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[[File:PEP ONE.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|A bust of Pericles]]
One of the most important wars in the Ancient World was the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). The conflict was a long drawn out war between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies. It convulsed Greece and changed the course of the Classical world. The war ended the Golden Age of Athenian Culture and arguably weakened the Greek world forever. What was the cause of the Peloponnesian War? The origins of such a conflict are complex. The ultimate origins of the war primary causes were in Sparta’s fear that Sparta feared of the growing might power and influence of the Athenian Empire.
====Background====
[[File: PEP THREE.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Statuette of a Spartan Warrior]]
The origins of the Peloponnesian War lay in the Greece's victory over the Persian Empire. The Greeks had combined under the leadership of Sparta and Athens to defeat the Persians, then the most powerful empire in Asia. In the aftermath of the Persian Wars, the Greeks were unable to maintain their unity. Cultural and ethnic differences were driving the Greek world apart. People’s first loyalty was often to their Polis or local city.
While there was a definite sense of ‘Greekness’ and a common cultural heritage, it did not override the more local loyalties.<ref>Kagan, Donald. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801495563/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0801495563&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a72c6923cec3d4d8a05a33168424d78d The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War]</i> (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989), p. 56</ref> This notion of Greekness was not enough to overcome deep divisions within the Greek world. As soon as the Persians left, the Greeks immediately began to quarrel with each other. Sparta, a deeply conservative society, had opted out of the war with Persia after their invasion was repelled. Athens continued the war against Persia and it formed the Delian League. This League was an alliance of city-states and islands that vowed to continue the war against the Persians until they no longer represented a threat to their alliance.<ref>Kagan, p. 113</ref>
====Long-term Factors in the Outbreak of War====
The underlying cause of the war was the rapid rise of the Athenians. They had grown from just another city-state to into an Empire. During and after the Persian Wars, it had transformed itself and became a major trading and maritime power.<ref>Cawkwell, George. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FA5ZGY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FA5ZGY&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=b0d12599fc35ad97a1a071a79c90ab5e Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War]</i> (London: Routledge, 1997), p 67</ref> It had developed into the greatest maritime power in the Greek world and could dominate the trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean. It had emerged as a great Empire in a quick period, and this upset the traditional balance of power. For many decades’ Sparta, had been the greatest military power in Greece. This superiority was based on its Sparta's well-disciplined and much-feared armywas the source of its military power. The Spartan Hoplite was considered the best soldiers in the Greek world.<ref>Hanson, Victor Davis. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812969707/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812969707&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=2988ca75b4a6858afae8101e8c5ce3d0 A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War]</i>. (New York: Random House, 2005), p. 56</ref>
The rise of Athens meant that there were two great powers in the Greek world. These powers both had a network of alliances all over the Greek world and beyond. The Greeks became divided into a Spartan and an Athenian camp.<ref>Cawkwell, p.115</ref> Athens and Sparta had different spheres of influences, as outlined in the ‘Thirty Year Peace’ treaty and theoretically this meant that they both could have lived in peaceful co-existence. Athens controlled the coastal areas of Greece and the Greek islands, while Sparta, a land power could control the Peloponnese. Despite this, Sparta grew increasingly fearful of Athens and its main ally Corinth was actively encouraging it to attack Athens.<ref>Hanson, p. 117</ref>
In 440 BCE, Corinth urged the Spartans to wage war on Athens at the same time as Cornith was suppressing a revolt on the island of Samos. The Spartan Kings were cautious and decided to avoid warconflict with Athens at that time. However, the Thirty Years Peace was under increasing strain. In the Spartan assembly, they were growing alarmed at the growth of Athenian power.<ref> Kagan, p. 134</ref> As Athens seemed to be growing more powerful, there was a growing pro-war party in Sparta. They argued that the Spartans had to attack Athens before it became too powerful. The fear of Athens increasingly led the Spartans to prepare for war, even though there is no evidence that the Athenians had any designs on Sparta or its allies.<ref>Kagan, p. 213</ref> Additionally, there were those in Athens who believed that a war should be welcomed. There was a strong ‘imperial’ party in Athens who believed that it was entitled to a great empire because of its role in the defeat of the Persians. Sparta's concerns were not entirely unfounded.
The Greek historian Thucydides argued that Sparta's fear of Athens was the ultimate cause of the war. According to Thucydides, the growth of the ‘power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon (Sparta) made war inevitable."<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.67–71</ref> Thucydides believed that the Peloponnesian War was inevitable because when a rising power confronted another power, they would inevitably wage a war against each other to further or protect their interests.<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.67–71 </ref> Some later historians have also argued that war was inevitable between the two greatest Greek powers. It is still widely held that in international relations, the growth of a nation-state or empire will inevitably lead to rivalry and war with an established power.<ref>Kagan, p. 71 </ref>
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====Sparta and Athens====
====Immediate causes of the War====
[[File:PEP FOUR.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|Vase showing an Athenian ship, a Trireme]]
The tensions between the Athenians and the Greek only Sparta grew. Thucydides noted that many believed that war was only a matter of time and that the Thirty Years Peace Treaty would soon be brokenby one side or the other. There All Greece needed was a crisis when spark to start a Greek colony in war. Thrace that was in and Athens had a dispute with Athens and the Thracians, a Spartan ally, asked the Spartans for assistance. Athens despite this laid decided to lay siege to the colony. The Athenians, at this time were also in dispute with the small city-state of Megara and they . They unilaterally banned the ships of that city Megara from its port and its allies. This became known as the Megarian Decree. Megara was a long-time Spartan ally and this was widely resented, as it was seen as an attempt to make Megara completely dependent on Athens.<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.71-73 </ref> [16] This was not acceptable to Sparta and they believed that if Megara came within the orbit of the Athenians that they would use the port to weaken their position in Greece.
Sparta, supported by her allies demanded that Athens withdraw the Megarian decree, but this was opposed by Athens. Pericles the de-facto leader of the Athenian Empire argued against such a move as it would only encourage the Spartans to make more demands.<ref>Kagan, p. 115</ref> Thucydides states that the Corinthians condemned Sparta's lack of action until then and warned them that they had remained too passive for too long. They demanded action. Sparta was concerned that if it displayed any weakness that this could lead to its losing its pre-eminent position in the Peloponnese League.<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.67–71</ref>
====Conclusions====
The Peloponnesian War changed Greece in every way. Nothing was the same after the war and Athens was never to be as powerful. The causes of the war, are that the Athenian Empire upset the balance of power in the Greek world. This greatly alarmed Sparta and its allies. The aggressive policies of Athens did not help the situation- the ambitions of the city-state certainly provoked the Spartans. Increasingly, the Spartans became very nervous about the growing naval and commercial power of Athens. At first, they resisted the calls of its allied to declare war on its arch-rival. Once Athens had issued the Megarian degree, it initiated a chain of event that led to the Spartan invasion of Athenian territory. The deep cultural differences between the two Greek powers was also a contributory factor to the increasing tensions that later exploded into an all-out war that consumed the entire Greek world.
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