Here I have submitted an essay I wrote on the start of the peloponnesian war.

The Peloponnesian war between Athens and her empire and the Peloponnesian league from 431 to 404 BC involved most of the Greek states. This resulted in suffering on a degree formerly unknown to the Greeks. The chief source for this period is Thucydides, an aristocratic Athenian who lived during the war. Most of the knowledge of the causes for the war comes from Thucydides’ writings. Contemporary historians, through the evaluation of Thucydides’ account, discuss the reliability and depth of Thucydides’ account for the major causes of the Peloponnesian war.

According to Thucydides’ account, the major cause of the Peloponnesian war was “the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta”. Athenian power had come from Periclean imperialism and economic dynamism. The new generation of Spartiates wanted to restore the power of Sparta. As a consequent, the Spartiates would have a grudge against Athens, due to its greater power which overshadowed Sparta’s hegemony in the Peloponnesus. Considering the agonistic nature of Greek culture, the Greek’s emphasis of ‘eris’ (view of life as a perpetual struggle for advantage) and other elements of Greek life, this give Thucydides a persuasive case for the major cause of the war.

Thucydides accounts for the resources and strategies of Sparta and Athens. He states that Sparta had an army of approximately 30,000 hoplites with 2,000 cavalry as compared to the 13,000 hoplites and 1,200 cavalry that Athens had. Although Sparta used mainly the Corinthian vessels as a navy, it didn’t compare to the 300 trireme strong Athenian navy. However, Sparta’s interests did not lie in the sea, or anywhere else but the Peloponnesus where they held their sphere of influence. It can seem hard to believe that the Spartans would fear the Athenians when they had a superior army. There can be little doubt that it was mainly Corinth who feared Athenian imperialism, not Sparta, as both Athens and Corinth were competing for hegemony over the colonies both in the Aegean and to the west.

Some scholars have raised questions about the reliability of Thucydides account for this period. This school of historians believe that Thucydides purposely misleads the readers due to his partisanship with Athens. If this is true, there can be little doubt that Athens was the aggressor in this war. However, Athens also ostracised him when he was a general, so that incident makes it hard to see a ‘partisanship’ between him and Athens would be evident in his writings. However, as he is the chief source on this period, and there is little evidence to either argue for or against the reliability of his work, many of his descriptions can be assumed as fact.

Bradley considers that Thucydides’ explanation to the cause of the Peloponnesian war is “regarded as far too simplistic”. This evaluation is derived from the lack of emphasis or mention of the other reasons which provoked the war. One such reason is the opposing political and ideological beliefs between the two sides. In which can be basically described as a conflict between the supporters of oligarchy and democracy. There were also the cultural and racial differences between the Ionians and Dorians which was another element which caused mistrust. Bradley points out that Thucydides “has often been accused of misunderstanding the causes of the war, that is, of not estimating accurately the relative seriousness of the incidents leading to it and not giving the Megarian decree as a cause”.

Thucydides uses the ‘pentecontaetia’, the 50 year period before the Peloponnesian war to justify his belief of the major cause of the war, Sparta’s fear of Athenian imperialism. Adcock does not believe that Thucydides’ explanation for the causes of the war can be justified with the history preceding it. Adcock’s opinion can be evaluated as reasonable as there is insufficient evidence that Thucydides’ claim for the cause of the war is true, yet there are many other possibilities for being the major cause of the war, not just a single simplistic reason.

Pericles was prepared for war well before the Peloponnesian league as he was a strategic thinker. Pericles was well aware of the weaknesses and strengths of the Athenian empire and set to exploit them as much as possible. The Walls he built between Athens and the Piraeus is a clear depiction of his plans to go to war in the future, as he can defend Athens easily with such a wall. Pericles also sets up a reserve fund which Thucydides states has 6000 talents deposited for a future war effort. These precautions taken by Pericles show his imperial ambitions for Athens which could lead to a conflict with other states.

