grk_styl
is hating uni & study
- Joined
- May 29, 2003
- Messages
- 4,212
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- HSC
- 2004
Notes on Greece by the Syllabus
Causes, course and consequence of the First Peloponnesian War
Causes, course and consequence of the First Peloponnesian War
- The period of Greek history 460 – 445BC has been termed the First Peloponnesian War
- It was a period in which the Athenians shifted from being naval power to a mighty land empire.
- In 460BC, Athens broke her long-standing alliance with Sparta. Athens began supporting Egypt against Persia in 459BC. Athens further alienated Sparta by forming an alliance with Argos, Sparta’s enemy.
- In 459BC, Athens went to Megara’s aid in a border dispute with Corinth. Athens and Corinth had been trading rivals for years. Corinth was helped by Aegina. Athens captured Aegina and forced her to become a member of the Delian League
- Back in Athens, Pericles was concerned with the security of Athens and began building the Long Walls to the Piraeus as an added defence. They formed a corridor from Athens to her port along which grain and other essentials could be brought in the event of siege.
- Corinth asked Sparta for help against Athens. In 457BC, Sparta went to Attica and met the Athenians at Tanagra. The Spartans were victorious but then retreated.
- In the Battle of Cenophyta in 457BC, Athens gained control of all of Boeotia except for Thebes. Athens now controlled Boeotia, Phocis and Locris.
- In 449BC, Pericles proposed an interstate Pan-Hellenic Congress to consider the restoration of the temples destroyed by the Persians, policing of the seas and whether there should be offerings to the gods for having delivered the Greeks from the Persians. The other states were not enthusiastic but Pericles used League funds to rebuild Athens.
- In 450BC, a peace, the ‘Five Year Truce’, was negotiated with the Peloponnesian League.
- In 449BC, the Peace of Callias established peace between Persia and the Delian League
- Many cities in Boeotia started to rebel against Athenian rule. They met at the Battle of Coronea where Athens lost control of Boeotia.
- Hearing of this success, Megara and Euboea also rebelled. While Pericles was putting down the revolt in Euboea, Sparta helped the Megarians to defeat the Athenians.
- Faced with the threat of the Spartan army attacking Attica, Pericles in 446BC made peace with Sparta, the ‘Thirty Years Peace’. Athens gave up its remaining possessions in the Peloponnese in return for 30 years of peace with Sparta.
- In 440BC, Samos revolted and almost simultaneously Byzantium also revolted. Athens quickly suppressed both revolts.
- For the next 15 years, the former balance of power between Athens and Sparta returned until the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War.
Last edited:
