# The Peloponnesian War: Greece's Self-Destructive Conflict

### Key Facts

- Period: 431-404 BCE (27 years)
- Combatants: Athens and Delian League vs. Sparta and Peloponnesian League
- Key Figures: Pericles, Alcibiades, Lysander, Brasidas
- Outcome: Spartan victory, end of Athenian dominance

The Peloponnesian War was a catastrophic conflict that engulfed the entire Greek world, pitting the democratic naval power of Athens against the militaristic land power of Sparta. This 27-year struggle would exhaust both sides and ultimately end the golden age of classical Greece, leaving the city-states weakened and vulnerable to foreign conquest.

### Origins of Conflict

After the Persian Wars, Athens transformed the anti-Persian Delian League into an empire, demanding tribute and imposing its will on member states. Athenian power and wealth grew dramatically, alarming Sparta and its Peloponnesian League allies. Corinth, a Spartan ally, clashed with Athens over colonies and trade routes. As Thucydides observed, the real cause was Sparta's fear of growing Athenian power, making war inevitable.

### Pericles and Athenian Strategy

Athenian leader Pericles devised a defensive strategy: the population would shelter behind Athens's Long Walls connecting the city to its port at Piraeus, while the superior Athenian navy would raid Spartan territory and maintain the empire. Athens would avoid land battles with Sparta's formidable hoplites. Initially this strategy worked, but overcrowding within the walls created a humanitarian crisis that would prove fatal.

### The Plague of Athens

In 430 BCE, a devastating plague struck Athens's crowded population. Modern analysis suggests typhoid fever or viral hemorrhagic fever. The disease killed perhaps one-third of Athens's population, including Pericles himself in 429 BCE. The plague shattered Athenian morale and deprived Athens of its greatest leader. The city's politics became increasingly unstable, with demagogues replacing statesmen.

### The Sicilian Disaster

In 415 BCE, Athens launched an ambitious expedition to conquer Syracuse in Sicily, despite warnings from the cautious general Nicias. The charismatic but unreliable Alcibiades helped plan the campaign but defected to Sparta after being recalled on religious charges. The expedition became a catastrophe: in 413 BCE, the entire Athenian force was destroyed or captured. Thousands of Athenians died in Syracusan quarries. This disaster cost Athens its best ships, sailors, and soldiers.

### Spartan Victory

Weakened by the Sicilian disaster and facing internal revolts, Athens fought on for nearly a decade. Sparta, receiving Persian financial support, built a navy to challenge Athenian sea power. The brilliant Spartan admiral Lysander destroyed the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE. Besieged and starving, Athens surrendered in 404 BCE. The Long Walls were torn down, the Delian League dissolved, and Sparta installed a brutal oligarchic regime called the Thirty Tyrants.

### Consequences

The Peloponnesian War devastated Greece. Thousands died, cities were destroyed, and the economy collapsed. Sparta proved incapable of leadership, and Greece descended into renewed warfare. The conflict weakened all Greek city-states, enabling Philip II of Macedon to conquer Greece within decades. The war also profoundly influenced political thought: Thucydides's history of the war became a foundational text on power politics, morality in warfare, and the dangers of imperial overreach.