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? Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation.
Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but of a large part of the barbarian world- I had almost said of mankind. For though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me to trust, all point to the conclusion that there was nothing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters? . It is with these words that the great Greek historian Thucydides begins his epic history? History of the Peloponnesian War? . He documented the war between Sparta and Athens, which lasted for 27 years between 431 and 404 BC. The war was the largest the Greek world had known of up to this date, and encompassed almost all of the Greek world, and came with a very high price.
Athens, once the mightiest power in Greece lost her supremacy due to the war, and Sparta, although victorious, used so many resources that she would never recover from it, and indeed lost her hard won power shortly after winning the war. Although Sparta won the war, it is clear in hindsight that both sides lost. The loss of Athens to Sparta during this conflict resulted in the complete destruction of Athenian political power in Greece, although she remained an important city in the region. Athens retained cultural and philosophical importance, but would never again lead an empire or control the affairs of Greece. The Athenian loss in the Peloponnesian War is due to many different factors.
The first of these reasons is the tactic of the Spartans to blockade Athens on land year round, something they had not done for the entirety of the war. For the majority of the war, Spartan forces would occupy the land around Athens for a part of the year, but then retreat as winter approached. By blockading Attica year round, the Spartans forced the Athenian citizens to live in cramped, disease-ridden conditions year round. Athens would also have had to import food year round in an effort to feed the citizens, which would cost a lot of money. Secondly, the democratic coup in 411 BC had a demoralizing effect on the citizens of Athens. No longer were the common people free to make their own policy, but were ruled by the oligarchy who believed they were much more qualified to make such decisions.
Although this government did not last very long, it had a profound effect on the Athenian war effort, as the citizens were busy in the midst of a revolution, and could not focus primarily on the war with Sparta. A third reason for the downfall of Athens was the escape of 20, 000 slaves from the silver mines Athens controlled. This represented a serious threat to the economy of Athens, who relied on the silver to pay her soldiers, sailors, hire mercenaries, build ships, and buy goods like food and weapons. Another major obstacle to Athenian victory in the war was the failure of the expedition in Sicily, launched in 414 BC. This defeat led to the depletion of much of Athens resources, in money, manpower, and ships. It is this reason that allowed for the Persian aid received by Sparta had such a profound effect upon the war.
The final, and most influential, reason for the loss to Sparta was the Persian influence. This essay will deal with the role of Persia, which was central to Athenian defeat. The Persian support of Sparta in the latter years of the war was the most important reason for Spartan victory and Athenian defeat. Athens? , who was a rich port city for an extended period of time, controlled the largest and most powerful navy in Greece.
Her fleet consisted of hundreds of triremes that were manned by crews of well-trained and highly effective sailors. Sparta, on the other hand, was a landlocked city-state, and did not have a navy to speak of. Spartan victories always came because of an excellent army consisting of extremely well prepared soldiers. Spartan military training of young men began at an early age, and the Spartans were by far the best-equipped city-state for land battles. Because she had such a good army, Sparta did not believe it had a need for a navy. When the Peloponnesian war began, Sparta resorted to tried and tested tactics.
Her army would invade the lands of Attica, forcing the Athenians to take shelter behind the long walls that led from Athens proper to Piraeus, the port where the Athenian navy was stationed. This tactic worked well for Sparta, and in 429 resulted in a plague that wiped out many Athenians, and also their leader, Pericles. The cramped conditions the Athenians were subjected to because of the Spartan invasions led to an environment ripe for infectious disease. Sparta believed that by forcing the Athenians out of the countryside and behind the shelter of the long walls, they could win the war by starving the Athenians, who they believed, would beg for an end to the conflict. However, because of the Athenian superiority on the sea, she was able to import food and goods, with no threat from a Spartan naval blockade. The money that Athens collected from the Delian league was more than enough to support the populations food and good needs.
While the Spartans were camped out in Attica, waiting for the Athenian surrender, the Athenian fleet would sail out of Piraeus and attack the Peloponnesian coast. The Spartans, having no navy, could only watch the Athenians do this, with no chance to meet them at sea and challenge the Athenian navy. The war was at a standstill, neither side able to gain much ground in the conflict. The Athenians would not directly challenge the Spartans on land, and the Spartans were unable to meet the Athenian navy at sea. In 414, the Athenians launched an expedition to Sicily, in an attempt to gain some new territory and allies to the west of Greece. The Athenians were defeated decisively, and it was this that started Athens down the final road to defeat.
Because of the failed expedition, an oligarchic coup wrested control of Athens from the democratic party, and opened the door to the Spartan victory. After Sicily, Athens resources were depleted almost entirely. Her navy had been greatly reduced, and morale among the Athenians was at a low. It was following this great defeat that Sparta began to take the upper hand in the war. The Spartans sent to the Persians to ask for aid to help with the war effort. In return for this aid, the Spartans surrendered the Greek city-states in Asia Minor, returning them to Persian control.
