what happened that weakened athens during the first peloponnesian war?

And due to an ill-conceived Spartan foreign policy, Athens was able to recover. Services, The Peloponnesian War: History, Cause & Result, Working Scholars® Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. When the Persian threat presented itself, the other city-states looked to Sparta as the obvious choice to lead the defense. Thucydides explains the Athenians reason for going after Melos in the following way, “By subjugating the Melians the Athenians hoped not only to extend their empire but also to improve their image and thus their security. Major Battles: Battle of Tanagra (457 BC) Battle of Oenophyta (457 BC) Battle of Coronea (447 BC) 2. In the first phase, Athens uses their vast naval resources to attack the coast of the Peloponnese, trying to keep the unrest at bay. 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. Athens and Sparta went to war in 431 BC. Sparta was also suspicious of the Athenians' project to rebuild their Long Wall fortifications whi… Ancient Greek civilization - Ancient Greek civilization - Athenian aggression outside the Peloponnese: At some point after 425, when there was a routine renewal of the Peace of Callias, Athens began an entanglement in Anatolia with the Persian satrap Pissuthnes and subsequently with his natural son Amorges; it sent mercenary help to Pissuthnes and perhaps Amorges. Athens moved the treasury to the center of their city and were fully in control of everything. After the war, all of Greece was weakened (1). Others included Megara and Thessaly. Why did the First Peloponnesian War start? The so-called "Thirty Years Peace" would last less than half of that time. in Athenian territory in a fortified base at Decelea. 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.). After the final defeat of the Persian land forces at the Battle of Plataea and the siege of Byzantium, Sparta's part of the war came to an end and their general, was called home. Thucydides, in the History of the Peloponnesian War, paused in his narrative of the war to provide an extremely detailed description of the symptoms of those he observed to be afflicted; symptoms he shared as he too was struck by the illness. The causes of the war are that the Athenian Empire upset the Greek world's balance of power. This, coupled with other setbacks, and their inability to secure any long-term gains on land, encouraged them to sue for peace. The Peloponnesian War changed Greece in every way. And Sparta and it's allies, known as the Peloponnesian League, looked on in concern and envy. sparta was allies with the great city of corinth and both of these cities were already both fearful and frustrated with the abuse of power by athens. Persia. It lasted from 431 BC to 404 BC. In the first phase, the Archidamian War, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica, while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponneseand attempt to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. Peloponnesian War. presence of two major powers in Greece namely Sparta and Athens made the overlapping of their spheres of influence inevitable and so the outbreak of conflict Sparta develops the Peloponnesian League and begins what is known as the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC.) Create your account. Sparta sent out word for help from their allies to break the rebellion, and Athens sent an army of 4,000 men under the leadership of Cimon. Which of the following best describes the war strategy of Athens during the First Peloponnesian War? The war lasted 25 years. The defeat of Athens and the weakening of Sparta during the Peloponnesian War assured it. Around the beginning of the war, Athens had committed close to 200 ships of the League to help Egypt in it's revolt against Persia. The Spartans remembered that Athens played a big part in defeating the Persians. Sparta is noticeably absent during the early years, probably because they were still weakened from the earthquake and preoccupied with the subsequent slave revolt. 1. During the First Peloponnesian War, Athens had kept Sparta at bay by blockading the Peloponnese with its navy. Ultimately, the Egyptian revolt was... Our experts can answer your tough homework and study questions. The most important consequence of the Peloponnesian War was that. For reasons that can only be guessed at, Sparta rebuked the offer of help and sent Cimon home in embarrassment. It brought an unstable peace and the end of the first phase of the war. They only sent the 30 000 Athenian citizens into slavery. The murder of a Theban envoy in Plataea was one of the short term causes of the Peloponnesian war. Strangely, the event that many mark as the beginning of open hostility between Athens and Sparta is an earthquake. The clash of cultures begins. And none of these examples is better than the Great Plague of Athens. Many of their ships were sunk in a huge storm b. The city itself demolished its own walls (The Long Walls). Pericles declined to engage the superior allied forces and instead urged the Athenians to keep to their city and make full use of their naval superiority by harassing their enemies’ coasts and shipping. The Peloponnesian War was fought between Athens and Sparta. © copyright 2003-2021 Study.com. During the Thasian rebellian, where the city-state of Thasos attempted to leave the Delian League over a dispute, this earthquake struck the Laconia mainland, killing many of the Spartan warrior citizens and cracking their sphere of influence. As far as short term causes, most historians agree that the attack on a Theban envoy made by the citizens of Plataea was what finally drove these two city-states to war. But an act of