- War between the Delian League led by Athens and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta
- 431–404 BC
Thirty Year’s Peace
- A treaty signed between Athens and Sparta in 446 BC that brought an end to the conflict known as the ‘First Peloponnesian War’
- That was a series of occasional battles raging from 460 BC
- The peace was first tested when the powerful Athenian ally Samos rebelled against the alliance (440 BC)
- The Spartans called a congress of their allies whether to engage in war with Athens
- The Corinthians were against the intervention so the council voted against war with Athens
- The revolt was crushed and peace maintained
- The Spartans called a congress of their allies whether to engage in war with Athens
Outbreak of War
- 433–431 BC
- Outbreak of war between Athens and Corinth
- A conflict arises between Corinth and its colony Corsyra
- There were negotians, finally Athenians decided to take the side of Corsyra
- To uphold the peace, the small fleet Athenians sent didn’t intervene in the battle of Sybota
- There were negotians, finally Athenians decided to take the side of Corsyra
- Following this, another conflict arises with a Corinthian colony of Potadia that is a tribute paying member of the Delian League
- Athenians order the Potedians to tear down their walls, send hostages to Athens and dismiss all Corinthian magistrates from the city
- But Potadians decline and appeal to their mother city, Corinth
- During the following battle of Potidaea, Corinth unoficially aided the city by sneaking contigents of men into the besieged city to help defend it
- This was a direct violation of the peace treaty
- Athenians order the Potedians to tear down their walls, send hostages to Athens and dismiss all Corinthian magistrates from the city
- Megara (a polis located between Athens and Corinth) decides to get involved on the Corinthian side
- Athens responds with the Megarian Decree
- Total embargo, economic warfare
- Athens responds with the Megarian Decree
- Eventually, at the meeting in Sparta, Corinthians persuade Sparta to start war against Athens
- To persuade them, they compared the Spartan and Athenian national characters and described Spartans as too afraid to do anything
- Almost entire greek world joins the war afterwards
- A conflict arises between Corinth and its colony Corsyra
Athenian Strategy
- Pericles realized Athens didn’t stand a chance against the Sparta in the traditional hoplite warfare
- So he drew Athenians of the land into the protected enclave of the long walls
- As long as they have the fleet providing Athens with supplies and raid the Spartan coast, they would be fine
- At the end of first year of the war, Pericles delivers his famous funeral oration
- Shortly after this address, a plague broke out in Athens
- Probably arrived by ship
- Some kind of bubonic plague
- It is estimated as much as a third of Athenian population died
- Under the pressure of the plague, many laws collapsed
- Athenians responded by taking it out on Pericles
- In a long time, after 17 years, Pericles was not elected general
- But they changed their minds quickly after
- Pericles delivers his so-called last speech
- He catches the plague and dies in 429 BC
- In a long time, after 17 years, Pericles was not elected general
Cleon and Brasidas
- Revolt of Mytilene against Athens (the island of Lesbos) (428–427 BC)
- Athenians crushed the revolt and voted on the ultimate penalty
- That is all men will be killed, women and children will be sold into slavery
- After debate between Cleon (for the penalty) and Diodotus (against the penalty), the penalty is not exercised, but things are getting more and more tense in Athens
- Athenians crushed the revolt and voted on the ultimate penalty
- Stasis (civil war) in Corcyra (427 BC)
- Begins with killing an official Athenian friend there
- Cleon’s victory at Pylos/Sphacteria against Spartans (425 BC)
- Cleon has become very influential in Athens afterwards
- There is a shortage of manpower in Sparta (helots and others get into battles as well)
- New Spartan general Brasidas launches a fast campaign north of Athens
- Wins at Amphipolis (424 BC)
- The battle was led by Thucydides who is in response to this event exiled from Athens
- In response to that, Cleon is appointed general and goes north to Brasidas
- 422 BC - There’s large battle, Athenians lose (600 of them are killed including Cleon), on Spartan they are only seven fatalities reported, but one of them was Brasidas
- Wins at Amphipolis (424 BC)
Peace of Nicias
- 421 BC
- Signed between both sides
- Mutual non-agression is to last for 50 years
- Disputes are to be solved by arbitration rather than conflict
- The situation was still tense on many fronts
- Sparta tried to get Corinth ally with Thebes against Athens
- Athenian general Alcibades got the Peloponnesian states of Ellis and Mantineia to ally with Argos against Spart (420 BC)
- Combined forces of these three states are defeated at at Argives (418 BC)
Siege of Melos
- 416 BC
- Athenians go to the island of Melos and demand that they join the Delian League as subordinate tribute paying allies
- Melos refuses to
- Siege is led by Alcibiades
- Famous Melian dialogue
- Athenians give Melians a choice: either they become a tribute-paying members or they will be destroyed
- The Melians decide to resist
- Athenians come back with a massive fleet
