The Cause that Led to the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War

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The Cause that Led to the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War

Ancient Greece during 4th Century BC was home to the city states of

Sparta and Athens, who during this time were the superpowers of the

region. The Peloponnesian war between these city states and their

respective allies lasted from 431-404 BC, although conflicts between

the two had dated back further. Major fighting in the war occurred

from 431-421 and ended in Athenian victory. However, renewed conflict

raged between 413 and 404 which resulted in Spartan victory.

The Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta evolved from a string

of events which I am going to look at to see if there was a single

cause for this war.

In 435 BC after a dispute over a colony called Epidamnus, which ended

in a naval battle victory for Corcyra, Corcyra declared itself

independent from Corinth.

Corinth responded to this by spending the next two years building a

fleet of 95 triremes to confront the rebelling Corcyra.

In fear Corcyra appealed to Athens for an urgent alliance and after

being swayed by Corcyrain diplomats the Athenians sent military aid.

A battle took place, with Corcyra and Athens fighting against Corinth

and Sparta, who was an ally of Corinth due to it being a source of

income.

Sparta saw the alliance Athens had formed with Corcyra as an act of

aggression against Sparta and her allies, the Peloponnesian league.

Also the Athenian alliance was seen to be a violation of the peace

treaty of 445 BC between Athens and Sparta. However Corcyra argued

against this due to it being a neutral colony and allowed to join

either side.

This alliance and the way it wa...

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... war it is

impossible to conclude that a one specific reason was to blame due to

there being many different factors involved. These include cultural

differences between Sparta and Athens, the growth of Athens Empire and

the disputes over Epidamnus and Potidaea.

However, in my pinion I think that the growth of Athens was on e of

the main underlying causes because its growth was one of Sparta’s

greatest fears and it made the war inevitable. This was also the

final judgement of Thucydides as he said “The Spartans voted that the

treaty had been broken and that war should be declared not so much

because they were influenced by the speeches of their allies as

because they were afraid of the further growth of Athenian power,

seeing, as they did, that already the greater part of Hellas was under

the control of Athens.”

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