The Peloponnesian War: Causes, Consequences, and Lessons Learned

Introduction 

Peloponnesian War was a great conflict in Ancient Greece between two powerful city-states, Athens and Sparta 1 . At other times, the Peloponnesian War is also referred to as the Artic War. This War happened in two periods of combat with each phase given its name 2 . The first phase was the Archidamian War which happened from 431 BC to 421 BC while the last phase mainly known as the Decelean War took place between 415-404 3 . Sparta took over as the city state with the most power when Athens lost the battle. The complex War happening both at home and abroad in each of the city-states was damaging to both ends 4 . It created a big impact in the region. This impact was huge and was felt by most of the countries around them, and a period of regional decline was triggered and the Golden Age of Greece was over. 

Athens and its Allies 

Athens, located in Greece, made a discovery of silver in the nearby mountains making it the city with the dominating economic power. Athens was placed in a suitable and sufficient position that enabled its economic power. It was at the center of an efficient trading system with other Greek city-states. This was essential to Athens for it became dependent on trading as its land was not able to support agriculture and cultivation. 

Athens' system of government transitioned as per its population growth and the acquired wealth through maritime trade. Athens was later under the control of Pericles from 461 BC to 429 BC. He was a widely adored groundbreaker as he encouraged culture, philosophy, and science, and he led Athens to the Golden Age of Ancient Greece. Through his ruling power, great thinkers, writers, and artists arose and did great work in the city in which they are remembered to date. Athens later adopted a democratic system that was used to rule over the city state of Athens. 

City-states in Greece aligned themselves with allies after the conflict that happened during 460 BC- 446 BC, the war that is considered to be the very first stage of the Peloponnesian War. The Greek city-states therefore grouped themselves in protective alliances that would be helpful during any war outbreak 5 . Due to the great power of the city-state of Athens, most states established a relationship with it, especially the Ionia states. The city-states that were among this alliance were all under Athens forming the Delian League in 478 BC 6 . Delian League comprised of three hundred members who Athens received tribute from in the form of ships or money 7 . The tribute paid to Athens by these states was done in order to be shielded from the possible threat from Persian and probably from the pirates of. Delian League placed their treasury in the island of Delos which was sacred located in Cyclades and was later shifted to Athens in 454 BC 8 . The shifting of the treasury resulted in the League resembling empire of Athens rather than just a combination of allies. In this case, the shifting of the treasury resulted in a consequence that gave Athens the power to strike anywhere they please as it resulted to serious problems of resources and stock to certain states throughout the War, especially Corinth. 

Sparta and its Allies 

Sparta was a powerful city-state in Greece, located in Southern Greece, an area which was fruitful. Sparta extended its power throughout Peloponnesus as it developed a sophisticated and robust economy. The extended power by Sparta brought the neighboring villages under its control. Sparta did not have a complex social hierarchy as social status was distinguished and determined by the military achievement. In this case, Sparta did not exercise democracy as a way of ruling; however, it was known to be an oligarch state where influential groups were the ones that ruled over. Two hereditary kings ruled the States who had no blood relations. 

Similarly to Athens, Sparta also had its allies where they formed the Peloponnesian League; however, regional instability was the main cause of the formation of the League. Sparta had a tough trained military whose members were from the age of seven 9 . This tough trained military resulted in the formation of a professional hoplite army who were disciplined and were capable of sophisticated battle maneuvers. This group of the military in Sparta utilized the phalanx formation that did help them win battles with even small troops of the army. These made Sparta feared throughout Greece as it was evident by the absence of Long Walls in its history. The Peloponnesian League comprised of Corinth, Elis, Tegea and other states who came into an agreement that they would share similar allies and enemies just like Sparta 10 . Unlike Delian League, paying of the tribute to Sparta was not necessary for a state to be a member of the Peloponnesian League. However, they were to provide troops when needed under the command of Sparta. Sparta would, therefore, rule over Peloponnese through the establishment of hegemony 

