Pericles Pericles, son of Xanthippus and Agariste, was an Athenian democratic who lived from 495 to 429 BCE, and died due to a plague that raged through Athens following the Peloponnesian War. He was one of the earliest believers in history of democratic government, and is known for his efforts in rebuilding Athens after the Persian Wars. He was the elected by the citizens of his state to be the military leader of Athens during the war against Sparta. Since Sparta was not a democratic government, Pericles really wanted to win the war to prove that democracy was the most successful type of government. He even spoke out at a funeral for Athenian soldiers who died in the battle, and explained that the survival of Athenian democracy depended on this war.
It is said by Plutarch that Miltiades enjoyed the highest prestige from the battle, and this would have increased Athenian reputation among the Greek states (it is important to note that one factor of the formation of e empire was that the Ionian States chose Athens), and would thus have made them more inclined to choose Athens as the hegemon, and allowing them to create their empire. Pausanius also played an influential role in the formation of the Athenian Empire; however it was through his negative actions and behaviour that this came to be. Pausanius was the Spartan
Therefore, Greek history itself clarifies to some extent that Tyranny was not thought of by Greeks as a bad title, not in the context of certain tyrants, though. Greek Writers like Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides make it clear that democrats thought that the power of tyrants was uncontrolled, so that they easily became violent and mean despots, surrounded by sycophants. Democracy, in this philosophy, was the exact opposite: people were free to speak and power was controlled and balanced. Within the long Greek timeline it shows that apart from Peisistratos, his predessesors; The "older" tyrants in mainland Greece of the seventh and sixth centuries were often dissatisfied aristocrats who managed to seize control of the state by cooperating
In the eighth century B.C.E., Hellenic Athens was an oligarchic government. The few kings, however, were overruled by the nobility due to the rise of the middle class. This allowed the tyrants to influence the archons and the popular assembly to ratify laws that protected the people. Many significant figures influenced this movement such as Draco, the man who helped establish written laws in Athens in 621 B.C.E. ; Solon, the man who encouraged trade and the popular assembly’s ratification of laws, creating an oligarchic plutocratic democracy in 594 B.C.E.
Jacksonian democrats were only guardians of political democracy, individual liberty and equality of economic opportunity, and the United States Constitution when it benefitted them. They were inconsistent in their handlings of these political notions. Voting in the elections during the 1820s to 1840 was more popular than ever. After the financial panic of 1819 white males without land demanded that they have suffrage and the ability to hold office; they were granted in the era of the Jacksonian Democracy (PK). White men now had universal manhood suffrage.
While democracy is viewed as a positive concept in modern day Europe, in ancient Greece it was constantly debated and opposed by many, including oligarchs and philosophers. While democracy was criticized by a number of wealthy Athenians, it is fair to say that it was regarded by the democrats themselves as the rule of law, and was linked to both public and political liberty or eleutheria. According to the Athenian democrats, the source of constitutional power rested in the hands of all the citizens. Ideas were expressed directly through the Assembly, which consisted of all male citizens over 18 years of age and who were willing to attend the sessions held about every 10 days. There was no system of representation calling for long campaigns and expensive elections.
Hitler never had more than 37 percent of the popular vote in the honest elections that occurred before he became Chancellor. And the opposition among the 63 percent against him was generally quite strong. Hitler therefore would have never seen the light of day had the German Republic been truly democratic. Unfortunately, its otherwise sound constitution contained a few fatal flaws. The German leaders also had a weak devotion to democracy, and some were actively plotting to overthrow it.
In reality Athenian democracy is a complete mockery of itself by not abiding by the ‘guidelines of democracy.’(i.e. for the people by the people). Although Athenian Democracy has its flaws it also has positives, during the time of democratic Athens, Athens was at its height of wealth, it was the most knowledgeable state in ancient Greece, Athens was the centre point of the time. Athenian democracy worked in many ways, with the extent of the voting systems Athens was able to vote quite accurately and thoroughly. At the time of democratic Athens a very influential figure took the chance of becoming a king in a democratic society, Pericles in some ways he achieved what he set out to do, Pericles had a great influence on the Athenian democracy, a great example of his influence is his funeral oration or his famed building programme.
His power over the Athenian people, although not completely unchallenged, was maintained under the guise of merely a statesman. As sited by pbs.org, the historian Thucydides said it best: “In name democracy, but in fact the rule of one man” (para 5). Pericles began his speech with a treatise on Athenian ancestors. They were willing to do what it took to leave a better Athens for all to enjoy freely. In his words, they “spared no pains to be able to leave their acquisitions to us of the present generation” (Pericles para 4).
Greece had the first known democracy. Athens was run by a direct democracy, a system in which the masses made all of the decisions. The goals of the government were to strengthen the democracy of which they ran, hold strength to the empire, and to glorify Athens. Today in the United States we have a democracy similar to the Ancient Athens democracy. We have a government that makes all of the decisions for us.