Delian League Strengths And Weaknesses

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The Delian League was an incredibly unique political system that would dominate the Greek world in the fifth century B.C.E. This dominance, maintained through the sheer military might of the Athenian navy, led to an unprecedented strengthening of the Aegean economy and Greek culture as a whole. Economic prosperity in Athens led to the strengthening of the Athenian democracy. Unfortunately, the whims of the Athenian Demos and demagoguery led to a massive weakness in the political system. Within the context of the fifth century B.C.E. the Delian League was a successful political system and served as an extension of the Athenian Polis. Due to the Persian wars, Athens saw fit to build a fleet that would rival an empire far larger than itself. After the conclusion of the war this fleet served as a rallying point for Greek cities tired of living under the Persian Empire. Joining Athens, the Greeks formed the Delian league with three goals in mind, “containment of Persia, the gathering of booty as compensation for damages done to Greece during the war, and simple revenge”. It’s fair to say that at this point, many of the Greek Poleis that joined the league were desperate …show more content…

On one hand the Athenian’s unique style of government allowed a larger inclusion of people into the Polis through state pay for service. This inclusiveness gave the people of Athens a patriotic fervor that simply was not present on the same scale in other Greek Poleis. On the other hand, the main weakness of the Athenian Assembly was its unpredictability. The Demos was easily convinced into brash decisions by demagogues that cost the Delian League dearly in the long run. This unpredictability led to the League’s campaign into Egypt, where League forces sustained massive loses. Athenian’s elitist attitudes also contributed to further separation between Poleis where the League could have been used to increase Greek

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