Reasons for the War 

Athens and Sparta were the major city-states with more power in Ancient Greece.It were most probably that their interest and areas of influence would coincide years to come. Athens, therefore, began to rise slowly, and Sparta began to notice the rising power of Athens 11 . Athens could build a bigger fleet of ships with the help of its friendly nations and dependents. Moreover, Athens had the plans to build their long walls fortifications once again which shielded them from direct attacks as it protected their harbor of Piraeus 12 . This rising power of Athens became a great concern to Sparta who knew that if they took no action, other great major Greek cities would join hands together with Athens. Sparta was aware that if the other great major cities such as Corinth joined hands with Athens, Athens would become the most powerful city-state as it was, and it was evident that Sparta wanted nothing as such 13 . Therefore, there were attempts of Sparta to prevent the construction of the fortification walls that would prevent Athens from direct land attacks. The attempts made by Sparta to prevent the constructions of the walls were since Sparta was afraid they would not be able to control Athens. According to Thucydides, a great historian from Greece, Sparta felt secretly aggrieved by the progress of Athens. 

The first stage of the Peloponnesian War that took place between 460-446 BC was less intense, which a battle mainly for Athens and Corinth was. However, Sparta partly intervened in the War. The War was over when a Treaty was signed by the cities which stated that the cities would maintain peace for thirty years. However, this agreement was not fully honored as there was a presence of fewer intensity hostilities between the cities that broke into the great Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. These hostilities began when Athens was in need of mineral resources and logs supply from Thrace demanding Poteidaia to get rid of their Long Walls. People from Poteida did not like how Athens demanded them and gave out commands to them and so they went ahead and asked support from Sparta which they were given the promise of protected support. However, through the issue of the Megarian Decrees, the siege was laid down by Athens to the Poteidaians and prevented them from using any port of Athens and its partners 14 . Since Sparta and Megara have been long-time allies, Athens was requested by Sparta to get rid of the decree which would make Megara entirely dependent on Athens. However, Athens, with more persuasions coming from Pericles, refused and Sparta retrieved back as it was not yet ready to formalize the beginning of any war or conflict 15 . Nonetheless, the War still broke out when King Archidamos, the Sparta leader, led the Peloponnesian army in invading Attica 16 . This was after the ongoing hostilities that began when Plataea was attacked by Tthebes, Athens’s patner. 

The Second stage of the Peloponnesian War was divided into two phases, i.e. the Archidamian War and the Decelean War. This was considered to be the Great War in the history of Ancient Greece which began in 431 BC and got finished in 404 BC where the two phases were separated by six years of peace 17 . The War was more sophisticated than the previous one and more deadly with the breaking down of warfare conventions which resulted in atrocities previously unthinkable in Greece Warfare. There was full involvement of the citizens in the warfare as entire citizens' bodies were fully wiped out relating to the Mykalessos in Boeotia 18 . 

During the War of Peloponnesian 

Sparta’s Attacks on Attica 

Sparta had strategized their plans on how to attack Athens. The strategy Sparta used was to attack Athen city every year, causing destructions such as destroying of the land through fire as olive trees and vineyard were cut down. However, even as Sparta had this plan strategized, they were not sure if there would be any effect on Athens' economy. The effect of the destruction of farms, olive trees and vineyards in Athens by Sparta was unpredictable as Athens could always be resupplied. The resupplies that Athens could get possible by the sea through Piraeus, the city’s port, which was highly protected by the long walls. These annual attacks made to Athens’ lands were a temptation that Athens and more particularly Pericles were aware of and resisted 19 . The attacks were known to be temptations as Sparta's strategy and the aim was to provoke the Athenians and lead them out from the fortifications into the open battlefield. Through this, Athens began planning their revenge against Sparta and causing similar damages that they caused on their lands. 

After Athens had several attacks from Sparta, it suffered a deadly plague that originated from Egypt. The plague invasion led Sparta to postpone the annual attacks in order to avoid it. Not long after the invasion of the plague, Sparta rejected the request of peace from Athens as the Pericles was expelled 20 . Nonetheless, the hope for the early Spartan victory was hopelessly ambitious when a successful campaign was conducted by Athenians in Corinthian Gulf with the lead of Kleon and Nikias. 

