How Did Sparta Defeat Messenia

When the Spartan’s hit hard times and needed more resources they defeated Messenia during the First Messenian War. They were unable to keep control over the Messenians by making them Helots. Due to the Helot’s outnumbering the Spartan’s they rebelled and almost took down the entire Spartan Empire during the Second Messenian War. After their almost defeat, the Spartans decided to turn their empire into basically a military school. The people they conquered, had to abide by Spartan laws and rules.
The Athens were ruled by a council of only nobles. They did not have any written laws, they only had the nobles that presided over the land and made all the rules. Unfortunately, the nobles did not always agree which caused arguments between them.