1. The Peloponnesian WarThe Peloponnesian War
a.k.a.
“Ain’t Democracy
Wonderful?”
a.k.a
“Ain’t ‘Doh’mocracy
Wonderful?”
2. How It All Began
Remember how the Greeks established
colonies in Asia Minor?
Remember how the Athenians and other
Greeks helped the Greek city-states in Asia
Minor revolt against the Persians?
Remember how Darius didn’t get mad – he
got even?
3. Trying to Get Even Backfires -
1
Darius invades Greece in 490 BCE
Athenians defeat a much larger Persian
force at Battle of Marathon.
Pheidippides – The human counterpart to
Argos!
Athenians begin to strut their stuff because
Darius retreats
4. Trying to Get Even Backfires -
2
Xerxes invades Greece in 480 BCE
Spartans at Thermopylae
Persians torch Athens
Athenians defeat Persian navy at Battle of
Salamis
Xerxes retreats
5. Trying to Get Even Backfires -
3
Xerxes invades Greece again in 479 BCE
Athenians (and others) defeat Persians at
Battle of Platea
Xerxes retreats again
7. The Athenian Empire
Following the Persian War, Athens
exaggerated the threat of another Persian
invasion to other city-states
Then Athens suggested that other city-
states join it in a ‘mutual’ defense treaty
– Can you say ‘Warsaw Pact’
– Can you spell NATO?
Other city-states then paid money to
Athens so that Athens would ‘protect’
them from the Persians
13. Growth of the Empire
From the end of the Persian Wars in 479
BCE to the beginning of the Peloponnesian
War in 431 BCE, the Athenian Empire
grew by leaps and bounds
15. And Why Was a War Named
After It?
Athens created Delian League
By 431 BCE, Delian League covered
almost entire Aegean Sea
Sparta becomes paranoid about expanding
Athenian hegemony (Ever heard of the
‘Red Scare?’)
Sparta convinces numerous city-states on
Peloponnesus to join the Peloponnesian
League, another mutual defense
arrangement
17. Flashpoint
Thebes (Peloponnesian League) attacks
Platea (Delian League). Athens comes to
aid of Platea, Sparta comes to aid of
Thebes.
Corinth (one of richest and most powerful
city-states) joins Sparta
19. Reasons for War
Spartan land dominance, Athenian sea
power
Corinth: “Athens is a threat to Greek
liberty.”
20. Reasons for War
Corinth – 2nd largest naval power
Athens - natural leader of the Greeks
Sparta – fears Athens
21. Athenian Strategy
Pericles’ plan pays off, as the Athenians
can get supplies through the long walls,
and with the help of their fleet.
22. The City Secured
All of Attica (area around Athens)
withdraws into the city
Spartan army invades, ravages countryside
Walls protect food supply
23. But the Plan is Flawed . . .
Can’t attack from within
Can’t keep thousands stuffed inside city
Can’t outlast the plague
24. The Plague
“In general, there was no known cause, but
people in good health were all of a sudden
attacked by violent heat in the head and
red and inflamed eyes, and internally the
throat and tongue were bleeding . . . The
body itself was not very hot, nor pale, but
reddish, livid and breaking out into all
manner of pustules and ulceratic wounds.”
25. The Death of Pericles
429 BCE
Oligarchs (favored peace with Sparta) vs.
Democrats (wanted to continue war)
Why would poor want to continue war?
26. Cleon the Democrat’s Plan
Invade Sparta
Logic: Deter Spartans from invading
Attica
& Helots will revolt
425 BCE – invades with army, dead in 422
27. The Peace of Nicias
Nicas negotiates a treaty
30 year truce that lasts only 7 years
Everyone goes back to their land
But pro-war faction does not vanish
29. Alcibiades the Agitator
Everything you could want in a politician:
Young, good speaker, clever . . .
Highly educated, daring,
Student of Socrates
Nephew of Pericles
But best of all, he threw the best parties in
town
31. With a leader like this, what
could go wrong?
He is politically amoral
Picks the war effort because it suits him
Wants to lead and this side needs a leader
By 420 he is strategos
Figures out how to attack
Up until now, the plan had only been how
to defend Athens
32. Alcibiades’ Plan –
The Sicilian Expedition
Sparta depends on Magna Graecia for
supplies and Corinth for trade
Cut off the supplies, and you have victory
Go for Syracuse
34. Could this plan work?
Capture Syracuse (main city in Sicily)
Capture Sicily (the breadbasket of Europe
for millennia)
Cut Corinth and Sparta off from trade and
supplies
35. Problems
How to get the fleet past Corinth?
Could an Athenian army take Syracuse?
How could Athens afford this?
36. Alcibiades’ Speech
“Know that we shall increase our power at
home by this adventure abroad . . . Let us
humble the pride of the Peloponnesians by
sailing off to Sicily . . . And at the same
time we shall become either masters, as we
very easily may, of the whole of Hellas . . .
Or in any case ruin the Syracusians, to no
small advantage to us and our allies.”
37. Nicias’ Argument
Need large land army
? Feasibility of plan
Take all supplies along
Very expensive
“With this Nicias concluded thinking that it
would either disgust the Athenians by the
magnitude of the task . . . or that they
would be persuaded to do this in the safest
way possible”
38. Nicias’ Devious Plan
Nicias realizes that the Athenians will vote
for war
In a last desperate attempt to dissuade the
Athenian assembly (i.e., all of the citizens
of Athens voted), he proposes a
ridiculously expensive, outlandish plan
that he believes no one in his right mind
would adopt
46. The Night Before
Alcibiades throws a party to end all parties
the night before the expedition is set to sail
His friends ‘worship Dionysus’ then start
lopping off parts of statues of Hermes
(herms)
47. The Morning After
Bright and early the next morning, the fleet
sails for Sicily
When Athenians wake up they see the
dismembered herms
The Athenians are religious people and
believe that Hermes would not get mad,
but would get even, so they set out to arrest
Alcibiades
50. Nicias Takes Command
How to win the war when the guy who
wanted it is now on the other side???
And the guy who didn’t want it is now in
charge???
Things are not looking good for Athens
54. Superstitious or Stupiditious
When Nicias gets to Sicily, he waits for
around a month because the omens were
not propitious
What does that delay allow the Spartans
and other members of the Peloponnesian
League to do?
62. Spartans Invade Attica
In 404, Athens surrenders
Athenians forced to pull down walls of city
Athenian fleet restricted
Ally with Sparta (forced to do this)
63. The Consequences are Dire
Lost the Empire
Never a major political influence again
Sparta does not have the leadership skills
to unite Greece