Lesson 7: The Peloponnesian War
In Lesson 6 you learned that Athens and Sparta often banded together to fight off a foreign invader. Athens and Sparta had little love for each other, though, and conflict soon erupted between them.
Following the defeat of Persia (which you learned about in Lesson 2A), Athens formed a military and commercial alliance with several of her neighbouring city-states. This was known as the Delian League. Athens dominated this league and grew very rich and powerful from it. Sparta formed an alliance of its own called the Peloponnesian League (so named because all its members were on the Peloponnesian peninsula in Greece).
Deciding that Athens needed to be controlled before it dominated all of Greece, Sparta attacked Athens in 431 BCE. This was the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.
The Athenians were furious and wanted to send out an army to drive the attackers away. But the Athenian leader, Pericles, warned them that this was just what the Spartans wanted them to do. With over 10,000 of the fiercest troops in Greece, the Spartans could easily defeat the Athenians, if only they could lure them out of the city to fight.
Instead, Pericles decided that Athens would rely on its strong navy, just as it had in the war with Persia. So the Athenian ships launched a cunning raid on Spartan lands, and Athens was saved—for the moment.
The war dragged on for many years, with Athens always avoiding an all-out battle. Finally, in 404 BCE, Sparta made the move that would eventually bring it victory. Sparta traded some of the city-states it controlled to Persia in exchange for gold. Sparta then spent this gold to build a powerful navy.
In 404 BCE, the new Spartan navy attacked and destroyed the Athenian fleet. The Spartans now surrounded Athens at sea as well as on land, cutting off its food supplies. The starving Athenians finally surrendered. Sparta was now the leading city in Greece.
Check Your Knowledge Activity 7:
Cause and Effect Matching ExerciseSend In Activity 7:
Complete one of these options:
Option A: Write an Anti-War Song
Option B: What Happened to Pericles?
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