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what were the main causes of the peloponnesian war

by Hellen Nicolas Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

The main reasons proposed are:

  • Sparta was jealous of other powers and desired more power for itself.
  • Sparta was unhappy at no longer having all the military glory.
  • Athen bullied its allies and neutral cities.
  • There was a conflict among city-states between competing political ideologies.

The Peloponnesian War was caused by the growing power of Athens and Sparta. It was also caused by their rivalry, and the tensions built between city-states by the Delian League.Dec 19, 2021

What was the most significant effect of the Peloponnesian War?

Peloponnesian War

  • During the first years of the war moved slowly
  • Athens moved its people inside the city walls
  • Athenian army was wealthy and well protected behind their walls
  • Spartans did not have an navy so Athenians were free to sail around and get supplies

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What are facts about the Peloponnesian War?

  • The first major war between Athens and Sparta is often called the Archidamian War after Sparta's King Archidamus II.
  • The "long walls" of Athens were around 4 ½ miles long each. ...
  • After Sparta defeated Athens, they ended democracy and set up a new government ruled by the "Thirty Tyrants". ...
  • The Greek soldiers were called hoplites. ...

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How did the Peloponnesian War weaken the Greeks?

What were the long-term effects of the Peloponnesian War on Greece? The Peloponnesian War changed Greece in every way. Nothing was the same after the war, and Athens was never to be as powerful. The causes of the war are that the Athenian Empire upset the Greek world's balance of power. This greatly alarmed Sparta and its allies.

Why the Peloponnesian War was fought?

  • Cartwright, Mark. “Peloponnesian War.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2 May 2018, http://www.ancient.eu/Peloponnesian_War/.
  • Society, National Geographic. “The Peloponnesian War.” National Geographic Society, 15 Mar. ...
  • History.com Editors. “Peloponnesian War.” HISTORY, 21 Aug. ...

What were the three main causes of the Peloponnesian War?

The main reasons proposed are:Sparta was jealous of other powers and desired more power for itself.Sparta was unhappy at no longer having all the military glory.Athen bullied its allies and neutral cities.There was a conflict among city-states between competing political ideologies.

What causes led to the Peloponnesian War?

The primary causes were that Sparta feared the growing power and influence of the Athenian Empire. The Peloponnesian war began after the Persian Wars ended in 449 BCE. The two powers struggled to agree on their respective spheres of influence, absent Persia's influence.

What were the causes and effects of the Peloponnesian War?

The Cause of the Peloponnesian War The formation of the Delian League, or Athenian League, in 478 B.C. united several Greek city-states in a military alliance under Athens, ostensibly to guard against revenge attacks from the Persian Empire. In reality, the league also granted increased power and prestige to Athens.

What were the leading causes of the Peloponnesian War quizlet?

What caused the Peloponnesian War? Greece was not big enough for the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League to be in control. Each league was fighting for allegiance with the city-states.

How did the first Peloponnesian war start?

The First Peloponnesian War began in 460 BC with the Battle of Oenoe, where Spartan forces were defeated by those of Athenian-Argive alliance. At first the Athenians had the better of the fighting, winning the naval engagements using their superior fleet.

Which development eventually led to the Peloponnesian War?

Which development eventually led to the Peloponnesian war? Rivalry between Athens and Sparta for power in Greece. Which group resented Athens growing power after winning the 2nd persian war?

What was the Peloponnesian War?

The Peloponnesian War was a war fought in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta—the two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece at the time (431 to 405 B.C.E.). This war shifted power from Athens to Sparta, making Sparta the most powerful city-state in the region.

What caused Athens to lose Peloponnesian War?

What contributed to Athens losing the Peloponnesian War? - Athens was overcrowded, and a plague spread through the city. - The death of Pericles led the Spartans to attack Athens directly. - The Spartans successfully broke through the walls around Athens.

How did the Peloponnesian War begin quizlet?

how did the peloponnesian war begin? it begun when sparta and her alliances felt threatened by athens power so they gave them an ultimatum saying that they had to free all of the cities under their control or else they will have to face war.

