1. ATHENS VS. SPARTA The Peloponnesian War 431 BCE- 404 BCE

2. Leading to the War - REVIEW:
- Athens flourishes after the Persian Wars
- Enter a new era: CLASSICAL AGE (also known as the golden age) from 480 BCE- 380 BCE. This time brought great art, philosophers and poets mostly out of Athens.
- Athens becomes the main polis (city) in Attica
- It became very wealthy in it’s trade market with the smaller city states
- 478 BCE The Delian League is formed with Athens as the head. It was formed to protect cities against further Persian invasions.

3. Leading to the War Continued:
- Sparta was another main polis in Peloponnesia (Southern Greece)
- It was the only un-walled city in Greece
- It was the first to keep a standing army of professional soldiers
- Had an oligarchic government meaning they were ruled by a king and a small group of aristocrats
- Unlike Athens, Sparta did not take part in the colonization movement between BCE. They basically kept to themselves, conquering city states close by were as Athens wanted to expand their city’s control.
- Sparta controlled the Peloponnesian land.

4. Athens vs. Sparta – WATCH THIS!

5. Why the War Began: Differences between Athens and Sparta
Democracy- Believed all citizens (men) should serve in council
Main wealth came from trade with other city states
Believed in art, philosophy and poetry (read Pericles’ Funeral Oration pg. 118)
Oligarchic Government- (ruled by few): two kings, five ephors, Council and Assembly
Kept to themselves. Did not trade with outsiders
Strict Military training both men and women. Mainly farmers and soldiers.

6. Why the War Began: Athens on the move
- Athens attempted to expand it’s empire into central Greece (Corinth) which threatened Sparta’s land.
- Athens also had blocked some cities from trading at Athenian controlled posts. These states within the Delian league who opposed the oppressions and resented Athens for their interference sought revenge.
- They asked Sparta for help
- This resulted in the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE

8. The War Begins: - Sparta’s advantage: Strong land military and numbers
- Athens’ advantage: Strong Navy
- Both cities set out with the strongest features: Sparta marched into Attica burning farms and villages while Athens’ sent the navy to blockade the towns of Peloponnesia

9. The War: Pericles Strategy:
- As Sparta invaded Attica, Pericles, the Athenian Leader, knew Athens was no match for Sparta’s army.
- He thought that Athens’ long, high walls were no match for the Spartan army, so he devised a plan
- He ordered all of Attica’s people on the Athenian side into Athens’ walls. Food would be accessible for the wall reached the sea and it would prevent the Spartan Army from entering. The plan seemed flawless
- But Pericles overlooked the fact with so many people living in such close quarters, hygiene would take over. A terrible plague took to the city in BCE, killing one third of the population, including Pericles.

10. Ups and Downs of the War:
- The war continued with victories and defeats on both sides.
- In 421 BCE, both cities agreed to a truce but this was short lived
- Athens decided to attack the island Melos. Melos had only wanted to stay neutral during the Peloponnesian war. But Athens demanded that they enter the war as an ally, or they would suffer the consequences.
- Athens killed all the men on the island that were of military age, and the women and children were sold into slavery.
- For obvious reasons, this angered Sparta.

11. Syracuse:
- The following year after Melos, Athens decided to strike once again
- Their target was Syracuse on the island of Sicily. The reason for attack was because it was closely allied with Sparta and Corinth and provided a large grain supply to the Athenian enemies. Also the defeat of Syracuse would aid Athens to conquer the island of Sicily more easily

12. Syracuse: Continued
- 415 BCE was the year Athens was to attack Syracuse.
- This invasion was extremely expensive and many Athenians had mixed feelings about the huge cost in money and people
- The fleet failed time after time to penetrate the walls of Syracuse
- Eventually the Athenian fleet was defeated and was surrounded and forced to surrender
- Athens suffered a great loss in both money and soldiers, as many Athenians had feared
- After Syracuse, Athens began to suffer in the war

13. Spartans Take the Lead:
- The Spartans then allied themselves with the Sicilians and next with the Persians which made them grow stronger both on land and now sea
- A combined force of Sparta and Persia defeated an Athens’ fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE, Athens’ power began to weaken
- In 404 BCE, Sparta blockades Athens, preventing the essential grain supplies from reaching the city

14. The End of the War: - Athens nears starvation with the blockade
- This forces them to surrender and the war has ended with a Spartan victory

15. After the War:
- Sparta’s allies wanted to destroy Athens and sell it’s people into slavery
- Sparta, despite Athens being it’s rival, did not want this of the great city
- Sparta spared Athens only demanding that it had to surrender it’s empire and it’s fleet (except 12 war galleys) and tear down it’s walls
- Sparta spared the city mainly because of their services to the Peloponnesian states during the Persian Wars.

16. After the War
- For the next few years, various Greek city states struggled for power
- First Sparta, then Thebes
- The biggest threat to the city states was Northern Macedonia…
Home to……..

17. Alexander the Great Alexander Becomes King Alexander’s Conquests
Philip’s conquests might have continued, but he was assassinated
Title, plans for conquests fell to son, Alexander the Great
Alexander only 20, but had been trained to rule almost from birth
Learned warfare and politics from father, mother, and Aristotle
Alexander’s Conquests
Alexander faced almost immediately with revolts in Greece
Set out to reestablish control
Used harsh measures to show rebellion not tolerated
Crushed Theban army and sold people into slavery, burned city

18. Expanding the empire
Alexander marches through Persia, and conquers the mighty Persian Empire
With defeat of Darius, Alexander the master of Persian world
- Troops marched to Persepolis, a Persian capital, burned it to ground as sign of victory
- But Alexander not satisfied with size of empire
Led army deeper into Asia, winning more victories
Led army to the Indus, perhaps to conquer India
Soldiers had had enough, refused to proceed farther from home
Alexander forced to turn back to west

19. Alexander’s empire

20. Alexander’s End
- Unfortunately, all the crazy conquering took it’s toll on Alexander and in 323 BCE, he died
- His reason for death is unknown but some theories include typhoid, malaria, or drunkenness
- his empire was left ‘to the strongest’ on his deathbed
- empire quickly fell apart without his leadership
- but Hellenistic culture spread across the known world

21. THE END