- After a short siege, Athenians kill almost all adult males (few manage to escape into slavery) and sell women and children into slavery
- Then they resettle the island with 500 colonists from Athens
The Sicilian Expedition
- 416–413 BC
- Athenians decide to invade Sicily
- An Athenian ally, Segesta, got into quarrel with nearby state of Selinus and asked Athenians for help
- Nicias (the general who signed the peace of Nicias), anti-war, and Alcibiades, pro-war, debate the issue
- Alcibiades was more persuasive, although Niccius' arguments were more rational
- Nicias (the general who signed the peace of Nicias), anti-war, and Alcibiades, pro-war, debate the issue
- An Athenian ally, Segesta, got into quarrel with nearby state of Selinus and asked Athenians for help
- Shortly before their arrival, Alcibiades hears that the Athenians have sent a ship out with orders that he be arrested
- So he flees to Sparta
- He gives them invaluable advice to make advances on Athens (as the home defenses were way down at the time)
- Spartans establish a fort at Dekelea in the Attic territory
- He gives them invaluable advice to make advances on Athens (as the home defenses were way down at the time)
- So he flees to Sparta
- At first, Athenians have some successes
- Athenians start beseiging Syracuse (the only Spartan colony)
- Syracusans build a number of counter-walls
- During these small fights, Lamachus is killed and only Nicias remains from the original 3 generals
- Sparta sends help under general Gylippus
- They began to make a counter-wall, making the Athenian wall useless
- The Corinthian fleet under the command of Erasinides also arrives
- Nicias, exhausted from illness, sends a letter to Athens, hoping they would recall him
- Instead of recalling the expedition, Athenians send out massive reinforcments under general Demosthenes and Eurymedon
- Still they were losing
- As Athenians were preparing to sail home, there was a lunar eclipse and Nicias, as a particularly superstitous man, decided to wait for another 27 days because of it
- Syracusans took advantage of this and attacked Athenian ships in the harbor (76 vs. 86)
- Athenians were defeated, Eurymedon killed
- Syracusans took advantage of this and attacked Athenian ships in the harbor (76 vs. 86)
- Eventually, Athenians were trapped and exterminated
- Either killed or sold into slavery
The Sicilian Expedition Aftermath
- There was a series of revolts among in the Delian League
- Board of 10 probouloi was established
- Sort of like a super executive comitee
- Highly trusted men of upstanding character
- Still a breach in the democratic process
The Oligarchic Revolution
- 411 BC
- Membership in assembly restricted to 5K wealthiest citizens
- A super council of 400 is established
- This oligarchy slowly fades away, though, and democracy is restored
The Treaty of Miletus
- 412 BC
- Alcibiades had to leave Sparta for Persia
- He led negotiations with Persians to lend money to build Spartan fleet (which was an oxymoron for most Spartans)
- He seduced the wife of one of the Spartan kings
- But Spartans continued the negotiations and came up with a treaty
- In return for money, they would no longer oppose Persian attempts to control the Ionian states
- Just like that the focus of the war shifts up norteast, because there was a crucial supply line for the Athenians
- In return for money, they would no longer oppose Persian attempts to control the Ionian states
Alcibiades returns to Athens
- 408 BC
- Spartans are defeated in two battles northeast
- One of them is the battle of Cyzicus
- The Spartans offered peace, Athenians declined it
- Alcibiades joins the pro-Athenian side
- Back in Athens, he was cleared of all charges of impiety and was made a “commander-in-chief”
- But after a while, Athenian public opinion shifted, he fled Athens and never returned again
- One of them is the battle of Cyzicus
Battle of Arginusae
- 406 BC
- Battle of Athenian and Spartan fleets
- Sparta lost
- A storm came afterwards, so Athenians failed to pick up their dead
- Back in Athens a motion is proposed that the generals be tried for this as a group
- That is a completely illegal practice
- The vote was eventually carried out and six generals were executed (among them one of the sons of Pericles)
- Back in Athens a motion is proposed that the generals be tried for this as a group
Battle of Aegospotami
- 406 BC
- The Spartan fleet is under command of a very capable general named Lysander
- Athenians were in very vulnerable position
- Spartans had a decisive victory
- 160 out of 180 Athenian ships were destroyed and several thousands killed
- Athenian navy is now effectively destroyed
- 160 out of 180 Athenian ships were destroyed and several thousands killed
Athens Surrender
- 404 BC
- Athens was surrounded and starved into submission
- Some Athenian enemies, notably Corinth and Thebes wanted Athens to be treated like Athens treated Melos
- But Spartans resisted
- The long walls and Athenian city walls were torn down
- Some Athenian enemies, notably Corinth and Thebes wanted Athens to be treated like Athens treated Melos
- Athenians were free but reduced to Athens and the island of Salamis
- Their fleet was reduced to 12 ships
- In the places of former Athenian allies, Spartans imposed decharcies
- A board of ten to control a state
- In Athens, they imposed an oligarchy of thirty
After the war Spartans enjoyed a brief period of hegemony.