The Archidamian War 431 - 420

Hoplites vs Fleet

The Spartans fought better on land, due to their superior hoplites

The Spartans had the reputation of never surrendering due to their role in Thermopylae

The Athenians had a better naval fleet, with 250 ships and around 50,000 sailors

The Spartans only had the Corinthian fleet

Pericles

insisted that Athens ought not to increase the size of its empire whilst it waged war

The strategy was not to defeat the Spartans in battle, but to survive the war

Invasions of Attica

The Spartan strategy was to invade the land surrounding Athens - Attica

There were annual invasions in 431, 430, 428, 427 and 425. The longest in 430 lasted 40 days

They sought to deprive Athens of the productive farming land that surrounded it, and to destroy crops

However, due to the long walls, Athens still had access to the sea. The citizens of Attica abandoned their farms and moved inside these walls

Also, the crops that had been growing in Attica, like olives, were almost impossible to destroy

The Peloponnesian allies (except Sparta) were all farmers so they had to return in time to harvest heir own crops, meaning they couldn't stay long in Attica

The Plague in Athens

in 430, the plague hit athens and carried on for two years

it was said to have killed around a third of the athenian population, due to it spreading so quickly

This is partly because those 200,000 that fled from the Attic countryside were now crammed into Athens

This plague weakened Athenian forces due to less men and Thucydides claims it was the most damaging factor in the war

The Spartan invasions of Attica were abandoned due to fear of the plague

Pericles was killed by the plague

Pericles bye bye

after he died, the Athenians turned against his conservative, defensive strategy

they operated in western Greece, blocking the gulf of Corinth, and this led to naval battles at Naupactus where the Poloponnesian fleet was defeated

This proved the Athenian superiority on sea, and thus was the last naval engagement of the Archidamian war

Then, Mytilene revolted from the Athenians and defected to the Peloponnesians which was a huge blow as they were one of two ship-providing allies to Athens

Cleon, a rising politician, suggested the entire population of Mytilene be put to death. This was voted for, and then revoked the next day

Athens were running out of money so insisted their allies pay more to continue with the war (Thoudippos Decree 425)

Pylos and Sphacteria 425

at the same time as the 6th and final invasion of Attica occurred, the Athenian general, Demosthenes, set up a fort on Pylos

This was on enemy land. The term for building fort on the land of the enemy is epiteichismos

Demosthenes wanted to incite fresh revolts from the helots here

The Spartans were fearful of this so immediately withdrew from Attica and counter-attacked by land and sea at Pylos, occupying Sphacteria to the south

an Athenian fleet arrived and secured the harbour, isolating the Spartan hoplites on the island

Initially Demosthenes tried to starve them on the island but couldnt keep this up through the winter

Cleon came to reinforce Demosthenes with 800 hoplites and drove the Spartans to surrender which opposed their reputation gained at Thermopylae

The Athenians now had 300 hostages, and Cleon's power rose

Brasidas in Thrace 424

he took a force of freed helots (neodamōdeis) and sought to 'free the Greeks' in the Thrace-ward region where Athens had many tributary allies that were now ripe for revolt

he first took Acanthus and then Amphipolis

Thucydides was dispatched with a force that arrive too late to stop Brasidas taking amphipolis (he was exiled for his tardiness)

Brasidas continued to Torone but in 423, the two sides signed an armistice which said that each side should hold what they had at the point of declaring the truce, but Brasidas kept on and took Scione and Mende

The Athenians demanded them back as the armistice declared, but Brasidas refused

and so in 422, Cleon re-took Torone and then tried Amphipolis where he and Brasidas fought in a battle and both died, but the Spartans were victorious

Delium 424

in central greece, the Athenians demosthenes and Hippocrates tried to turn several Boeotian cities to re-establish their empire on land

There was a major hoplite battle between them and the Thebans in Delium

Athens was majorly defeated

Peace of Nicias 421

with these two men dead, peace made sense

The Athenians had suffered two recent failures in Delium and Amphipolis which damaged their confidence

only 8 Spartans died opposes to 600 Athenians

they also feared that more allies would revolt

The Spartans had lost their reputation, their helots were deserting and they wished for the Sphacterian hostages back

Also, Sparta's thirty-year truce with Argos was about to end and they knew they couldn't fight another foe in addition to Athens

The peace agreement was signed in 421 and was to last 50 years

don't attack eachother

Spartans give back cities taken in Thrace-ward region

Athenians give back Sphacterian prisoners

However, a number of Sparta's allies didn't accept - The Boeotians, Corinthians, Megarians

the people of Amphipolis did not return to Athens

Argos didn't renew treaty with Sparta which left them concerned that the peace would not hold

so they went further and brokered an alliance with Athens whereby they would defend each other's territory and make peace and war together