it saw fit.

They began to revolt. Athens tried to crush each such rebellion.

Sparta became increasingly uncomfortable as Athens exerted its power over Greece. As Delian League city-states revolted, they turned to Sparta for protection from Athens’ revenge.

As is often the case, Athens and Sparta could not resolve their differences. Consequently, Sparta declared war on Athens.

Sparta had the strongest army in Greece and it had many allies.

Athens, on the other hand, had a powerful navy.

Athens decided that it could protect itself if it called its citizens inside its walls and waited the Spartans out. Athens built protective walls from Athens to its port, Piraeus. With its navy protecting the port, Athens was confident that it could withstand a Spartan seige.

Then, only two years into the war in 430 B.C.E., a plague swept through Athens. With its overcrowded conditions, the plague killed many Athenians. Significantly, Pericles died and Athens lost his steady leadership.

With Pericles gone, the new leaders of Athens decided on a different course. They no longer wanted to sit behind the walls of Athens and wait the Spartans out. Instead, they chose to attack the allies of Sparta.

Athens’ decision to attack proved to be a bad one. Ten years of war ensued.

Finally, a peace treaty was signed promising at least 50 years of no wars.

That lasted all of one year. Athens found new allies and attacked the Spartan army. Athens lost.

Two years later, Athenian leaders decided to attack Sicily where Sparta grew much of its food.

Alkabaides was to lead the attack for the Athenians. However, shortly before departing, Alkabaides and his shipmates got drunk and ran amok, destroying many sacred statues. People were infuriated and Alkabaides was exiled.

Alkibiades sought asylum in Sparta and warned them of Athens’ plan to attack Sicily.

As you can imagine, the attack on Sicily was a complete disaster for Athens. Subsequently, Sparta set up its army just north of Athens which encouraged many Athenian slaves to desert to the Spartan army.

The snowball continued to get bigger. Because of the lack of slaves and the Spartan army menace, silver mines had to be closed. That cut off a financial resource, causing Athens to empty temple treasuries to pay for the war.

Twenty years into the war, democracy fell as a group of 400 citizens seized control of Athens. It only lasted three months.

Amazingly, Sparta then sought peace but Athens refused.

The final blow for Athens again came as the result of carelessness. The Spartan navy was lead by a man named Lysander. Lysander sought to cut off the Athenian food supply.

Athens was convinced its navy was superior so it dispatched the Athenian navy to fight Lysander. To do so, Athens had to leave its harbor at Piraeus virtually unprotected.

Lysander caught the Athenian navy completely unaware and destroyed it. Lysander then cut off Athens’ food supply by blockading Piraeus with 150 Spartan warships. This final blow crippled Athens.

Finally, Athens sought peace. The Spartans demanded heavy terms: Athens was allowed only 12 ships in its navy; it had to tear down its defensive wall; and it had to be ruled by Sparta.

By the end of the war in 404 B.C.E., all of Greece was weakened from 27 years of war. Greece would never be as powerful as it once was and it was now ripe for invasion.