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historical overview of peloponnenian war Historical Overview Of The Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC) Introduction The Peloponnesian War is widely known as the second
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Historical Overview Of The Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC)
Introduction
The Peloponnesian War is widely known as the second war between the Athenian and Spartan coalitions. In Thucydides'narratives on the war, he described that the war took place during a period when the Greek world was divided into two great alignments each led by either Athens or Sparta, with both sides at the height of their powers.
Two Diametric Powerful Greek City-States
At the start of the war, Athens wielded great political and economic power in the Greek world. Athens was perceived to be the "unifying force" in the Greek territories against the Persian invasions. After the Greco-Persian wars ended, Athens led the Delian League (See Figure 2) and protected its members with its powerful naval fleet the largest fleet then.
Athens was a thriving metropolis and commercial society with a ethnically homogenous population. By the 5th century BC, it already democratized her institutions establishing a sovereign Assembly whose majority formed the government that directly made all the vital decisions.
In contrast, Sparta was largely an agrarian society and more isolated. Sparta's political system was oligarchic and militant. Sparta's hereditary monarchy of two kings held the right to military leadership. Five ephors elected by the Assembly served as the executing agent with wide powers. The Assembly acted only by acclamation, unlike the Athenian Assembly that depended on debate.
Sparta possessed great land power. Its hoplites were the most feared and effective fighters in the Greek world. Because of Sparta's respected land power, other Greek city-states also chose to form alliances with Sparta (the Peloponnesian League) to balance Athens' influence.
Athens was a bastion of Greek democracy, with a foreign policy of regularly intervening to help fellow...
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