The Failure Of The Delian League

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Initially, the Delian League was very successful for the Athenian government, but proved weak due to greed and the pursuit of power.

When the second Persian War was over, Athens, along with other Greek polis, including the Aegean islands and the Ionian coast (2010, p.27), formed an alliance in 478 B.C.E. This alliance was designed to protect the ally should the Persians return for another fight. Although Sparta was breathing a sigh of relief with the war over, they also joined the Delian League. Members of the Delian League were to contribute ships or money to fortify Athen’s naval base, which they did quite successfully. However, once the naval base was complete with a fleet of ships, the Delian League continued collecting membership …show more content…

This action, in turn, caused the Spartans to be pressured into going in battle with Athens. With the combined support of Corinth, Sparta was able to claim victory over Athens. Under the dictated treaty called “King’s Peace”, Theban and Athens resisted Persia’s orders (n.d., p.3) . At Leuctra in 37l B.C.E, Theban was able to defeat Spartan, and once again called for the making of a second Delian League with promises of not to return to old ways. Unfortunately, within a short period of time, the Athenians were back to their old ways. A social war in 355 B.C.E., ended the Delian League for the final time.


The goal of the Delian League was to build alliances with other city-states so those city-states would to have to face war on their own. But what was once meant as an alliance against Persia became a war against each other. Both Sparta and Athens experiences crippling defeat with and against each other, but I can’t help but wonder how great Athens would be today had their imperialist and aristocratic behaviors had been put to better use, such as writing plays, or building more great structures like the

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