Peloponnesian War Causes
Athens Caused the Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, a war that has been dragged on for many years yet, the war has no true origin of what exactly started the war. “The war started,” according to Thucydides, “because of the growth of Athens alarmed Sparta” (Hunt 100). Although, Sparta was the first to attack; Athens contributed the cause for the attack from Sparta. Athens is the one to blame for the Peloponnesian War due to the fact that Athens was growing in power which scared Sparta and Athens mistreating Sparta’s allies, Pericles ignoring the ultimatum due to Sparta’s “refusal” to settle the dispute of the treaty with Athens fifteen years ago, finally Alcibiades disturbing the peace between the two by persuading the assembly to attack Sparta again.
One of the many reasons for war was that Athens power was growing so much and fast that it alarmed Sparta. Sparta did not want to see …show more content…
Once Pericles died and Cleon took over the attacks on Sparta. Cleon did away with the two-part strategy and decided to attack with more aggression. The plan worked for awhile since Sparta requested a truce; however, the Athenian assembly refused. That choice led to the loss of Cleon at a battle and both city-states agreed on making peace out of exhaustion (Hunt 102). Alcibiades decided to persuade the assembly to ignore the peace with Sparta and attack. Athens only conquered the island of Melos because they refused to abandon their allegiance to Sparta which lead to the executions of men, the selling of women and children into slavery (Hunt 102-103). Alcibiades decided to persuade the assembly to fund and launch his greatest and expensive campaign. The campaign was to conquer Sicily and Syracuse. Of course that ended in disaster with a huge loss for Athens and caused major causalities (Hunt 103). If it wasn’t for Alcibiades disturbing the peace the war would have ended much sooner and perhaps not so much as a catastrophic end for
The Peloponnesian War, a war that has been dragged on for many years yet, the war has no true origin of what exactly started the war. “The war started,” according to Thucydides, “because of the growth of Athens alarmed Sparta” (Hunt 100). Although, Sparta was the first to attack; Athens contributed the cause for the attack from Sparta. Athens is the one to blame for the Peloponnesian War due to the fact that Athens was growing in power which scared Sparta and Athens mistreating Sparta’s allies, Pericles ignoring the ultimatum due to Sparta’s “refusal” to settle the dispute of the treaty with Athens fifteen years ago, finally Alcibiades disturbing the peace between the two by persuading the assembly to attack Sparta again.
One of the many reasons for war was that Athens power was growing so much and fast that it alarmed Sparta. Sparta did not want to see …show more content…
Once Pericles died and Cleon took over the attacks on Sparta. Cleon did away with the two-part strategy and decided to attack with more aggression. The plan worked for awhile since Sparta requested a truce; however, the Athenian assembly refused. That choice led to the loss of Cleon at a battle and both city-states agreed on making peace out of exhaustion (Hunt 102). Alcibiades decided to persuade the assembly to ignore the peace with Sparta and attack. Athens only conquered the island of Melos because they refused to abandon their allegiance to Sparta which lead to the executions of men, the selling of women and children into slavery (Hunt 102-103). Alcibiades decided to persuade the assembly to fund and launch his greatest and expensive campaign. The campaign was to conquer Sicily and Syracuse. Of course that ended in disaster with a huge loss for Athens and caused major causalities (Hunt 103). If it wasn’t for Alcibiades disturbing the peace the war would have ended much sooner and perhaps not so much as a catastrophic end for