Download The Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian Wars
I.
Causes
A. The Delian League
1. 478 B.C. - League is formed following
the Persian Wars to remove the
Persian threat
2. Led by Athens, they use the League to
create an Athenian empire
3. Sparta and her allies oppose Athenian
expansion
B. Athens constructed huge walls around the
city and down to the sea
C. The First Peloponnesian War
1. Allies of Sparta and Athens fight off
and on from 460-446 B.C.
D. Uneasy Peace
1. Athens continues its policy of
expansion
2. Sparta and her allies officially vote for
war in 431 B.C.
II. War
A. Strategies
1. Whale vs. Elephant
a. Sparta is dominant on land
b. Athens is dominant at sea
B. The Archidamian War (431-421 B.C.)
1. Sparta attacks, plundering Attica
2. Athenians take refuge behind the city
walls and raid Sparta by sea
3. Sparta can not penetrate the walls,
Athens can not conquer Sparta by sea
4. Plague breaks out in Athens killing 1/3
of the population and Pericles
5. After fighting to a stalemate, a fiftyyear peace is signed in 421 B.C.
C. The Sicilian Expedition (415-413 B.C.)
1. War breaks out again
2. 415 B.C. - Athens plans to invade
Sicily to cut off Sparta’s supplies
3. The invasion fails, and the Athenian
fleet is trapped losing everything
D. The Ionian War (412-404 B.C.)
1. Athens is able to rebuild the fleet, but
now their resources are completely
drained
2. Sparta now has a strong navy funded
by Persia
3. Sparta captures and destroys the entire
Athenian fleet
4. Sparta lays siege to Athens who
surrenders in March of 404 B.C.
III. Results
A. Democracy is lost in Greece
B. Sparta is unable to lead the Greeks
C. Greece is weakened, and open to invasion