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JA3. The Peloponnesian War

Statement

As stated in your reading assignment titled ‘Boundless World History’, “Democracy in Athens was overthrown in 411 BCE as a result of its poor handling of the Peloponnesian War.” Based on this statement, answer the following questions.

  • Athens could not effectively handle the Peloponnesian War, do you agree? Why/why not? Support your answer with sources and evidence by providing details and examples.
  • Is it correct to say that democracy in Athens was overthrown after the war?
  • Please explain your answer and justify your answers with relevant examples.

Answer

Introduction.

The Greco-Persian wars between 499-449 BCE had left the Greeks victorious, despite Athene being burned and destroyed during the war. However, rebuilding cities started immediately after that, and the Greeks started preparing themselves for future invasions by forming the Delian League. Soon after the formation of the Delian League, Sparta withdrew from the alliance and formed the Peloponnesian League, along with other allies. Athene lost the Peloponnesian War, and the war ended in 404 BCE with Sparta installing the Thirty Tyrants in Athens ending its democracy; however, the democracy was restored a year later; but Athens was never the same again.

Athens could not effectively handle the Peloponnesian War, do you agree? Why/why not? Support your answer with sources and evidence by providing details and examples.

When the city was rebuilt after the Persian wars, Athenians built strong walls around the city and a passage to the sea through the city of Piraeus; its navy was strong, and the city was well-prepared for a long siege. The war strategy of the Athenians was built on the idea that they would make swift naval attacks and withdraw to the fortified city (Boundless World History, 2022).

After the Persian war, Athene did not treat its allies well as they started to use the money from the alliance to their own advantage. This action led some allies to refuse to pay tribute, and Athene’s response was to use force to collect the money instead of addressing the concerns of their allies. For example, both Naxos and Thasos tried to leave the alliance and asked for help from Sparta, but Athene destroyed both cities, but later there were successful revolts in the alliance (Boundless World History, 2022).

The war strategy of Athene did not go well, as it required a large number of people living in the surrounding areas to move into the under-siege Athene. Despite the lost resources from the abandoned farms and mines, the overcrowded, underfed, and unsanitary conditions made the plague even worse, with it claiming one-third of the population (Boundless World History, 2022). It is also known that this strategy prolonged the war as there were no decisive battles between the biggest powers, as Athene focused on naval battles and Sparta on land battles, thus, they did not meet in a direct battle for a long time (Martin, n.d).

Athene also underwent big political reforms led by Pericles, which led to some political instability and disagreements that may have weakened the Athenian side. It is also known that Pericles started the war to distract attention from his political and economic problems as he was accused of corruption (Martin, n.d).

Is it correct to say that democracy in Athens was overthrown after the war?

During the final stages of the Peloponnesian War, Athene faced a huge and humiliating defeat at Syracuse, with most of its force wiped out. The leader of the expedition, Alcibiades, fearing the retaliation and the trial after the defeat, deserted to Sparta; this desertion greatly weakened Athene and motivated Sparta to push more and he also counseled the Spartans to send aid to Syracuse (Martin, n.d).

The chaos after the defeat led to more Spartan attacks, around 20 thousand slave miners fled to Sparta, and the Delian League started to fall apart. But, the most significant result was that it led to the rise of the voice of oligarchic groups against the defeated democracy. Alcibiades, again, played a role in this as he thought that the overthrow of the democracy would make his return possible. The first step was to take more responsibility from the Assembly and give it to the Council of 400, then the number of people people who had power continued to decrease, and finally, the Thirty Tyrants were installed in 404 BCE (Martin, n.d).

It is not fully correct to say that democracy was overthrown as it was restored by a group of exiles led by Thrasybulus, a year later in 403 BCE. Spartans also refused to destroy the city due to its contribution to the Greek culture, and the city restored its democracy in internal affairs, but its political power was greatly reduced.

Conclusion.

Both wars significantly weakened Athene, it was destroyed by the Persians first, and then it was defeated again after a very long and exhausting war. While Athene kept its democracy despite a temporary suspension, it did not last long until the city was conquered -and entire Greece- by the Macedonians under the leadership of Alexander the Great.

References

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