During the decades prior to the head-to-head conflict between Sparta and Athens,
the latter had been growing tremendously in strength and influence. A regional
military alliance was also being formed, known as the Delian League,
which was essentially controlled by Athens. With upwards of 300 members at its peak,
the Delian League paid regular tribute to Athens in exchange for military cooperation
and protection against external threats, in a system that would more or less become a de facto
Athenian Empire. Sparta, watching from afar, was notably displeased by this growing development.
On the one hand, the concept of Athens’ influence and authority increasing so
rapidly rivaled and threatened the desired expansion of the Spartans. Contrarily though,
Sparta was part of its own military alliance, coined the Peloponnesian League, which loosely
resembled the rival Delian League. This, evidently, proved to be more and more problematic,
as not only were the hegemony of Sparta and Athens themselves growing nearer and
nearer to each other, but now so were the neighboring coalitions. And it is these
military friendships that first brought the dominant city-states face-to-face…
The relationship between Athens and Sparta was already rocky by the time war broke out between
their neighbors in Megara and Corinth. Since both of these city-states were allied with Sparta,
Athens jumped at the chance to intervene and steal a friend away from their rival. As a result, the
Athenians managed to negotiate a new alliance with Megara, leaving Sparta to side solely with the
loyal Corinth. The inevitable entrance of Sparta into the conflict marked what would be known as
the first phase of the Peloponnesian War, and the off-and-on clashes lasted for fifteen years before
peace could be made. By the end of it, Athens and Sparta had officially recognized each other’s
spheres of influence and alliances, and the Thirty Years’ Peace treaty was signed and intended to
prevent further warfare for another 3 decades. But alas, the peace collapsed only 6 years later…
Over the half-decade of the treaty’s relevance, Greece was far from stable. By 440 BC,
Athens was already facing a revolt from one of its allies, Samos, which quickly put the thought into
Sparta’s mind of breaking the agreement early on. But, when the Spartans gathered their allies for
a congress to discuss any type of intervention into the current Athenian turmoil, Sparta’s most
outspoken ally, Corinth, was strongly against reigniting war with the people they had just
made peace with. Consequently, the Peloponnesian League decided to keep to the treaty and stay
out of the conflict. And this would prove to be a wise decision, as Corinth soon faced a threat from
their own rebellious colony, Corcyra, which had previously been unaligned to either side but now
sought friendship with Athens. This led Athens and Corinth to the brink of war, but it would instead
be another colony of Corinth and ally of Athens that officially threw out the Thirty Years’ Peace…
Potidaea, a Corinthian colony aligned with Athens, was ordered by the latter to
remove its fortifications while dismissing all magistrates from Corinth and sending hostages
to Athens. The Corinthians were taken aback and deeply angered by this, and sent their
own instructions to the colony, promising that if Potidaea revolted against Athens,
Corinth would have their back. When the colony did just that, the Battle of Potidaea broke out
with Corinth sending undercover contingents into Potidaea to fight off the Athenians for
their new ally. Yet, somehow, despite this being a direct violation of the prior peace agreement,
this was not the final straw for Athens nor Sparta. Alternatively,
it was what Athens did next that pushed the growing tensions over the edge…
By 432 BC, Athens, in the eyes of Sparta, was on a power trip. The Delian League figurehead
issued a decree that more or less put a damning trade embargo on Megara,
which had since rebuilt their alliance with Sparta as opposed to Athens. Sparta’s demands
for Athens to repeal these Megaran Decrees went unobeyed, and that same year, Corinth requested
that Sparta bring together another congress of the Peloponnesian League so the coalition could
discuss their increasing displeasure with the actions of Athens. Sparta agreed and did just
that. When the meeting began, the league was additionally joined by a delegation from Athens
which had apparently invited themselves. This made for a tense and highly heated gathering,
but the result would still be clear: Athens had broken the peace, and that means war…
The first leg of this conflict would become known as the Archidamian War and officially began in
431 BC. This was a bit of an unusual war though, and it played out somewhat oddly. On one hand,
the Athenians had an acceptable land army but a remarkable naval fleet, giving them the clear
advantage by sea and hence their strategy being focused on the use of this fleet. On the flip
side, the Spartans had a land army that was widely known, respected, and rightfully feared. Their
allies were additionally stronger by land than sea, which meant that Sparta intended to fight
this war on land. As a result, the Spartans did exactly that, and swiftly captured the
Athenian ally of Attica, which they occupied off and on while the Athenians took to the sea.
