THE Peloponnesian War it was a civil war between Athens and Sparta, that occurred in Ancient Greece between 431 and 404 a. Ç. This military conflict lasted 27 years and ended with the victory of Sparta.
Causes
Map marking conflicting and neutral territories during the Peloponnesian War
During the conflicts of the Medical Wars, the Delos league in order to protect the Greeks from the Persians.
This alliance consisted, in particular, in the monetary contribution of the cities for the purchase of military materiel. However, the League began to benefit Athens at the expense of other Greek cities.
With funds obtained from the League of Delos, Athens had become the political, economic and cultural center of Greece.
Sparta did not accept this situation and entered the dispute for the political and economic hegemony of Greece. He then creates another league with the aim of fighting the league led by Athens - the Peloponnese League.
After 10 years of hard combats between Athens, which led by sea, and Sparta, which led by land, in 421 a. Ç. was signed to Peace of Nice.
This agreement stipulated a 50-year truce between the opponents, however, peace only reigned for eight years.
In the battle of Egospotamos, at last, Sparta defeats Athens.
Read too:
- Sparta and Athens
- Medical Wars
- Ancient Greece
Consequences
Goddess Athena (standing, right) helps Greek soldiers during the conflict between Sparta and Athens
With the defeat, Athens begins to lose what it had won in the Medical Wars and the cities of Asia Minor are returned to the Persians in exchange for gold.
Sparta thus conquered Greek hegemony. The Spartan system of government was military and the Greek cities changed the democratic to the authoritarian regime. This phenomenon is known as "Tyranny of the Thirty".
There is a social and political destabilization and the ruin of Greece begins, which allowed the Macedonian invasion a century later.
Curiosity
Thucydides, Greek historian, witnessed this conflict and wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War. The work consists of eight volumes that report in detail the events of that war considered by historians as the most important in ancient Greece.
read more:
- Punic Wars
- Athenian Democracy
- Antique
- Civil war
- Exercises on Ancient Greece
