The Peloponnesian War LEARNING GOALS What led Athens and Sparta to fight a war? What were the causes of the war between Athens and Sparta? Determine.
Download ReportTranscript The Peloponnesian War LEARNING GOALS What led Athens and Sparta to fight a war? What were the causes of the war between Athens and Sparta? Determine.
The Peloponnesian War LEARNING GOALS What led Athens and Sparta to fight a war? What were the causes of the war between Athens and Sparta? Determine the outcomes of war How did the war change the face of the ancient world? What happened during the Peloponnesian war? What caused Pericles’ strategy to fail? What was the result of the Peloponnesian war? What was the long-term effect of the war on Greece and on the rest of the world? MAIN IDEAS of WAR Government Athens and Sparta and their allies fought a war over Athens’ growing power. Government Athens lost the Peloponnesian War. Government More than 25 years of war weakened all of the Greek citystates THE OUTBRAK OF WAR: CAUSES OF WAR Many differences between Athens and Sparta Athens had democracy, Sparta had militaryled government Three main reasons for war: some city-states feared Athensʼ grab for power, prestige under Pericles, Athens built a naval empire some Athenian settlers moved into other citystatesʼ lands OUTBREAK OF WAR The Athenians refused an ultimatum from Sparta to remove its blockade against Potidaea and sanctions against Megara, The Spartans refused arbitration of the issue because it didn’t wish to offend Corinth ATHENS DISLIKED Other city-states resented Athens spending Delian League money Sparta headed Peloponnesian League that opposed the Delian League some tried to break away from Athens control Periclesʼ punished city-states that resisted Athens many of its city-states were located on Peloponnesus Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 B.C.; began Peloponnesian War STRAGEGIES OF WAR Sparta had better land forces and city was safe from sea attack Athens had better navy, could attack Spartaʼs allies from sea Sparta captured land around Athens, destroyed crops, food supply Athensʼ strategy was to avoid land battles, rely on sea power Pericles persuaded Athens to let Sparta destroy crops brought people inside city walls, brought food in by sea PERICLES STRATEGY Athens couldn’t compete with the Spartans on the land in infantry battles, so he would have Athenians stay behind the protective walls of Athens and attack Spartan forces mainly from the sea while the Spartans would set up military camps in Attica, they would not stay much longer than a month because it was hard to resupply its troops DISTANCE WAS AN ISSUE After the material, political and psychological losses incurred as a result of the epidemic, the Athenians fought on DISASTER STRIKES ATHENS Under Periclesʼ plan, Athens became overcrowded In second year of war, a plague broke out in Athens disease that spread easily, often led to death city lost up to third of its people and army, including Pericles (ref to Thucy) In 421 B.C., Athens signed truce—agreement to stop fighting Athens surrendered to Sparta in 404 B.C. WAR! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? Eventually resulted in the Spartans suing for peace, but the Athenians, under the leadership of Cleon (LEADER AFTER PERICLES), refused Cleon was killed, as was Brasidas, a key Spartan general Massive change in leadership on both sides. the way was then opened up for negotiation and in 421 Athens and Sparta signed the Peace of Nicias ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL? Key Spartan allies, such as the Corinthians and the Boeotians, were not on side. They didn’t want to negotiate with Athens which let Sparta in a hard position. as well, there was opposition to the peace from Alcibiades, a powerful Athenian Both Spartans and Athenians were not happy with the outcomes of a treaty. the Spartans eventually met and defeated an alliance of powers created by Alcibiades, so the Peace of Nicias was dead Back to the drawing board Oh, Alcibiades! Athens lost this battle of Syracuse in part because Alcibiades had defected to Sparta after his opponents in Athens had tried to pin corruption charges on him – he then gave key advice to the Spartans (traitor!) in 413, also acting on the advice of Alcibiades, the Spartans installed a permanent garrison not far from Athens at Decelea, and were able to raid Athens at will At the same time, Persians began to hurt Athenian interests in Ionia with the help of Alcibiades who had been sent to Ionia to foment rebellion Alcibiades continues After an oligarchic coup d’etat, Athens developed a mixture of democracy and oligarchy Alcibiades was recalled out of exile, along with others, to improve Athenian military leadership after some military successes, the Athenians lost a decisive naval battle off the coast of Anatolia This resulted in then the Athenians surrendered to the Spartan leader Lysander after a successful naval blockade the war had ended SPARTA’S WRATH after the war, Sparta installed a brutal oligarchy in Athens known as the Thirty Tyrants these men were members of the wealthy elite, who had always opposed Athenian democracy this group stole and plundered from the citystate eventually, when a pro-democracy resistance movement came about, the Spartans did not crush itWANTED TO AVOID CIVIL WAR THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR Peloponnesian War lasted over 27 years Cities, crops were destroyed; thousands of Greeks died All the Greek city-states suffered economic, military losses Athenian democracy, which had reached its peak under Pericles, was destroyed, and while it was reintroduced later, it was never in the same relatively full form again King Philip II of Macedon came to power in 359 B.C. Macedon was kingdom north of Greek citystates Philip planned empire, looked south to weakened Greek city-states ALL THE WORLDS’ A STAGE the stresses of every day life, were reflected in comedies produced during this time attacks on key leaders, eg. Pericles or Cleon >insults and use of profanity Aristophanes was a comedy writer >he often portrayed women as having to cleanup the problems created by men the most noteworthy event after the war was the trial, conviction, and execution of Socrates (a later lesson) LESSON SUMMARY The wealth, prestige, policies, and power of Athens caused resentment among other citystates. A plague that killed many Athenians helped Sparta defeat Athens. The Peloponnesian War weakened all of the Greek city-states for 50 years. Why It Matters Now . . . The Peloponnesian War shows that countries that wage war may lose power and prestige instead of gaining it. Empires fall and new ones rise…hmm next lesson perhaps?