Siege Actions 

Siege is a military operation in which the enemy forces surround a town, city, state or building, denying and cutting off essentials from the defenders. The aim of siege operations is compelling the defenders to surrender during a battle. Siege operations were common in the Peloponnesian War and were known to be a feature in the Greece warfare which increased in numbers during the Great War of Peloponnesian. The siege operations consisted of two strategies, with one mostly used. The first strategy involved attacking a city or state directly until the defenders came to surrender or the walls fell. The other strategy that was used was circumvallation, where attackers surrounded fortifications until the city surrendered. Circumvallation was a strategy commonly used as it had high chances of victory and took lesser time. The probability of victory was high in circumvallation as there was room for in-fighting and betrayal within the defenders. Division of forces within the defenders was most likely to occur, which gave much power to the attackers and made the attack possible and easier. When a city was finally defeated, they were enslaved or killed. 

The siege of Plataea happened during the Peloponnesian that took place between 429-427 BC, where both strategies were used. Aggressive tactics were used by encircling the town with a wooden palisade as they built an earth ramp to compromise the walls 21 . Plataeans, the defenders responded to this attack by increasing the length of the walls much higher that led to use battering rams by the attackers. An action used by the Platanaeans for resistance was breaking the rams with large chains of beams. Peloponnesians, therefore, agreed to play the waiting game and dug in for a long siege which was successful after starving the Plataeans to surrender. However, this success only took place after two years. Finally, the Plataeans decided to surrender to the Peloponnesian forced, which led to execution or slavery as end result. 

The War Continues 

A civil war on Kerkyra followed the fall of Plataea in 427 BC and after a revolt was crushed on Lesbos by Athens. Athens had several attempts to protect Sicily which failed drastically. Demosthenes led the campaign against Pylos in 426 BCE with the help of forty triremes where the Spartans who were in Sphakteria were defeated. Athens later led an expedition against Megara, an ally of Sparta, and Boeotia, however, it became another significant failure which happened near Delion. Spartans took several Greece city-states with the command of Brasidas and with the help of the non-Spartan hoplites although Brasidas was killed in the battle 22 . Spartan took the poleis which were around Attica, especially the Amphipolis as Athens captured the Island of Spartan known as Kythera. 

A treaty of fifty-year peace was agreed by the states, and the pre-war status was achieved. Some changes took place, such as new alliances being formed by the cities. The cities of Corinth, Elis, Argos Mantineia, and Chalkidians allied together however later on an alliance between Athens, Argos, Elis and Mantineia were formed 23 . An alliance of Sparta and Boeotia was also formed. After the formation of new alliances in 420 BC, an attack by Sparta defeated Argos and her allies 24 . All citizens of Hysiai and Athens were executed by Sparta as well as those of Melos. In this case, the War had then turned into a brutal conflict. This led to the invasion of Sicily by Athens. 

The Sicilian Attack by Athens 

Athens was the great mastermind behind the Sicilian attack that became the largest operation in the entire War. Segesta requested some help from Syracuse for protection as Athens needed timber from Sicily for their fleet. Therefore, during departure, Alcibiades was accused of impiety and was removed from command; however, he said that it was an unfair trial. Without hesitation, Sparta became the refuge of Alcibiades and Athens's operation was led by Nikias 25 . Nikias being their commander, the operation became an entire disaster as the Spartan army ended the siege operation under the command of Glypus. This led to the execution of Nikias as well as Demosthenes in 413 BC. 

Athens never gave up and continued their raids on Peloponnese from the sea. Alcibiades who fled to Sparta after his accusations advised Sparta armies to build a fort at Dekeleia in order to interrupt agriculture in Attic and continue with their yearly attacks. Dekeleia was the headquarters of Agis where he received envoys in order to leave the Delian League particularly Chios and Miletos. Sparta was offered money by the Persians that would enable an increase in the fleet that was able to attack Athens, and in return, Persia wanted their sovereignty recognized by Sparta 26 . 