Why did the Peloponnesian cities led by Sparta fought Athens in the Peloponnesian War quizlet?

Why did the 1st Peloponnesian War start? Spartan jealousy and desire for more for itself, Spartan unhappiness at no longer having all the military glory, Athenian bullying of its allies and neutral cities, and conflict between competing political ideologies.

What was the Peloponnesian War quizlet?

The war started on April 4, 431 BC when the Peloponnesian League launched a surprise attack on the Athens. Sparta feared that Athens would soon grow in power and take over Greece. This lead to Sparta declaring war. The Archidamian War was the first phase of the Peloponnesian War and it lasted from 431 BC to 421 BC.

What Caused the Peloponnesian War?

Many excellent historians have discussed the causes of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), and many more will do so in the future. Thucydides, however, wrote the most important contemporary chronicle of the war.

Why was the Peloponnesian War important?

Importance of the Peloponnesian War. Fought between the allies of Sparta and the empire of Athens, the crippling Peloponnesian War paved the way for the Macedonian takeover of Greece by Philip II of Macedon and, following that, Alexander the Great 's empire. Before the Peloponnesian War, the city-states ...

Why did Thucydides propose the Peloponnesian War?

The main reasons proposed are: Sparta was jealous of other powers and desired more power for itself.

What did Corcyra offer Athens?

Corcyra appealed to Athens for help, offering to Athens the use of its navy. Corinth urged Athens to remain neutral. But since Corcyra's navy was powerful, Athens was concerned that it would fall into Spartan hands and disrupt whatever fragile balance of power the city-states were maintaining.

Why did Athens fear a revolt?

Athens feared a revolt, with good reason, since the Potidaeans had secretly acquired a promise of Spartan support, to invade Athens, in violation of the 30 years treaty.

What was Sparta's alliance?

Sparta had a set of loose alliances by means of individual treaties that extended to the Peloponnese, excepting Argos and Achaea. The Spartan alliances are referred to as the Peloponnesian League .

What was the first peace treaty between Athens and Sparta?

In 446 and 445 BCE, Athens, a sea power, and Sparta, a land power, signed a peace treaty. The Greek world was now formally divided in two, with two "hegemons." By treaty, members of one side could not switch and join the other, although neutral powers could take sides. Historian Kagan writes that, for possibly the first time in history, an attempt was made to keep the peace by requiring both sides to submit grievances to binding arbitration.

Political Structure of Ancient Greece

The political structure of ancient Greece was decentralized. City-states were population centers, and their surrounding areas were organized into a single political unit. Each city-state functioned as its own independent government. Greece was made up of over a thousand city-states, with no central ruler over them all.

The Delian League

The Delian League was created in response to the Persian Wars. Being decentralized put the Greek city-states at a huge risk when attacked by foreign powers; it was difficult to amass large armies, especially in the smaller city-states.

Sparta's Rebellion

Sparta was the only city-state that could match the power and influence of Athens. Sparta and its allies, mostly members of the Delian League, grew upset at Athens' power. Together, they moved to challenge the city-state.

What was the greatest contribution to the Peloponnesian War?

One of the things that contributed to Athens’ strength was the Delian League, which was a naval alliance headquartered on the island of Delos that began to help insure that the Persian Wars were truly over. As this alliance grew, so did the strength of the Athenian city-state, largely because Athens started to use the League for its own gains.

Which city-state was the leader of the Peloponnesian League?

Sparta Heads the Peloponnesian League. While Athens was busy forming a naval alliance, Sparta, the city-state with the strongest army, created an alliance of its own with several independent city-states in the Peloponnese. The Peloponnesian League that ensued included Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta. During this time, tensions between Sparta ...

What did Thucydides say about the Spartans?

Thucydides said that the Spartans were concerned that the Athenians would switch sides and assist the Helots instead. Eventually, the Helots did surrender. The Athenians set them up in their own colony in the city of Naupactus in the Gulf of Corinth.

