Peloponnesian War Research Paper

The Peloponnesian War was a gruesome battle between two hated city states in Ancient Greece. This War was fought against two leagues, the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League. The Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and included other powerful Greek city states who had the best military in Greece. The Delian League led by Athens and other city states would have a terrific navy since the city states were located near the Aegean Sea. But times were not always like this. Due to the Peloponnesian War, Athens and Sparta drastically changed for the eotdr. Their relationship with each other, their populations, and their power and respect throughout the Greek city states all deteriorated due to the Peloponnesian War.
Athens and Sparta have had a very strained relationship between each other. In 500 BC Athens and Sparta were fighting besides each other against the Persians in the Persian War. At the end of the Persian War in the war was victoriously won by Greece and Athens would grow very powerful. Tensions would rise between Athens and Sparta and would lead into decades of a huge rivalry. Thucydides ,an Athenian Historian, believed the rivalry was because Sparta would be scared of the growing power of Athens. The rivalry would last for almost 50 years but war would come. Athens was disrupting the Alliance for the Peloponnesian league
and another city state. Pericles one of the head leaders of the Athenian rivalry would never be scared of the Peloponnesian League knowing that they had a much stronger army than Athens. A plague would outbreak in Sparta’s best allies city state and would spread to Athens and would kill Pericles. This was a crucial loss for Athens. The Delian League would lose many of their city states. The Peloponnesian League would defeat the Delian League leaving Athens bankrupt and would lose all the power they would ever have. As you can see From the end of the Persian War to the Peloponnesian War Athens and Sparta would have a very edgy relationship.
Due to the Peloponnesian war Athens and Sparta were weakened in many critical aspects from the war .
Athens would lose half of their male population due to fighting, the plague and the famine. Sparta would also lose many people. At the end of the war there was few more thousand male soldiers. Another casualties both Athens and Sparta had were the loss of farms. Due to Greece’s mountainous structure farming was not one of Athens or Sparta strength. The loss of farms would be critical since one of Athens and Sparta strength were trading they would have very little to trade. The Peloponnesian war would weaken Athens and Spartas
strengths.
At the time Ancient Greece was one of the most powerful empires in the world. Their most powerful city states were Athens and Sparta. Athens had an amazing navy and Sparta had a large land army that together would make Greece one of the strongest empires ever. Due to the Peloponnesian war Athens and Sparta would be weakened in the military aspect of the empire. Another part that would weaken Greece is the fact that both of these city states would become bankrupt after the war, Athens especially. Sparta played a key role in Athens demise. Sparta would burn Athens crops, destroy their navy, and would destroy their cities. At the end of the Peloponnesian war Athens would be in debt to Persia because they would try to support Athens in the war. Sparta would not be in the condition Athens was but would be weakened because they would use a lot of resources in the war and they would fight and lose many men due to the war.

Even though Greece has done great things after the Peloponnesian War but they would never have the strength and relevance in the world like they used to have before the Peloponnesian War. From the Peloponnesian war Athens and Sparta would be destroyed in many ways.