It is called Peloponnesian War which he faced the entire Greek world for almost thirty years, between 431 B.C. and 404 BC. It developed in three areas:Hella, Magna Graecia and the coast of Asia Minor and it took place in three phases:the Archidamic war, the Sicilian war and that of Decelia or Ionia .
Origin and causes
The direct cause was the confrontation between the Athenians and the Corinthians over the island of Corcyra (present-day Corfu). But deep down, the real cause was beating:the clash between the growing power of Athens and the ancient Spartan hegemony .
The Peloponnesian War is the best-known event in the history of Athens.
The scene of the war
This long conflict that lasted a generation, developed in three scenarios:
Hellas proper, with the Peloponnese and Attica as scenes of confrontations, both on land and at sea.
Magna Graecia .
The North Aegean , with the colonies of Thrace and Chalcidice, as well as Asia Minor and the Hellespont.
Background
The 30-year peace, signed in 445 B.C. it recognized the Spartan hegemony over the Peloponnese in exchange for the recognition of the maritime hegemony of Athens.
But this period of relative peace lasted only fifteen years.
From those dates. Athens, which was still led by Pericles, was able to intensify its presence freely in the Mediterranean markets , where her hegemony was based and supported by the Delos Confederation (which was never officially called "league" but "Athens and her allies").
The Confederation of Délos
Athens justified the existence of the Confederation despite having passed the Persian danger, as a deterrent against the Asian neighbor.
Not all poleis of the league were totally in agreement with the Athenian rise and the benefit that Athens derived from its hegemony, although, since all maintained free trade, all took advantage of the relative peace, in which the continuous conflict of Hellas remained latent.
Immediate Causes
Although Sparta was not directly harmed by the rise of Athens or the Delian League, some of its allied cities were.
The excessive supply of the allied cities, especially the Athenian trade, forced to put obstacles to the trade of Corinth and Megara. The only way that Athens had was the direct or indirect blockade of these competing cities so close to her.
The situation of the future contenders
The Spartan government had reason to fear war with Athens, since internal rebellions could easily be triggered. If they gave arms to the helots and periecos, they would consider themselves equal to their rulers, the homoioi or same .
Sparta was not interested in an offensive war. Another case was that of some states of the Peloponnese.
Corinth, a member of the Peloponnesian League, differed from Sparta in almost every respect and had what Sparta lacked:a fleet and money. In addition, this city occupied a very favorable strategic situation:its isthmus linked Northern Greece with the Peloponnese, it controlled three major trade routes, two by sea and one by land, and its commercial and military fleet was the most powerful in Greece until the Persian Wars
Its artisans exported highly sought-after products everywhere. Corinth was the heart of the world at this time, it was the luxury and splendor of their way of life.
Corinth was above all rival of Athens at sea and the main reason for such rivalry and competition was Sicily. In addition, the Corinthians wanted a monopoly on traffic in the Ionian Sea, leaving only the Athenians to the Aegean and Black Seas.
Chronology-Periods
The Peloponnesian War refers to the warlike conflicts that took place in the Greek world between the years 431-404 BC, which are divided in order to better understand such a long period, in various phases after the preliminaries of the year 432 BC:
Archidamus War :431-421 BC period that ends with the Peace of Nicias, by which the status quo is restored.
Sicilian War or expedition to Sicily 415-413 BC
Decelia or Ionia War :413-404 BC:Ends with the siege and capitulation of Athens and the rule of the Four Hundred.
The end of the Peloponnesian War
Lysander restored to the head of the Spartan fleet, he went to Aegospotami against Lampsacus, in the Thracian Chersonese. There, the Athenians deceived and taken by surprise, were defeated and many of them captured, more than 3,000 being executed and a large part of their ships destroyed.
Athens not only lost much of her fleet, but was also left without her possessions in the Strait of the Hellespont, cut off from receiving her supplies from the Black Sea by sea.
For this reason, it could be said that it was not the defeat of Aegospotami that caused the end of the Peloponnesian War, but rather that this defeat caused the lack of supplies for the city, making the siege of its fields from Decelía more critical.
Thus, it was not the Lacedaemonian threat, the most decisive and fearsome, that defeated Athens, but hunger, which was felt with the return of the Cymeans from Asia Minor, contributing even more, if possible, to overcrowding, to despair. Athenian and its final collapse that caused the surrender.
The surrender of Athens
Besieged by sea and land, at the beginning of the year 404. Athens capitulated, ending twenty-seven years of a terrible war that confronted the entire Greek world.
Theramcnes was sent before the Congress of the Peloponnesian Confederation, where the Corinthians and Thebans were the most hostile, calling for the destruction of Athens, although the Spartans preferred a defeated and unarmed Athens integrated into the Peloponnesian Confederation, perhaps more than out of respect their rival, because they feared the rise of Corinth.
The Athenian Assembly accepted these conditions , signing peace in April 404 BC, after which the Spartan Lisando entered Athens, imposing military and political absolutism .
Consequences of the Athenian defeat
Thus, this conflict was the most serious of those that confronted the Greeks, the barbarians and even the majority of Humanity.
Behind him, Athens disappeared as a naval power and political leader of the democratic ideals of the Greek world, being reduced to being a member of the Peloponnesian League.
However, the social, economic and cultural consequences of the Peloponnesian War were not only suffered by the Athenians, but by all Greeks. These consequences were:
- The debts of the States contracted mainly with Persia.
- The recession of the economy and trade.
- The appearance of piracy in the Aegean, as there was no control of the Athenian fleet.
- The weakening of demographics, due to the enormous loss of human lives.
- The moral, ideological and religious crisis that produced the instability of a long process of war.