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The Archidamian War 431 - 420 - Coggle Diagram
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
only 8 Spartans died opposes to 600 Athenians
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
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