Why did the Spartans feel aggrieved by the Athenians?

Thucydides wrote that the Spartans were, “secretly aggrieved” at this decision because they felt that the Athenians were distancing themselves from them.

How many phases of the Ionian War were there?

Over the course of the war, there are three distinct phases – the Archidamian War, which took place from 431-421 BC, the Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, which took place from 420-413 BC, and the Ionian War, which took place from 412-404 BC.

Why did Sparta and Athens form an alliance?

Even though Athens and Sparta formed an alliance in order to fight the Persians in the Greco-Persian Wars, the two city-states didn’t remain on such friendly terms. Once they succeeded in preventing Persian conquest, the two city-states did maintain their alliance. However, relations between them became strained because both city-states were ...

When did Sparta invade Athens?

When Athens moved the Delian League Treasury from the island of Delos to Athens, this was the last straw for the Spartans, who decided that the Athenians were in violation of the Thirty Years Peace that was between them. Historians agree that the war officially began in 431 BC when Sparta invaded the ancient region of Attica, of which Athens was included.

Who fought in the Peloponnesian War?

Peloponnesian War, (431–404 bce ), war fought between the two leading city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta. Each stood at the head of alliances that, between them, included nearly every Greek city-state. The fighting engulfed virtually the entire Greek world, and it was properly regarded by Thucydides, whose contemporary account of it is considered to be among the world’s finest works of history, as the most momentous war up to that time.

What happened in 433, when Athens allied itself with Corcyra?

In the following years their respective blocs observed an uneasy peace. The events that led to renewed hostilities began in 433, when Athens allied itself with Corcyra (modern Corfu ), a strategically important colony of Corinth.

What happened to the Spartan fleet in 405?

The end came in 405 when the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aegospotami by the Spartan fleet under Lysander, who had received much aid from the Persians.

What was the Athenian alliance?

The Athenian alliance was, in fact, an empire that included most of the island and coastal states around the northern and eastern shores of the Aegean Sea. Sparta was leader of an alliance of independent states that included most of the major land powers of the Peloponnese and central Greece, as well as the sea power Corinth.

How long did the Spartans fight?

The years of fighting that followed can be divided into two periods, separated by a truce of six years. The first period lasted 10 years and began with the Spartans, under Archidamus II, leading an army into Attica, the region around Athens.

Who voted to massacre the men of Mytilene and enslave everyone else?

Urged on by the demagogue Cleon, the Athenians voted to massacre the men of Mytilene and enslave everyone else, but they relented the next day and killed only the leaders of the revolt. Spartan initiatives during the plague years were all unsuccessful except for the capture of the strategic city Plataea in 427.

Who led the Spartan army in 425?

In 425 the picture was bleak for Sparta, which began to sue for peace. But led by Brasidas, hero of the Battle of Delium, a Spartan force gained important successes in Chalcidice in 424, encouraging Athenian subject states to revolt. In a decisive battle at Amphipolis in 422, both Brasidas and the Athenian leader Cleon were killed.

Why did Sparta fight in the war?

However, the more immediate reason for the war was Athenian control of the Delian League, the vast naval alliance that allowed it to dominate the Mediterranean Sea.

When did Sparta and Athens sign a peace treaty?

In 433 BC, when Athens signed a treaty of mutual protection with Corcyra (modern-day Corfu) - one of the few other city-states with a major navy of its own - Sparta and its allies interpreted the move as an act of provocation. A year later Sparta cancelled its peace treaty with Athens.

What happened in 431 BC?

A year later Sparta cancelled its peace treaty with Athens . Then in 431 BC a contingent of soldiers from Thebes, Sparta's ally, tried to seize control of a town called Potidea. Caught and imprisoned, the townspeople put all 200 members of the advanced party to death.

What was the Peloponnesian War?

