Then when the island of Lesbos looked like rising up in revolt against Athens, which resulted in a blockade being put in place, the Spartans failed to come to their assistance and the island surrendered. In BC, however, Sparta did capture the strategic Athenian ally of Plataea following a lengthy siege.
With the cautious Pericles gone he died in BC and the hawkish Cleon taking over, Athens embarked on a more aggressive strategy. One of the finest generals of the day, Demosthenes, commanded raids on the Peloponnese; he was given a fleet with which he occupied and fortified the remote headland of Pylos; and repelled the assault to win it back.
The building of outposts on the Peloponnese created a different problem for Sparta: the Athenians used them to attract runaway helots, or slaves, meaning there were fewer people to work the fields and a higher chance of a slave revolt. As more battles went against them Sparta began suing for peace itself, until terms became more favourable when it achieved victories of its own. The most significant came in BC with the capture of the Athenian colony of Amphipolis.
The man Athens had sent to protect it was Thucydides — for his failure, he was exiled and dedicated his time to his impartial history of the war. The resulting Peace of Nicias — named after the man from Athens sent to negotiate the treaty — was signed in BC. Intended to last 50 years, it ended up lasting just six.
In fact, fighting never really stopped, as both sides spent those years trying to win over smaller states, or watched on as allies formed coalitions of their own and kept the conflict going. In BC, war officially resumed when Athens launched a massive assault on Sicily with the aim of capturing Syracuse, a powerful city-state which controlled a large share of Mediterranean trade.
If successful, Athens could claim its abundant resources. The expedition started badly, however, as the Athenian commander Alcibiades, who had been accused of the serious crime of impiety and ordered back to Athens, defected to Sparta. Syracuse, with Spartan aid, broke the blockade around Sicily and time and time again defeated the invading army until it was crushed, even in a sea battle.
By BC, the few who had not been killed or enslaved were forced to retreat. The invasion was a total disaster for Athens, a major blow to morale and prestige.
Back in Greece, Sparta certainly looked to be closer to victory over the next few years as it occupied Attica once again and several revolts broke out against Athenian rule. Athens itself was in political turmoil as governments were overthrown and replaced.
And yet, the Spartans and their allies were slow to act, allowing Athens to rebuild and put into service its reserve navy. Athens started winning naval battles again, so much so that by BC, it had actually won back parts of the empire thought to have been lost. It would be a naval victory that won the Peloponnesian War after 27 years, but not an Athenian one.
Sparta managed to build an imposing fleet of hundreds of triremes, thanks to Persian money and resources, and put to sea. However, the more immediate reason for the war was Athenian control of the Delian League, the vast naval alliance that allowed it to dominate the Mediterranean Sea. By BC, when the League's treasury was transferred to Athens, the alliance had become an empire in all but name. Over the next two decades it began treating its fellow members as ruled subjects rather than partners, and fought several short wars to force members who wanted to leave the League to rejoin it.
Because Lysander appointed from within the ruling classes of these governments, the men were more loyal to Lysander than Sparta, making these Aegean outposts similar to a private empire.
Lysander and Spartan king Agis were in agreement with Corinth and Thebes that Athens should be totally destroyed in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, but they were opposed by a more moderate faction, headed by Pausanias.
Lysander also managed to require Athens to recall its exiles, causing political instability within the city-state, of which Lysander took advantage to establish the oligarchy that came to be known as the Thirty Tyrants.
Agesilaus II was one of two Spartan kings during the period of Spartan hegemony. During his kingship, Agesilaus embarked on a number of military campaigns in the eastern Aegean and Persian territories.
The Greek city-states eventually attempted to broker peace, but Theban diplomat Epaminondas angered Agesilaus by arguing for the freedom of non-Spartan citizens within Laconia. Skip to main content. Search for:. Key Points The Peloponnesian War ended in victory for Sparta and its allies, but signaled the demise of Athenian naval and political hegemony throughout the Mediterranean.
Lysander established many pro-Spartan governments throughout the Aegean, where the ruling classes were more loyal to him than to Sparta as a whole.
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