nature would help bring the tension to the forefront, and show that an influential segment of the Spartan leadership wanted war with Athens. Hoplites were heavily armored soldier-citizens whose development paralleled that of the ancient Greek city-states they served. Persian help. In the 5th century BCE Sparta and Athens were the two major powers in Greece and it was perhaps inevitable that their spheres of influence would overlap and cause conflict. The First Peloponnesian War began in 460 BC and ended around 445 BC. Alexander died of disease (malaria) at age 32. Sparta already had too many slaves to control. And so, Sparta won. The term hoplite originates from the Greek word "hoplon," or shield. Athens and Sparta had been engaged in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) for control of Greece and its environs in the Mediterranean. Two giant bows had arrows knocked, poised for conflict, the solidarity brought by the Persian invasion forgotten. What happened that weakened Athens during the First Peloponnesian War? About this quiz: All the questions on this quiz are based on information that can be found on the page at Ancient Greece - Peloponnesian War. Athens and Sparta would spar again. Greece remained bipolar in structure, with all the enmity still festering. This reached a pinnacle when the Athenian led navy routed the Persian fleet. What were the long-term effects of the Peloponnesian War on Greece? Who initiated the First Peloponnesian War? However, it didn't take long for Athens to assert its dominance, and the League eventually become known as the Athenian Empire. The war featured two periods of combat separated by a six-year truce. Athens began attacking cities outside of Greece to gain more trade routes. Ultimately, the Egyptian revolt was... See full answer below. ", Become a Study.com member to unlock this During the First Peloponnesian War, Athens was weakened by its involvement in the Egyptian revolt against Persia. The Peloponnesian War was fought between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. The war between Athens and Sparta was known as the... Why did the Peloponnesian War last so long? Athenian imperialism during the Peloponnesian War seriously weakened Athens. According to Hansen in A War Like No Other, one reason Athens lost was because it fought not just Sparta, but also Sparta's Peloponnesian alliance, as well as Corinth and Thebes. Again. The Peloponnesian War: Intrigues and Conquests in Ancient Greece These victories set the stage for the Athenian dominated Delian League, a voluntary alliance meant to continue the fight against the ever-formidable Persian Empire. What happened that weakened Athens during the First Peloponnesian War? This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC, with the signing … What are some key events that happend in the Peloponnesian War? How did Alexander the Great die? At this time, Athens was in control of the Delian League. a. Athens began abusing its powers after taking over the Delian League. This unofficially gave leadership of the Greek alliance to Athens, who began to lead the allies in a counter-attack on the coasts of Asia Minor. What happened that weakened Athens during the First Peloponnesian War? The Peace of Nicias was a treaty signed in 421 BC, somewhat uneasily, between Athens and Sparta. answer choices . corinth was allies with megaru. Sparta seems to have been particularly alarmed at the growing power of Athens, able to build an ever-bigger fleet of ships thanks to tributes from its allies and dependants. This greatly alarmed Sparta and its allies. The Greco-Persian Wars refers to a series of wars between the various city-states of Greece and the Persian Empire between 492 and 449 BC, during which the Greeks triumphed over what appeared to be insurmountable numerical odds to drive out the invading Persians, Hoplites: The Foot Soldiers of Ancient Athens. The helots, perpetual slaves of Sparta, used this opportunity to revolt. The Egyptian revolt was eventually crushed, shaking Athens control of the Aegean Sea, and forcing them to rethink their strategy. Sparta declared war and the … To allow the weaker Melians to remain free, according to the Athenians, would reflect negatively on Athenian power”). A collision between Athens and its empire and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Athens was an open and cosmopolitan society, open to trade. For webquest or practice, print a copy of this quiz at the Ancient Greece - Peloponnesian War webquest print page. Athens and Sparta: 2400 years ago, the powerful city-states of Athens and Sparta went to war. As the Athenian Empire grew rich and powerful, other city-states began to distrust them. The battle of Thermopylae. In response to the insult, since they were the only ally the Sparta refused help from, Athens began forming alliances at strategic and contestable points, including one with Argos, Sparta's long-time enemy. The truce is extended 30 years, Megara is returned to the Peloponnesian League, and both sides agree to respect the alliances of the other. It was Athens who won the Battle of Marathon, the first major conflict, with Sparta showing up afterward due to their observing the Olympic Truce. During the First Peloponnesian War, Athens was weakened by its involvement in the Egyptian revolt against Persia. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. Earn Transferable Credit & Get your Degree, Get access to this video and our entire Q&A library. The first period lasted 10 years and began with the Spartans, under Archidamus II, leading an army into Attica, the region around Athens. And Athens waxed fat and wealthy. All rights reserved. They did not want to appear obedient to the city states requests. Back to History for Kids These alliances, coupled with helping settle exiled helots somewhere, eventually resulted in war with northern members of the Peloponnesian League, such as Corinth, beginning in 460 BC. During the first years of the war moved slowly; Athens moved its … This was in no way due to a specific battle in the war. This contributed to Athens’s eventual defeat at the hands of its Spartan rivals during the Peloponnesian War: After the plague had claimed so many lives, Athens simply couldn’t muster the military leadership and strength that it needed to defeat the increasingly powerful Peloponnesian League. Bad diplomacy. The truce came to be known as the "Thirty Years Peace. Sparta is noticeably absent during the early years, probably because they were still weakened from the earthquake and preoccupied with the subsequent slave revolt. This temporary end to the conflict was encouraged by Athens, who had sued for peace around 445 BC. The conflict lasts longer this time, with a less positive outcome for Athens. Athens ended up losing the war, bringing an end to the golden age of Ancient Greece. But they began to cede that assumed leadership early. Athens did a poor job keeping together a coalition, and antagonized many many other states, and eventually they succumbed to the alliance against them. Nothing was the same after the war, and Athens was never to be as powerful. This first peace was broken, of course, with Sparta's refusal to attend the Congress called for by Pericles, followed by the revolt of Boeotia. At one point, Athens actually controlled most of Central Greece. Prior to the Greco-Persian Wars, the hegemony of Sparta over the Greek mainland was largely uncontested. answer! The financial stability of the city-state of Athens declined to a desperate state during the later stages of the Peloponnesian War as a result of the many interruptions to agriculture and from the reduction of income from the state’s silver mines, which occurred after the Spartan army took up a permanent presence in 413 B.C. At one point, Athens actually controlled most of Central Greece. ... What happened to Athens after they lost the war to Sparta? After the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans set up an oligarchy in Athens, which was called the Thirty.It was short-lived, and democracy was restored. What happened that weakened Athens during the First Peloponnesian War? Sciences, Culinary Arts and Personal This war shifted power from Athens to Sparta, making Sparta the most powerful city-state in the region. What was an advantage of Sparta during the... Where did the Peloponnesian War take place? Beginning with several fronts and resources spread thin did not exactly bode well for an ultimate Athenian victory. This battle proved so debilitating to Athens that the war with Sparta was as good as lost, although Athens managed to hold on for a remarkable 10 more years. All the people in the city were put to death. And they could not be subdued easily. Technically during this time period, they were allies. Thucydides was an Athenian general who recorded history for future readers. Thebes was allied at the time with Athens, and Plataea was linked to Sparta. Bust of Philip II of Macedon from the Hellenistic period In 1996, the mayors of Athens and Sparta decided that their 2,500 year old war should come to a formal end. What was an advantage of Athens during the... What role did Persia play in the Peloponnesian... Pericles, the Delian League, and the Athenian Golden Age, The Death of the Republic: Julius Caesar & Pompey, The Struggle of the Orders: Plebeians and Patricians, The Punic Wars: Causes, Summary & Hannibal, The Hellenistic Period: Definition & History, The Greco-Persian Wars: Causes, Effects & Events, Pericles of Athens: Facts, Achievements & Death, Athenian Democracy: Solon and Cleisthenes, Romulus and Remus: Story of the Founding of Rome, The Political Structure of the Roman Republic, Legacy of Ancient Greece: Art, Government, Science & Sports, Holt United States History: Online Textbook Help, GED Social Studies: Civics & Government, US History, Economics, Geography & World, Praxis World & U.S. History - Content Knowledge (5941): Practice & Study Guide, ILTS Social Science - History (246): Test Practice and Study Guide, SAT Subject Test US History: Practice and Study Guide, TExES History 7-12 (233): Practice & Study Guide, ILTS Social Science - Geography (245): Test Practice and Study Guide, Geography 101: Human & Cultural Geography, NY Regents Exam - Global History and Geography: Test Prep & Practice, High School World History: Help and Review, High School World History: Tutoring Solution, Biological and Biomedical For a short while Athens was ruled by Spartan puppets. During the Second Peloponnesian War, Darius of Persia supplied the Spartans with the capital to build a capable naval fleet. Where did the name Peloponnesian come from? [footnoteRef:1] The Peloponnesian League consisted of small states like Phlius and Orneae, as well as stronger or more distant (from Sparta) states like Megara, Elis, and Mantinea. THe problem grew even worse when athens used a similar tactic against a city known as megaru. Sparta led the fight against Athens. This war has been divided by historians into three main phases. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Thucydides explains the defeat of the Melians by indicating the main cause as one relating to political realism, insofar as the Athenians were quick to be cruelly domineering … However, it was Alcibiades that rose as a staunch advocate for Athens’ continuation of aggressive action. But the defeat did not change the geopolitical realities. 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