Trade rivalry can be considered one of the major causes of the war. The rivalry was between Corinth and Athens in which Corinth’s influence was to the west and Athens’ to the east. Woodhouse evaluates that “its was a question of commercial expansion that kindled the great war for which the fuel had been accumulating in the shape of hate and envy during the fifty years that followed the war with Persia.” The first two incidents involving Corcyra and Potidaea as accounted for by Thucydides prove that commercial and trade rivalry was a major cause of the Peloponnesian war.

The dispute over Epidamnus between Corcyra, the rebellious Corinthian colony and Corinth is one of the incidents which assisted in the development of the war. Thucydides accounts how Corcyra defeated Corinth in a naval battle over Epidamnus. As a result Corinth began a implementing the creation of a greater Corinthian navy. Consequently, Corcyra, in the fear that Corinth would seek revenge on her, asked if Athens would be interested in an alliance. This alliance would eventually be passed in the ecclesia in which it was an alliance ‘for defensive purposes only’. Now that Corcyra was hostile to Corinth, it had lost its vital trade route to Italy, which would ruin her economy. According to Thucydides it “gave Corinth her first cause for war against Athens”. Corinth now believed that the peace had been broken, however Athens and Sparta thought otherwise.

Corinth was now left bitter and desired revenge upon Athens. Bradley evaluates that there can be little doubt that Corinth was trying to involve the other Peloponnesian states in a war against Athens. Potidaea, an old Aegean Corinthian colony which still receives magistrates from her mother country was an opportunity for Corinth to stir up trouble in Athens. Thucydides accounts for the revolt which spread throughout the Chalcidice peninsula. It is most probable that this would have affected the Athenian trade route importing grain from Thrace. Resentment against Athens grew in the region, however it would soon be put down when Athens enforces a blockade and eventually lays siege to the town. This was Corinth’s second grievance against Athens and now would have to hope that her ally Sparta would wage a general war against Athens.

In Thucydides account of the incidents, he sees Corinth as the catalyst for the war, stirring up trouble in Corcyra and Potidaea. It can be evaluated that Athens had no right to be involved in the feud between Corcyra and Corinth, as Athens would be in essence, be breaking the peace treaty. Athens’ interest in Corcyra came from firstly, the fact it would give Athens greater access to the western trade market and secondly, would provide another ally who has a strong navy. It was Athenian imperial policy which forced Corinth to make the first aggressive move physically, but it was Athenian diplomacy which broke the peace treaty through its alliance with Corcyra. There can be little doubt that if Sparta had more initiative, they would have declared war on Athens after the Corcyra affair.

Thucydides in his account did not regard the Megarian issue as a major cause of the Peloponnesian war. Bury states that “the Megarian decree did not determine Corinth’s action and it was Corinth’s action which was decisive”. The Megarian decree barred off Megara from any trade with the Athenian empire. It was based on the accusation that the Megarians were sacrilegiously tilling sacred ground. The Megarian economy was destroyed by this move, and if Megara wanted to trade again with Athens she would have to become a tribute paying ally. As the Megarians valued their autonomy, they sent emissaries to beg for the aid of Sparta. Athens’ act against Megara added to the list of grievances which would be used to help justify a war against Athens.

Sparta’s allies came to the Apella to complain about suffering caused from Athenian aggression. Thucydides records the speeches made at this gathering, in which the Corinthians denounced Athenian imperialism. The Corinthians even threatened Sparta with “do not force the rest of us in despair to join a different alliance”. The opinions in the Spartan government were divided as according to Finley, none of these factors influenced Sparta. What was important however was for Sparta to maintain her prestige and dominance over the Peloponnesus. Thus, if Sparta was to lead the Peloponnesian league, she could no longer remain neutral and would have to make a choice. In the vote for war, the pro war vote won by a great majority depicting resentment towards Athens. Now Corinth had dragged the entire Peloponnesian league into her conflict with Athens which is one of the major causes for the war.

The causes for the Peloponnesian war can not be solely attributed to the Spartan fear of Athenian imperialism, but rather to a string of more complex conflicts between the Peloponnesian league and Athens. In the evaluation of Thucydides account, it can be considered an objective and valuable history of the period; however the reliability of the source is still in question for some modern historians.