The Persians provided the Spartans with money and resources in order to construct a navy that could finally challenge the Athenians on the sea. The Athenians, after defeating the Spartan navy at the Arginusae Islands, once again regained control of the water. The Spartan general, Callicratidas, was killed during this battle, and 75 of the Peloponnesian ships were sunk, while the Athenians only lost 25. After this defeat, the Spartans offered peace to Athens, who refused. The Spartan fleet still had 90 ships, while the Athenian consisted of 170. Athens was finally out of resources now, though, and if this fleet were defeated, they could not raise another.
In a surprise attack by Lysander, the Spartans managed to capture or destroy the entire Athenian navy, only ten ships escaped the attack, and Lysander executed 3000 captured Athenian sailors. With Athens having no more ships or resources to build any, the Spartan navy could now attack Athens and Piraeus without fear of being attacked. The loss of her navy, coupled with the year round siege of Attica by Sparta, was a complete disaster for Athens. No longer could she import goods into Piraeus to fend off starvation and keep the economy afloat. Athens was without any means to trade for food or goods, either by land or by sea. In 404 the Athenians, recognizing their position, surrendered to Sparta, and ended the Peloponnesian War.
Had the Athenians been able to retain her superior navy, she would have been able to keep the war at a standstill indefinitely. The Persian aid that was instrumental in building and maintaining a Spartan navy was the deciding factor in the Spartan victory. With help from Persia, Sparta had managed to overwhelm the vast Athenian navy and turn the tide of war to their favour. When the war had begun, Athens had no equal upon the sea. Her navy, numbering in the hundreds, was able to completely support the city and strike back at the Peloponnesian coast. The long walls from Athens to Piraeus provided her citizens with a means of trade and also shelter from the invading Spartan troops.
Sparta, on the other hand, did not have a navy. Sparta had always relied upon her ability to win using land forces to destroy her enemies and lay siege to enemy cities. If nothing had changed, and Athens continued to control the sea and Sparta the land, the war could have lasted much longer than it did. Although Sparta won the war, it is clear that Greece was not much better off for it. The Persians now controlled the Greek city-states in Asia Minor, which Sparta had sacrificed for Persian aid.
The Persian king had dictated the terms of the treaty between Sparta and Persia, as the Spartans were the ones requiring help. Sparta had also been named as the guarantor of the peace, it was their job to make sure the peace between Greece and Persia was honoured by all Greek states. Sparta was, in effect, the police of the treaty. The long drawn out war between Athens and Sparta depleted the resources of both states immensely, and neither would ever recover from it. Shortly after the Peloponnesian War, Sparta lost her hard won hegemony to Thebes, another powerful city in Greece. There is no doubt that the Spartan victory would not have been achieved without Persian help.
The Athenian navy would have continued to rule the sea and in doing so, support herself indefinitely. Had the Spartans never received funding and resources from Persia to build it? s own navy, they could not have won the war. The traditional Spartan tactics of relying on her army and only having land battles would not have conquered Athens. The Athenian sea trade was too extensive.
The long walls to Piraeus would provide shelter for the Athenian citizens and allow for the unblocked flow of goods and food from Athens to her harbour and beyond. The sea provided Athens with a means to survive as long as needed. When the Spartans did challenge the Athenian navy, it was only because the Persians had provided Sparta with a navy. It was not a superior navy to the Athenian one, by any means, but it could finally challenge Athenian naval superiority. When the Spartans did finally manage to defeat the Athenian navy, it was shortly after that Athens surrendered. The Persian help Sparta received came with at a high price though.
Persia now controlled most of Asia Minor and the two largest and most powerful Greek city- states had been decimated by the extended war between them. It was a win-win situation for Persia, gaining territory and hurting two major enemies all at once. Thucydides, the Athenian historian who had documented the war from it? s beginning died shortly before the Athenian defeat. It would have been interesting to hear what he would have said about the defeat and it? s consequences for Athens, Sparta, and Greece as a whole.
The war had encompassed the entire Greek world and had lasted longer than any other Greek conflict before it in history. History shall forever record the Spartan defeat of Athens, but shall also record the end of an era in which Greek city states were the most powerful in the world. After the war and the Athenian defeat, no Greek city would ever become as powerful as 5 th century Athens was, and the end of the war paved the way for the rise and fall of Alexander, and the global domination of Rome. Bibliography Boise State University, History of western Civilization: The Peloponnesian War, 1995 web Kuhlmann, Kurt, Historical Commentary on the Peloponnesian war, 1998 web Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian war, Penguin classics, 1972 tr. Rex Warner 1954
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