With its superior navy, Athens was just as quick to take the upper hand on the water,
including at the Battle of Naupactus in 430 BC. But, only a year into the warfare,
a new enemy brought the clash to a screeching halt - the plague had hit the Athenians…
With tens of thousands succumbing to the rapidly spreading disease,
the Athenian forces were drastically reduced and their allies were suddenly afraid to come to their
aid out of fear of catching the plague themselves. Even the Spartans were unwilling to risk such a
disease and withdrew from Attica before it could ravage their own troops or citizens.
With the war on pause and Athens’ leading general, Pericles, deceased from the plague,
Athens decided it was time to turn to a more offensive strategy,
and as soon as possible, re-sparked their naval hits on the Peloponnese.
The war would continue with Athens seeming to maintain the advantage, even pressuring
a 300-strong Spartan force into surrendering in a move that shattered the Spartan image of
immortality and invincibility. Despite being demoralized and possibly the underdog by now,
Sparta wasted no time and launched their own invasion of Amphipolis, a colony of Athens, which
ended in the Spartan seizure of the territory. By 421 BC though, both sides were ready to attempt
another period of peace. A new treaty was signed, the Peace of Nicias, which was able to bring a new
6 year span of relative stability, but complete peace was not managed for Sparta. Instead, as
certain members of the Peloponnesian League tried to branch off and create their own democratic
coalition despite strong pushback from Sparta, the armed conflict shifted from Sparta vs. Athens
to Sparta vs. their own neighbors and former allies. This war would not last long though,
and after the amped up Battle of Mantinea, where the Tegean next-door neighbors to Sparta and their
allies successfully fought off an invasion from the newfound coalition led by Argos, the side of
Sparta proved victorious. Many members of the new alliance turned back to the Peloponnesian League
as Argos’ coalition now dissolved, and Sparta yet again survived a potential threat to its homeland…
War with Athens did not take long to reignite nevertheless. In 415 BC,
Athens had received a request for help from their fellow Ionian allies in Sicily
who were currently being targeted by Syracuse - a city made up of the
same ethnic group as Sparta. When Athens sent off an expedition under Alcibiades,
who was currently under great scrutiny after being accused of religious crimes back home,
the following chain of events would drag Sparta right back to a face-off with the Athenians…
Once Alcibiades arrived in Sicily, he was ordered to return to Athens to stand trial.
Maintaining his innocence and fearing a rigged trial, the general refused to
return home and stunningly went so far as to defect to Sparta. He now informed the
Spartans of Athens’ presence in Sicily and the possibility of the Athenians conquering
all of Sicily before moving on throughout Italy and Carthage. Despite this proving
unlikely as Syracuse quickly began to abuse the Athenian forces in battle after battle,
the Peloponnesian League, including Sparta, set off for Sicily themselves. Backing Syracuse and
joining the utter pummeling of the Athenians, the Peloponnesian League at long last took the
upper hand in their ongoing contest with Athens. Nevertheless, the war carried on until 405 BC.
It was thanks to the monetary and supply support that, ironically, the Persian Empire sent to the
Spartans, that would allow the latter to build a naval force powerful enough to once and for
all overcome the Athenian navy so blatantly that Athens had no choice but to surrender to Sparta.
This result sent a shockwave through all of Greece. The Delian League was gone, Athens
was no longer immortal on the seas, and Sparta was now the most powerful city-state in all of Greece…
With Athens under strict rules and tribute to Sparta, and the latter soaking in their
newfound supremacy, the entire region had been changed - whether for the better or worse. Sparta
had managed to resolve the main issue that had caused the war to begin with - Athen’s expanding
dominance - but many believe that this was the end of the Golden Age for Ancient Greece, as
shortly after the miraculous Spartan success, the Persians would take control of Sparta’s imperial
possessions and Philip II of Macedon would later finish off the job of putting out Sparta’s
once-bright flame of strength. So, although Sparta may have won the battle, and it seems
Persia and Macedon won the war, the real loser in it all may just be Ancient Greece as a whole…