Question

What events led to the Peloponnesian war?

Answer 1

Hint: This war took place on the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It was fought between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League.

Complete answer:
The Peloponnesian War was a 27-year long war which was fought between Athens, leader of the Delian League and Sparta, leader of the Peloponnesian League. The war started in 431 B.C. and ended in 405 B.C.
The war was fought in two phases separated by a six-year truce.

Athens and Sparta had had quarrels decades prior to the war. Corinth, which was an ally of Sparta, had directly engaged the Athenian army. Corinth restarted its hostilities towards Athens when Athens threatened Corinth’s region surrounding Corcyra. This caught the attention of Sparta and brought it into the conflict, thus commencing the first phase of the Peloponnesian war.

The Spartan army raided lands within an Athenian allied territory, particularly a region known as Attica. The walls that Athenians had built from their seaport to the city, helped in protecting Athens from direct damage. The Athenian leader, Pericles advised its people to not engage with the Spartans on land. He instead directed them towards the navy, had the troops delivered into the Spartan territory and then raided their lands.

After a few years of war, Sparta offered to adopt peace between the cities. The agreement was accepted by Athens and made official by signing the Peace of Nicias. The treaty stated that the two Greek superpowers would defend each other for the next half a century, but the treaty did not last more than six years.

The war resumed its second phase between Athens and Sparta due to an assault launched by the Athenians at Sicily. Sparta retaliated and after learning from their past experience with Athens's navy, Sparta too formed a fleet of warships. It took another decade of hostility for the Spartan general Lysander to defeat the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami. This defeat caused Athens to surrender.

As a result, the Peloponnesian War was concluded with Sparta’s victory.

Note: We learn about this war from an ancient book written by Thucydides.The book was called The History of the Peloponnesian War and was published in the fourth century B.C.