The Peloponnesian War was a warlike conflict that occurred in Ancient Greece between the cities of Athens and Sparta, by the commercial-military power of Greece and the Aegean Sea . This occurred between the years 431 and 404 BC. C, that is, for 27 years. In this war two great city-states of Ancient Greece faced each other:

Why was the Peloponnesian War important?

Importance of the Peloponnesian War. This war marked the end of a long golden period of Athenian culture and rule within the history of Ancient Greece. In addition, from it different cultures began to flourish around Greece, which progressively took hold and surpassed it. Causes and consequences of Peloponnesian war.

How many Athenians died in the Peloponnesian war?

On a demographic level, it is believed that approximately 70,000 Athenians died, equivalent to almost half of its population. Causes and consequences of Peloponnesian war. For its part, Sparta became the main city of Greece .

What was the first stage of the Peloponnesian war?

This first stage of the Peloponnesian war includes from the year 431 a. C. until 421 a. C., the year that a peace treaty, called Paz de Nicias, was signed between the cities involved.

Why did Sparta start the war?

So much so that Sparta, the great rival of Athens, started the war with the justification of avoiding the excessive growth of military and economic power that Athens exercised over the rest of the Greek cities . In this way, the war was simply a fight for Greek hegemony .

Why did the Greeks have a debt with Persia?

A debt of the Greeks with Persia was generated , reason why the level of poverty was raised and the resources were depleted. Due to the weakening of the Athenian fleet, which prevented piracy practices , these intensified. There was a great religious, moral, ideological and political crisis in all of Ancient Greece.

What was the war between Corinth and Corcyra?

In this way, the war was simply a fight for Greek hegemony . The war of Corinth and Corcyra was also relevant , which was a trigger for war in the area and ended the old peace treaty.

What was the cause of the Peloponnesian War?

An Athenian proclamation of 432 BC which excluded all Megarian citizens from the crucial (in terms of trade) ports of Athens and her wider Empire. This is another cause of the Peloponnesian War.

Who said "causes of the Potidaean revolt"?

Thucydides: Quote (causes of the Potidaean Revolt)

When did the Athenian Empire revolt?

The rebellion of Potidaea from the Athenian Empire in 432 BC , which constituted one of the aitiai.

Who said "Pericles defense of the Megarian Decree"?

Thucydides: Quote (Pericles' defense of the Megarian Decree)

Who said "Corcyra accepted the Athenians into their alliance"?

Thucydides: Quote (Corcyra's argument for the Athenians accepting them into their alliance)

Who said "Athens permitting the retreat of the Corinthian fleet from Corcyra"?

Thucydides: Quote (Athens permitting the retreat of the Corinthian fleet from Corcyra)

Who said "Athens' contribution to the Battle of Sybota"?

Thucydides: Quote (Athens' contribution to the Battle of Sybota)

Athens Becomes Stronger

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According to Thucydides, the historian who is credited with writing the best, most thorough account of the Peloponnesian War wrote that the rapid growth of the Athenian city-state made war “inevitable”. One of the things that contributed to Athens’ strength was the Delian League, which was a naval alliance headquartere…
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Sparta Heads The Peloponnesian League

  • While Athens was busy forming a naval alliance, Sparta, the city-state with the strongest army, created an alliance of its own with several independent city-states in the Peloponnese. The Peloponnesian League that ensued included Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta. During this time, tensions between Sparta and Athens started to escalate as Athens decided to rebuild its city wal…
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Helot Revolt

  • However, it wasn’t until the Helot Revolt that relations between Athens and Sparta almost completely deteriorated. The Helots were an ethnic group that lived in Spartan territory that was completely subjugated. At best, they were used as slaves, particularly in agriculture. At worse, they were mistreated and even murdered. In 465 BC, they revolted in an attempt to gain their freedom…
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Peloponnesian War and Its Aftermath

  • When Athens moved the Delian League Treasury from the island of Delos to Athens, this was the last straw for the Spartans, who decided that the Athenians were in violation of the Thirty Years Peace that was between them. Historians agree that the war officially began in 431 BC when Sparta invaded the ancient region of Attica, of which Athens was in...
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