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The Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War was a conflict between 431-404 BC where the Delian League led by Athens fought against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. This war was chronicled by the ancient historian Thucydides in his book of the same name. While Athens was a major naval power, after the death of Pericles, their overreach in campaigns like Sicily led to their defeat. This war weakened Greek city-states and paved the way for Macedonian dominance under Philip.

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6 views1 page

The Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War was a conflict between 431-404 BC where the Delian League led by Athens fought against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. This war was chronicled by the ancient historian Thucydides in his book of the same name. While Athens was a major naval power, after the death of Pericles, their overreach in campaigns like Sicily led to their defeat. This war weakened Greek city-states and paved the way for Macedonian dominance under Philip.

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Liviu Marian
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The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League

led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.


This event is narrated by Thucydides, the ancient historian, in his book of the same name. He
sets up critical history and based on written sources. But with back and experience strategist of
Athens that after a lost battle against Sparta chased into exile.
Returning to this event we are discussing, it is generated in principle by the dictatorial position
that Athens exercises on its allies and on the Delos League. Realizing its power, within the
League, Athens had one vote and all the other allies in one place, one vote.
However, what caused Sparta to get involved in this conflict, as Thucydides also told us, is the
power that Athens begins to have, through its maritime fleet from Piraeus Port, to build large
walls around the city to Piraeus Port including. As I said above, Athens owned the largest
maritime fleet of this historical period. Another quotation in Thucydides' account is Pericle's
statement, the so-called "Tyran of Athens", namely "In the fear of war, the refuge of the people
behind the great walls and the use of the navy will ensure, without a doubt, the victory of
Athens."
Yes, Athens was a great power, but after the death of Pericle, the desire for expansion, the
campaign in Sicily against the city of Syracuse, in which the Athenians lost a large part of the
army led to the loss of the war by them. Although Sparta promised liberation from the Athenian
tyranny, in the following years, the same Spatra imposed his own autocracy.
This war was considered by Thucydides to be the worst conflict, a conflict that weakens the
influence of the Greek states and which gives rise to the Macedonian hegemony established by
Philip later.

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