The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC)


The Peloponnesian War was one of the great struggles of the ancient world.

The Peloponnesian War started in 431 BC and was mainly about the struggle between Athens and Sparta for top spot in the Greek world.

Most wars between Greek city states were short and didn't really get anywhere. But the Peloponnesian War lasted 27 years.

At the start of the war Athens was the leading power in Greece, based on the wealth from its trade. But Sparta and other cities were envious of this and so they made an alliance against Athens.

The Spartans even gained the help of Persia, who agreed to destroy the Athenian fleet. The Persians could see this was in their long term interests as Sparta had never been a sailing city.

You have to remember that, although Athens, and its role in giving us democracy, art and so on has been so important in Western history, the city itself was not big. At the time of the battles it may only have had 200,000 or 300,000 in the whole state – about the size of a large town in Britain today. About a third of the male population were citizens and these were the people who had to defend the city.

Sparta was smaller than Athens, but it controlled a much larger area and had a bigger army.

Athens tried to weaken the Spartan alliance by attacking its allies from the sea. But then a large Spartan army challenged the Athenians in 431 BC.

Athenian leader Pericles knew that his army would be defeated in an all-out battle with the Spartans. So he went out of his way to avoid this. The Athenian army retreated behind the city walls with lots of provisions.

The Spartans hurled insults at the Athenians and pillaged the countryside, destroying crops and olive groves. But then a plague struck Athens in 431 BC and Pericles died. The opposition in Athens then tried to get the Athenians to go to fight the Spartans.
In 424 BC the two armies did fight and the Athenians were seriously weakened. But then the Athenians gained an important victory in 425 BC.

Sparta offered Athens peace and an alliance in exchange for the Spartan prisoners. But the Athenians rejected the Spartan offer and threatened to kill the prisoners if Sparta attacked. But eventually the Athenian leaders were convinced to accept peace with Sparta. The resulting Peace of Nicias was supposed to provide for a 50 year peace.

War broke out again in 416 BC. The turning point of the war came in Sicily. An ally of Athens, Segesta of Sicily, asked for military assistance. But it was terribly risky to involve a substantial part of the Athenian army in a distant campaign.

Then an Athenian naval force was defeated in Syracuse harbour, and over 200 triremes are lost. The Athenian forces were defeated on Sicily and 40,000 to 60,000 men were lost.

Now Sparta saw its chance. By making an alliance with Persia, they got a fleet for the first time that allowed them to attack Athens from the sea. Athens was besieged and people began starving. Finally Athens surrendered in 404 BC.

Sparta insisted that Athens must tear down its walls. But the war devastated the Greek economy. The only real winner was Persia which sought to weaken the Greeks. It needed someone strong from outside to pull Greece together again, and this is what happened when King Philip of Macedonia took control of all of Greece. His son was Alexander the Great.