WORLD CIV Classical Greece (Wars) Pt.2

Persian Wars:

- As we concluded Unit 1, we talked about the emerging dominance of the Persians in the near East 

- The Persians conquered Lydia and other cities of Asia Minor (the area on this map with cities including Pergamon, Troy, and Sardeis) including Greek city-states

- In 499 Bc, some of those Greek cities rebelled led by the city of Miletus 

- Called the Inonian revolt, it took persia (and their leader Darius I) six years to put it down 

- A small number of Greek city-states in what consider to be the country of Greece today offered to support to the rebellion, incurring the wrath of the Persians

4 Battles:

1. Battle of Marathon, fought between Persians and Athens, (Greeks Win)

2.Thermopylai, third Persian invasion fought between Persians led by Xerxes after going across pontoon bridge the second time, take over small Greek city-states then take on 1,000 Greeks and 300 Spartans, traitor tells them way around army leading to end (Persians Win)

3. Battle of Salimis and Plataiai (Greeks Win)

4. Platea (Greeks Win)

Ionian Revolt and Marathon: 

- The leaders of the Ionian revolt went to Greece for assistance, first asking Sparta who initially declined to intervene 

- Athens and Eretia, however agree to help, and the rebels sack the Persian city of Sardies 

- however the rebellion suppressed and Miletus burned 

- In return, Darius I of Persia decides to punish Greece for aiding the rebels 

- After the first Persian fleet bound for Greece is lost at sea in 492 BC (First Persian invasion) and second expeditions (Second persian invasion) in 490 BC destroys Ertia, attacks Marathon, and plans an attack on Athens

- The Athenians again ask Sparta to aid them, and Sparta again declines, because of a religious festival 

- The battle of Marathon is an estimated 60,000 persians vs 10,00 Greeks led by general Mitiades (General of the Athens Army, sent Phidippides to Spartan to ask if they would help)

- Greeks used the “phalanx” and 6,000 Persian killed as the Persian army is pushed into the sea

- Only 492 greeks are killed 

- Out numbered Athenians win the battle without Spartan help, the Athenians claim their superiority within Greece

- Spartans arrive too late, a runner possibly, Phidippides supposedly runs 26 miles to Athens with news of victory

Persian Wars: Third Persian Invasion, THERMOPYLAI

 Darius I sons, Xerxes, launches a huge force from land and sea in order to avenge his father and defeat Greece 

- Persian army crosses the Hellespont by creating a “Pontoon bridge” 

- Boats lined up so they can walk across but a storm destroys it

- Persians build it again, it takes 1 week to walk across 

- Smaller city-states immediately surrender to Xerxes

- A small Greek army gathers to fight Xerxes at Thermopylai, this time with the Spartans helping and led by the Spartan Leonidas I 

- The Greek army consists of 300 Spartans and 1,000 other Greeks, and they initially hold off Xerxes and the Persians 

- A traitor eventually shows the Persians a way around the Greek army, and the Persians win the battle 

Persian Wars: Salamis and Plataiai 

 After the Persians burn Athens, the refugees gather at Salamis 

- The Persians follow to attack them, but the Greek navy is hidden nearby and destroys most of the Persian fleet 

- 1,200 Persian ships vs 300 Greek ships 

- Thermistocles uses fleet to lure Persian navy to the stair of Salamis then used tides to attack Persian so they ran into each other

- Xerxes must retreat to Persia for the time being, but leaves a large army behind 

- The remaining Persians are defeated by the Greeks (Athens, Spatat, Corinth, etc) at Plataiai

 Greeks led by Spartan general Pausanias vs Zerzes son in law Mardonius 

- Mardonus is killed early in the battle ad Persians are defeated 

Results of the Persian Wars: 

 Athens becomes most powerful city-state

2. Organized Delian league, an alliance with other city-states

3. Dominated alliance, which slowly turned into Athenian Empire

Now  Athens in the Age of Pericles

Golden Age of Athens after the Persian War: 

Delian League= 

- The Greek naval alliance formed in 478 BC 

- The alliance is led by founding of the Delian league 

- ¨Delian¨ because island of Delos holds the treasury, because it is out of reach of other city-states who want to steal from it 

- The Delian League defeats the next Persian naval invasion at the Eurymedon in 469 or 466 

- Battle is a land and sea battle in Asia Minor 

- The treasury of the Delian league is moved to Athens in 450, giving Athens symbolic control of the Greek empire

- Trade expands under Cimon with the introduction of the Drachma, a silver coin currency 

