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[[File:PEP ONE.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|A bust of Pericles]]
One of the most important wars in the Ancient World was the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). This was a long drawn out war between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies. It convulsed Greece and changed the course of the Classical world. The war ended the Golden Age of Athenian Culture and arguably weakened the Greek world forever. The origins of such a conflict are complex and these will be evaluated in this work. It will be argued in this piece that the ultimate origins of the war lay in Sparta’s fear of the growing might of the Athenian Empire. In the aftermath of the Persian Wars, the two powers could not come to an agreement on their respective spheres of influence and this led to friction and eventually outright war. Athens and its ambitions also led to increasing instability and this is exemplified in the Megarian Decree. The profoundly different societies of Athens and Sparta was also a significant factor in the war’s outbreak, which also had an ideological aspect.
==Background==
[[File: PEP THREE.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Statuette of a Spartan Warrior]]
The origins of the Peloponnesian War lay in the Greeks victory over the Persians. The Greeks had combined under the leadership of Sparta and Athens to defeat the Persians, then the most powerful empire in Asia. In the aftermath of the Persian Wars, the Greeks were unable to maintain their unity. The Greek world was riven by cultural and ethnic differences and people’s first loyalty was to their Polis or local city or community. There was a definite sense of ‘Greekness’ and a common cultural heritage.<ref> Kagan, Donald. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801495563/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0801495563&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a72c6923cec3d4d8a05a33168424d78d The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War ]</i> (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989), p. 56</ref> Yet this was not enough to overcome deep divisions in the Greek world and as soon as the Persians left they immediately began to fall out amongst themselves. Sparta a very conservative society had opted out of the war with Persia once their invasion had been defeated. Athens continued the war against Persia and it formed the Delian League. This League was an alliance of city-states and islands that vowed to continue the war against the Persians.<ref>Kagan, p. 113</ref>
Over time the Athenians, who were the largest maritime power in the Aegean came to dominate the Delian League. This was the Golden Age of Athens and was the era of Plato, Socrates and countless other great cultural figures and artists. Gradually the Athenians began to turn the Delian League into an Empire. Athens used its superior navy to intimidate its allies and they eventually became mere tributaries of the Athenians. Sparta soon became very suspicious of the growing power of Athens. It was the head of the powerful Peloponnesian League, which comprised large city-states such as Corinth and Thebes. The League became very concerned about the Athenians huge fleet of ships that allowed it to dominate its former allies. Athens had also been turned into a formidable stronghold, by the Athenians, when they constructed the ‘Long Walls’. These walls connected the city with its port, Piraeus and allowed the city to supply itself and made any siege of the city unlikely to succeed.<re> Kagan, p. 113</ref>
Athens growing ambitions led to tensions with its neighbors and eventually this led to a war. This involved Athens and Corinth, with the latter receiving some support from Sparta. This conflict ended with a peace treaty and a ‘Thirty Years Peace’, This in theory guaranteed Athens and Sparta their respective spheres of influence. Corinth and other members of the Peloponnesian League were unhappy about Sparta’s lack of leadership. Some leading Sparta became concerned that inaction would push the other major Greek powers, to side with Athens. During the so-called thirty Year Peace Athens grew ever stronger and in many ways arrogant, as seen in its increasing haughty attitude to its subject city-states.
==Long-term Factors in the Outbreak of War==
The underlying cause of the war was the rapid rise of the Athenians. They had grown from just another city-state to an Empire. During and after the Persian Wars, it had transformed itself and became a major trading and maritime power.<ref> Cawkwell, George. <i>Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War </i> (London: Routledge, 1997), p 67</ref> It had developed into the greatest maritime power in the Greek world and had the ability to dominate the trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean. It had emerged as a great Empire in a very quick period of time and this upset the traditional balance of power. For many decades’ Sparta, had been the greatest power in Greece, this was based on its well-disciplined and much-feared army. The Spartan Hoplite were considered the best soldiers in the Greek world.<ref>Hanson, Victor Davis. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812969707/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812969707&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=2988ca75b4a6858afae8101e8c5ce3d0 A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War]. (New York: Random House, 2005), p. 56</ref>
The rise of Athens meant that there were two great powers in the Greek world. These powers both had a network of alliances all over the Greek world and beyond. The Greeks became divided into a Spartan and an Athenian camp.<ref> Cawkwell, p.115</ref> Athens and Sparta had different spheres of influences, as outlined in the ‘Thirty Year Peace’ treaty and theoretically this meant that they both could have lived in peaceful co-existence. Athens controlled the coastal areas of Greece and the Greek islands, while Sparta, a land power could control the Peloponnese. Despite this, Sparta grew increasingly fearful of Athens and its main ally Corinth was actively encouraging it to attack Athens.<ref> Hanson, p. 117</ref> In 440 BCE, Corinth urged the Spartans to wage war on Athens when it was suppressing a revolt on the island of Samos. The Spartan Kings always cautious had decided not to become involved in a war with their former allies. However, the Thirty Years Peace was under increasing strain. In the Spartan assembly, there was growing alarm at the growth of Athenian power.<ref> Kagan, p. 134</ref> As Athens seemed to be growing more powerful there was a growing war-party in Sparta. They argued that the Spartans had to attack Athens before it became too powerful. The fear of Athens increasingly led the Spartans to prepare for war, even though there is no evidence that the Athenians had any designs on Sparta or its allies.<ref>Kagan, p. 213</ref> There were those in Athens who believed that a war should be welcomed. There was a strong ‘imperial’ party in the city who believed that it was entitled to a great empire because of its role in the defeat of the Persians.
