Peloponnesian wars: causes and consequences

Image: AboutHistory

The history of greece It is full of wars between the different states to obtain supremacy within the leagues, although the Hellenic cities have always been characterized by being Independent of each other, the leagues helped to defend themselves against external problems, such as the Persians, or to solve internal problems, such as the Wars from the Peloponnese. In this lesson from a TEACHER we bring you the causes and consequences of the Peloponnesian wars, which pitted all the major city-states of the Hellenic world in a conflict for total control and recognition of superiority.

Index

1. Causes of the first war
2. Causes of the Second Peloponnesian War
3. Consequences of the Peloponnesian wars

Within our lesson on the causes and consequences of the Peloponnesian wars, we must be clear the most momentous events that would result in this series of confrontations between the most powerful states of the Hellenic world.

Twenty years before the first conflict between Athens and Sparta, these two states had fought as allies in the medical wars, Sparta being the one that had led the league, achieving victories great victories.

After this, the Spartans decided to leave the league, leaving the rest of the states. It was at that moment that Athens found the possibility of seizing power, thus creating the league of Delos, dated between the years 479-478 a. C. It was at that moment when the tensions between the two powers were seen and in the year 460 a. C. Sparta decided to invade Attica, but a problem with the Helots delayed the activity.

Thus, after a series of meetings, Athens was forming a league of its own in which it introduced former allies of Sparta How could Megara and her enemies, such as Argos, be, in that same year the first interventions would begin military.

Image: Universal History

The signing of the Thirty Years Peace between 446-445 put an end to the first war between Sparta and Athens, in this way Greece breathed again after a bloody fight. But in the year 435 a. C. again the peace was breaking reigning to enter the war all over Greece, the events that caused it were:

• The war between Corinth and Corcyra: Epidamno was the guilty colony that these two cities started hostilities. This came from the hand of a civil war that took place in that colony, in which the oligarchs relied on Corcyra, while the rest of the people relied on Corinth. Thus, in the year 433 a. C. there was a great naval confrontation where Corcyra defeated Corinth. After this, Corinth decided to rearm and attack again, with such bad luck that this time the Athenians had sent a floats to ease tensions, but all it did was Corinth's retreat from the battle and with it the victory of Corcira.
• The rise of Athens within the league: Athens had rebuilt her fleet and also had managed to block her commercial adversaries, making the economic boom unstoppable. In that way, the city ​​State it was put back in the head.
• The rivalry between Athens and Megara: after the first war we will find that Athens had to leave the occupied territories in the Peloponnese, causing Megara to once again have great maritime influence, a fact that worried about supernaturally to the Antenians, who saw the possibility of ending this city by blocking its ports, in this way, Megara without economic resources was getting closer to the war.

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After the end of the First Peloponnesian War, Athens was forced to abandon all territories that he had taken in the Peloponnese as were the different ports of Megara, causing the tension between Sparta and Athens to disappear for a time.

The two leagues that had arisen during the conflict were respected, a fact that benefited Athens and its newly created Aegean Empire. The problem was that the peace would only last thirteen years, starting again the tensions between the two powers, which had never closed their differences.

As a result of the supremacy of Sparta, ATenas was ruled by what is known as the tyranny of the "thirty tyrants", in this way Greek democracy was suppressed in Athens. However, in the year 403 a. C. we will find the victory of Thrasybulus that would end the Athenian oligarchs, restoring in a ipso facta democracy in the polis. Thus the Corinthian war allowed Athens to regain a power of decision on a Hellenic scale.

Concluding with our lesson on the causes and consequences of the Peloponnesian wars, we must focus on the Theban victory in the battle of Leuctra in the year 371 a. C. on the Spartan troops, in this way this power was relegated.

Thus began again an Athenian hegemony that would not last long, since the troops of Philip II of Macedonia, a few years later, would impose themselves on all the city-states.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the Ancient Greece and its cities.

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