The Spartans were really close to them on the other hand, this led to them having an open shot to Athens with little in their way. The Athenians had ships, but that didn’t stop Lysander from get into Athens and ending the war. xxii. The conflict after the war was mainly caused by the amount of power that the Spartans had. It caused Persia to help Athens for freedom and it also caused the city-states to revolt from Spartan control.
Persia conquered everyone they met at first. King Darius (king of Persia) sent messages to Athens and Sparta, telling them surrender; which they refused. Darius, now furious with the Greeks sent his army to fight at Marathon which was 26 miles away from Athens. The Persians lost this battle, a runner was sent to Athens to tell them of their victory. The Persians ran out of supplies and returned after the defeat of Marathon.
The Athenian ownership of the Delos treasury, suppression of revolts as well as the challis decree marks the transformation of the delian league into the Athenian empire. The role of the delian league was to protect those Greek states which had already revolted from Persia and to liberate those still under Persian rule. The league was very active in overthrowing Persian power and consolidating the role of Athens as hegemon’s in the Greek world. It was clear that the alliance was unequal from the beginning because, the leadership was Athenian, they had the largest fleet and they were also superior in resources. This was a result from their successes in the Persian wars, in particular the battle of Salamis.
Herodotus accounts of the Corinth assembly speak of Themistocles pursuit of unity. Despite whole unity not achieved, the Greek force was extremely disciplined. Which allowed them to fight and defeat the Persians as a unified force? The Persians did not have unity- Herodotus accounts that in the battle of salamis- “Artemisia was chased by an Athenian trireme…she rammed one of her friends”. Morale The morale of the Greek soldiers in comparison to the Persians contributed to their victory.
Tensions between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League eventually led to the Peloponnesian war. Thucydides believed that Sparta was afraid of the growing power of Athens, which had essentially resulted in the creation of an Athenian empire. Sparta felt that Athens was meddling in their business, and Athens would not agree to avoid interference. After twenty-seven years of war, and the participation in one way or another of many of the city-states belonging to the two leagues, both Sparta and Athens were in ruins. Sparta claimed the victory, and the city-states continued their bickering and fighting.
In Ionia and islands such as Samos and Naxos, there was a clear divide in attitude towards the Persians, Polycrates the tyrant of Samos was pro Persian like many of the tyrants in Ionia, and he sent 40 ships to help the Persian in their expedition to Egypt, as we know there was an uprising by a anti Persian party in Samos, this would show us that even before the Persian subjugation of Ionia there was a clear resentment to Persian occupation. Herodotus shows us that after the failure of the Persian expedition to Naxos, Aristagoras decided to remove all the Tyrants in Ionia, this would show that maybe at the time there was increasing unrest in the cities of Ionia and that Aristagoras had an opportunity to start the revolt.
Themistocles played an essential role in the Persian wars and was a key factor to Greek victory in these wars. He made this impact through his pre-war efforts, his leadership skills and his intelligence in tactics which is shown during the battle of Salamis. During his pre-war years, Themistocles came to the realisation that if Athens was to suceed in it's war efforts against Persia then it would need to greatly focus on the improval of it's naval force. Unsurprisingly, however, most Athenians disagreed with this idea as it would result in a weakened land military force and less money to the citizens of Athens. In order to persuade his fellow Athenians to support his idea of a strengthened naval force, Themistocles resorted to trickery.
Athens was more worried about the comfort and culture during the time of the military battles. The oligarchy in Sparta put a war like attitude as it's first priority and it met the needs of Ancient Greece. Athens did not have the best form of government because it did not give the citizens of Greece more freedom. The Athenian democracy can not be called a true democracy because there was several flaws in the governement and how it worked. Only the
The long kept system unravelled after defeat at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. The Composition of the Army The Kings and Leadership Sparta was ruled by two kings, and originally both of them led the army to war. Problems arose and the policy was changed so that only one king went campaigning at a time, the other remaining in Sparta. The general-king held supreme command of the army and had the right to declare war and make all decisions in battle. However, he had to be wise with his power, as authoritative officials called ephors followed him to act as advisors and watch that he behaved responsibly and fairly.
FROM ATHENS TO AMERICA: WHY GREAT CIVILIZATIONS FAIL Roger D. Masters Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor Emeritus of Government Dartmouth College History shows that dominant powers (whether called Hegemons or Empires) confront challenges to their status as circumstances change. Toynbee called it “Challenge and Response.” Some hegemonic powers adapt successfully as did the Roman Republic when geographic expansion led to insufficient military strength and communications to police longer frontiers. Others, like ancient Athens, fail to change strategy and tactics when their expanding power confronted new obstacles. In this case, the result was a loss of Athenian primacy after the city was sacked and Alexander the Great’s Empire established rule over the Eastern Mediterranean. Alexander’s Empire was even more evanescent, however, because his military victories were never followed by effective planning for the inevitable transition from battlefield to administering law and order.