Peloponnesian War Causes

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The cause of the Peloponnesian Wars and the war itself, occurred in the year of 431 B.C.E. According to Thucydides in his book, History of the Peloponnesian War, the conflict began with the Spartans and the Athenians. The Athenians were a great naval power which put fear in the hearts of the Spartans. The Spartans feared that they would lose control of the Peloponnesian League. When the Athenians later got into conflicts with two of Sparta’s allies, Corinth and Megara, the allies of Sparta considered withdrawing from the Peloponnesian League if Sparta did not fight in alliance with them. The Spartans decided they had to make some militant decisions. The Spartans sent a warning to the Athenians, if the Athenians did not cool down with their disputes with …show more content…
The Spartans kept their word and went to war with the Athenians. The Athenians and the Spartans both believed they had war-winning strategies. Although the Athenians focused heavily on the Spartan’s strategy, the Spartans eventually ended up winning the war, with the Athenians taking a devastating loss.The Spartans had many advantages against Athens including the plague of Athens, the betrayal of Alcibiades, and the many huge losses for the Athenians. A huge factor in the Spartans winning the war was Pericles's nephew, Alcibiades. After Nicias negotiated the Peace of Nicias to keep the peace for about 50 years, a second war was started after six years of the fifty-year truce because of Alcibiades. After giving bad strategical advice to the Athenians to invade the island of Sicily, when it failed, Alcibiades was to be put on trial. Alcibiades left for Sparta instead of staying for the trial. Alcibiades gave the Spartans advice on how to defeat the Athenians. Alcibiades suggested that the Spartans get help from the