Discuss the view that the reasons for the war between Athens and Sparta (431404BC) lay

in continued Athenian imperialism following the Thirty Years Peace of 446/5BC.

In 477BC Sparta stepped down as leader of the Greek Alliances after the Persian Wars were over and returned as hegemon of the Peloponnesian League. Athens and Sparta were on reasonable good terms at this time considering their checker past in the Persian Wars.

A man called Clemon at the time headed Athens. Clemon was an admirer and friend of Sparta. It is during his time that Athens started the Delian League. The purpose of this League was to unite Greek city-states against the common enemy Persia and free those Greek cities still under the Persian yoke. At first the members of the League were seen as equals, each with one vote and Athens naturally the leader of the League. Some members contributed ships while others made contributions in the form of money. As a result Athens at the head of this League grew strong as well as a large naval power.

Sparta at the head of the Peloponnesian League demanded her members to embrace oligarchy, while Athens expected the members of the Delian League to have democracies governing their city-states. From the start these two superpowers of Greece were destined to clash. Athens being the naval power while Sparta dominated land with her Spartaites.

Not long after the establishment of the Delian League some members wanted to break away from the League. Athens used force to subdue them and made it clear that she would not allow any member to break away from the League. This was the first move to an Athenian Empire.

After an earthquake in Sparta a helot revolt broke out. Sparta had a mere 9000 Spartaite Equals to quell the revolt. Sparta turned to Clemon for aid. At great personal risk he managed to send some Athenian Hoplites to aid Sparta. Sparta sent them home for two reasons; in their state of xenophobia they feared that Athens may join helot revolt and secondly, they feared that the Athenians might bring the idea of democracy with their troops. This caused great offence to the Athenians, who banished Clemon from Athens for ten years. Sparta and Athens moved closer to an inevitable war. When Athens gained two allies in the Peloponnesian, Argos and Thessaly, Sparta was greatly alarmed as democracy crept into the Peloponnesian. In 459BC Sparta and Athens finally came to blow and the First Peloponnesian War broke out.

The leading man in Athens at this time was Pericles, an influential leader and visionary. He ordered the Delian Leagues treasury to be moved to Athens from Delos. This was the final step Athens took from leader of the Delian League to an Athenian Empire. This treasury Pericles used to beautify the city and build the Parthenon, the symbol of the Athenian Empire. Athens had entered her Golden Age. Huge fortifications and walls were erected to make the city virtually impregnable. Through her alliances and power Athens became very influential and rivalled Sparta in power. Sparta decided to invade Attica in 446BC. Athens sued for peace and the 30 Years Peace ended the 1st Peloponnesian War.

Although weapons were laid down, a cold war ensued. This led Thucydides to say his famous saying- An bad peace is worse than war. (Quoted by General Higgs in the Cold war between America and the Soviet Union)

Athens did not stop her imperialistic ideals there but went into Macedonia, Thrace and some Aegean Islands and crushed smaller city-stated friendly to Sparta. The Peloponnesian League offended by this held an emergency meeting and Corinth, feeling threatened by Athens and already got set back economically by Athens expansion, and other members of the League forced Spartas hand to declare war. Sparta, on grounds that she was to liberate Greece from the imperialism of Athens, declared war and invaded Attica for a second time. The 2nd Peloponnesian War had begun.

Pericles now fought a different type of battle unknown at the time. He evacuated the whole of Attica behind the walls of Athens and used his powerful navy and port to secure food and other resources. Sparta not knowing how to deal with the defensive strategy taken up by Athens abandoned the campaign.

Athens was struck by a plague and more than a third of the population died. More so, Pericles died in the plague and Athens was left leaderless. Again Athens sued for peace but Sparta, having the upper hand refused and the war continued. To make things worse the Island of Lesbos, a member of the Delian League revolted against Athens. Athens managed to repress the revolt and gained another victory against the Peloponnesian League at Pinoa. Sparta again gained a decisive victory at Platea.

Next came the Battle of Pylos where an Athenian land army managed to defeat a Spartan army. 120 Spartan Equals surrendered and were taken prisoner. This was unprecedented, never has a Spartan army surrendered. The Peace of Nicias followed, 421BC and the prisoners were released.

Members of the Peloponnesian League such as Corinth did not accept the peace. A democratic alliance was formed in the Peloponese and they declared war on Sparta. Athens under the colourful character Alcibiades joined on the democratic side. What followed was a major historical battle of democracy which not many people are familiar with, the Battle of Mantinea 418BC. Sparta found herself outnumbered by the enemy and for the first time recorded, Spartan hoplites broke rank, disobeying their commanders orders and fought a one on one battle. Thanks to this they managed to win the battle. Argos then broke away from the Delian League and joined the side of Sparta.

Alcibiades who was raised by Pericles and a student of Socrates headed Athens at the time and planned the invasion of Syracuse. Athens did not let go of her imperialistic ways. With 40 000 troops and his navy 200 sails strong, alcibiades army was the largest the Delian League ever assembled, but before the invasion took place Alcibiades was accused of sacrilege and he fled to Sparta. Nicias was now placed in charge of the Syracusian campaign. Athens managed some success in the campaign and defeated the hoplites of Syracuse and besieged the city. Sparta sent a general with the name Gelippus with a few contingents for aid. Over a period of a few months Syracuses army was whipped into shape by drill schools, and Gelippus installed most of the Spartan ways.

Athens was defeated in a decisive battle at sea in the harbour of Syracuse and most of the Athenian fleet sank and survivors of the battle were killed or enslaved. The Tyrant of Syracuse Dionysus, believed that it was here that the might of Athens was finally broken.

Sparta new that in order to defeat Athens completely, she had to build a navy of her own. In order to do this Sparta needed money, of which she had non as the Spartans long ago abandoned money. Sparta now turned to the only people who hated Athens more than she did; Persia. With Persian financial aid Sparta built her own fleet and defeated the Athenians at the Battle of Notium and again at Aegospotumi by the Spartan navarch Lysander. Athens was now crippled as a naval power and Lysander blockaded the Athenian port. (Lysander was a brilliant strategist and he and Dionysus of Syracuse had many military discussions. Lysander also sent aid to Dionysus during his war with Carthage.) In March 404BC Athens fell to the siege of Sparta and the war came to an end.

Athens imperialism alarmed the state of Sparta. Sparta felt threatened by the influence Athens gained. She feared the affects that democracy may have on her own traditionalistic system and way of life. In fear of losing her power and hegemony to Athens, Sparta went to war with the Athenian Empire. Although Sparta was very cautious in entering a war with Athens she was forced to do so by the other members of the Peloponnesian League to declare war after 446/5BC, as they felt threatened by Athens.

Bibliography J. B. Bury and R. Meiggs, A History of Greece, 4th edition, Macmillan and Russel Meiggs 1975. M. De Marre, World of the Ancient Greeks, UNISA Press 2002

Translated and edited by Robin Osborne, The Athenian Empire, 4th Edition, The London Association of Classical Teachers.

UNISA, History of the Ancient Near East and Greece ANH101-P, UNISA Press 1999