Sparta gained the ability to increase its fleet to around 200 triremes together the help of the money that Persia offered them. Through this great weapon, Sparta was able to have the final victory over Athens at Aegospotami which was immediate to Hellespont in 405 BC 27 . At this time, Sparta captured Athens ships and took Athenians as captives who were around three thousand and finally executing them 28 . Athens then decided to sue for peace since they had no option left as it was under siege. Sparta decided to agree to their use for peace with several conditions that hindered them from regaining their pre-war power. The conditions given were the elimination of long walls, banned from rebuilding a bigger fleet than twelve ships and finally Athens was to pay tribute to Sparta. In the end, Sparta was recognized as the most powerful city-state with the prevailing power in Ancient Greece. 

Aftermath 

The replacement of the Athenian kingdom with a Spartan empire was the overall result of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta took all of Athens's tribute revenues for itself, without sharing it with her allies who made greater sacrifices than Sparta 29 . Sparta set up a reactionary government known as the “Thirty Tyrants” that ruled over Athens suspending democracy. However, in 403 BC, Thrasybulus brought back democracy by overthrowing all oligarchs, who ruled Sparta. 

The position of Sparta as the ruling city-state in Greece was short term as it was dragged into another conflict. The War took place from 396 BC – 387 BC and the "King's Peace" was the result of the conflict where Sparta surrendered its territory to Persia. However, even after surrendering its empire to the Persian control, it still dominated Greece. Later, Thebes conquered Sparta during Leuctra conflict in 371 BC. Even so, the enmity between Athens and Sparta ended when Macedonia conquered Greece 30 . Phillip II, who was the ruler of Macedonia, invaded and conquered Greece with ease becoming the dominant ruler. 

Conclusion 

The Peloponnesian War, the greatest and fierce conflict in the old Greece was between the two most dominating city-states. A regional decline that put the Golden Age to an end was the result of the Peloponnesian War as Phillip II took over Greece. Sparta was the only state that was not conquered by Phillip II; however, it was invaded and crushed by his son, Alexander in 331 BC. 

Bibliographies 

Crawley, Richard (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.” gutenberg.org . https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7142/7142-h/7142-h.htm 

Echeverría, Fernando. The Second Peloponnesian War, 431–404 BC. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd , 207. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119099000.wbabat0130 

History.com editors. “Peloponnesian War.” A&E Television Networks, LLC . October 29, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/peloponnesian-war. 

Hornblower, Simon. “Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE.” Oxford Classical Dictionary . March, 2016. .https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-4834. 

Lumen. “The Peloponnesian War.” Boundless World History. n.d. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-peloponnesian-war/ 

Nash, John. “Sea Power in the Peloponnesian War.” Naval War College Review, vol. 71, no. 1 (2018): 119-139. 

1 Hornblower, “Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE.”

2 Rawls, “Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE)”.

3 Echeverría, The Second Peloponnesian War, 431–404 BC , 2.

4 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”

5 Nash, “Sea Power in the Peloponnesian War,” 125.

6 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”

7 Echeverría, The Second Peloponnesian War, 431–404 BC, 4

8 Ibid, 6

9 Nash, "Sea Power in the Peloponnesian War,” 130.

10 History.com editors, “Peloponnesian War.”

11 Hornblower, “Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE.”

12 Nash, “Sea Power in the Peloponnesian War,” 132.

13 History.com editors. “Peloponnesian War.”

14 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”

15 Nash, "Sea Power in the Peloponnesian War,” 134.

16 Hornblower, "Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE”.

17 Lumen. “The Peloponnesian War.”

18 Lumen. “The Peloponnesian War.”

19 Hornblower, “Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE."

20 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”

21 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”

22 Hornblower, “Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE.”

23 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”

24 Ibid.

25 Thauer, Christian R., Christian Wendt, and Ernst Baltrusch , Thucydides and Political Order , 2

26 Hornblower, "Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE”.

27 Ibid, 358.

28 Nash, “Sea Power in the Peloponnesian War,” 138.

29 Thauer, Christian R., Christian Wendt, and Ernst Baltrusch, Thucydides and Political Order, 2

30 Crawley (trans.) “The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides 431 BC.”