- Cimon uses Athenian navy to intimidate and control league members

- Cimon lost power when he tried to make friends with Sparta

- Exiled for 10 years after offering assistance to Sparta

- City-States pay money/ tribute to the Delian League even after the war ends, but the Athenians spend the money on themselves 

- Athenians use money from the Delain league tributes to build up their own city is Splendor

Issues in Sparta: 

 Sparta saw Athens aggressiveness as a threat 

- They collect city-states around Sparta and form the Peloponnesian League 

Spartan Problems:

- Sparta is in decline this time because

1. Earthquake destroys the city and leads to helot revolt 

2. Prominent generals accused of aiding Persians

Themistokles:

The leader of the Delian League early on and the Greeks naval leader

- Eventually he is ostracized and ends up in Persia 

- Triremes are Greek naval ships, very fast and maneuverable, he creates them

- They use wind and human power to operate

- Their main weapon is a battering ram in the front, used to sink other ships

- Citizens who serve on the ships of the Delian League gain political clout as politicians pander to them

- Demagogues create new ways for the participation of less-elite citizens in government 

Age of Perikiles:

- On several occasions, Greek poleis rebel against the Delian leagues control 

- In return, Athens creates Klerouskhies 

- These are military and economic outposts of Athens placed in the land of their allies

- The practice generally alienates many of the Athenian allies 

- Perikles is the leader of Athens at the start of the Peloponnesian war and leads Athens through what is considered the ¨golden age¨ of Athens 

- Under perikles Athenian economy thrived and becomes more democratic

- Direct democracy is introduced and all citizens take part in government 

- Jury members received a stipend, Ostracism is continued 

- The funeral oration is a famous speech given by Perkles and recorded by Thucydides 

- The speech is one of the earliest and greatest expressions of democratic ideals 

- Economic and cultural life: rebuild acropolis that was destroyed by the Persians, The long walls are built to Piraeus

- With help of Aspasia his wife, Perkiles made Athens the cultural center of Greece, all with money borrowed/stolen from the Delian league  

Peloponnesian Wars background:

 Sparta creates the Spartan league consisting of Corinth and city-states on the Peloponneseus 

- This league encourages oligarchy 

- It also rivals the Delian League made up of Athens, Aegean city-states and Ionia

- Athens offers help with a helot rebellion but Sparta does not want help and sends them home, Athens is offended 

- 1 city-state tried to change from Delian to Spartan League 

- athens creates and embargo of Megara, an ally of Corinth

- Sparta supports Corinth and called for war against Delain League 

War Begins:

- Greek against Greek war

- Athens is at a geographical disadvantage due to location near the sea

- Sparta was inland 

- The war takes a long time as they are incompatible powers, Athens dominates the war at sea and Sparta the war on land

- Athens has superior wealth at the outset and believes they can outlast the Spartans 

- However, Athenians are also confined to their city and to the city 

- 431 and 430 BC, Spartan king Archidamus II Attica and destroys large areas around Athens 

- Athenians retreat behind the long walls 

- Pericles is deposed, but will eventually return to power 

Strategies: 

 Sparta invades Attica and attacks the countryside 

- Limits the food production of the Athenians 

- Athenians demanded allies send in food by way of their superior navy 

- Athens is connected to the coastal city of Piraeus by the long walls 

- This is how they get their food, Spartan invade every spring return to Sparta in the winter

Athens Strategy is:

- Perciles had people in the hinterlands move in to the city to live 

- Athens citizens were drawn behind its walls, strategy proved costly early on and got worse in 429 shen a plague brok out and killed ⅓ population and eventually, Pericles

- Perclies was the strategic autocratic for 29 consecutive years

- Before his death Perclies made his famous funeral oration speech

Pericles Death Leads to a split in leadership: 

 A: Cleon, wants to continue with the war, Advocated fighting them and offensive strategy, Ego, died from this

B: Nicias, wants to sue for peace, 50 year treaty, only lasted for 5,  Nicias then Akibiades were in power, Akibiades a crazy, angry man 

- Athenian assembly favors Cleon until his death 

The Agoge:

Sparta wrestling all day in the respect that you should always take your punishment, now days work for Agony, harsh society 

- Training school for ages 7-20 

- Everything in it is considered a test to see if you will be a good Spartan warrior, and you should do anything you can to survive

War Continues: 

425 BC,

Why do they go on for so long?

Sparta=Land (Army)

Athens=Water (Navy)

- Sparta offers peace to Athens after suffering several major losses 

- Athens rejects peace overtures until 421 BC when they lose 2 important generals in battle 

- In 421 BC Peace of Nicias was established

- Named after the main Athenian negotiator

- Peace was supposed to last for 50 years but only lasted 3 years

- Peace treaty is flaws, Sparta makes promises it cant keep and allies of Athens refuse to agree to the treaty

418 BC, 

 The peace is broken, Athens aligns itself with the city-states of Argos, Mantinea, and Elis in the Peloponneseus

- Sparta forces Athens to make a decision, reject its alliances or face open warfare in the south 

- Athens chooses warfare and the war unofficially begins with the Spartan victory at Mantinea

415 BC, 

The nephew of Pericles, Alkilbiades, convinces the Athenians to undertake an invasion of Syracuse, on the island of Sicily

- The invasion was successful at first but soon turned into a diaster

- The Athenian main commander Lamachus was killed, Alcibades was recalled to Athens to stand trial, and Nicias fell ill 

- The Spartan adviser Gylippus arrived in the winter and turned the tide of the campaign 

- The Athenians sent reinforcements under Demosthenes in 413 BC but he does not bring enough horses because the Spartans and Athenians have officially declared war on each other 

- Athenian expedition is complety wiped out, not one Athenian solider form the expedition returns home 

End of War Pt.1

 War turns on Athens after disater at Syracuse

- Alcibiades is exiled and moves to Sparta and gives them the advice to build a permanen form in Attica 

- This forces the Athenians to live behind the long walls year round and cuts them off from their silver supply with thihc they buy food

- Alcibiades will offer to negotiate a treaty with Persia if Athens allows him to return and form his own government 

- The Athenians agree and democracy is suspended in 411 BC

- The treaty with Persia never happens 

End of War Pt.2

The Spartans concluded a treaty with the Persians in 412 BC 

- The Persians supplied money for the Spartans to buy ships 

- This will not take place until 408 BC

- Sparta found a new and capable commander named Lysander who convinced the Persians to fulfill their promise to buy ships for the Spartans 

End of War Pt.3 

- 406 BC, the Major Turning Point after victory at the naval battle of Argunisae, the Athenian admirals were unable to pick up survivor in the sea due to a freak storm 

- This violated a long standing Athenian tradition

- The Athenian admirals were condemned and executed, removing the last of Athens experience leaders 

End of War Pt.4 

- 405 BC, Spartan admiral, Lysander, wins the battle of Aegospotomi 

- The Athenian fleet is destroyed, Sparta now attacks Athens with 3 armies

- Athens surrenders, and is forced to disband the Delian League, destroy the protective walls from their city leading to the Sea, and burn their remaining ships are burned

- Sparta forces an oligarchy called the 30 tyrants to rule Athens 

- Sparta seizes power (or hegemony) in Greece 

- Athens will recover after a civil war, ironically they are supported by Persia 

- The long walls are rebuilt in 395 BC democracy was restored

Major Turning Point

after victory at the naval battle of Argunisae, the Athenian admirals were unable to pick up survivor in the sea due to a freak storm 

- This violated a long standing Athenian tradition

- The Athenian admirals were condemned and executed, removing the last of Athens experience leaders 

Turning Points: Review 

1. Death of Percicle (During the terrible Plague, creates a power vacuum in Athens a power struggle between two men) They were thriving before this

2. Failed Sicilian Expedition  (conducted by Alkibiades, don't know why too Sicilia, maybe they were allies with Sparta and wanted to take them down because of that) Fails because they don't know what to do without Alkibiades, send more food and men to help but doesnt work and they lose more resources

3. Defection of Alkibiades (Put his name in the statue of Herma and defaced it, he runs away to Sparta and tells them how to defeat the Athenians)

4. Persian alliance with Sparta

5. Defeat at Arginusae, Pretty much threw their best generals in jail during the war, they stripped themselves of, military leaders, experience, and competence

6. Defeat at Aegospotomi,  After this battle the power of the Athenian navy is broken, they no longer have enough ships to break the blockade, can not sail in and out and can not get food or water, only a matter of time before it crumbles

- Athens never should have lost this war

Downfall of Sparta:

 Not enough people, men and women were separated after marriage and didn't see each other much leading to less birthrates

Post Peloponnesian War:

- To defeat Athens, Sparta offered Persia several cities in exchange for gold 

- Sparta does not follow through on the deal, and Persia in turn supports Sparta's enemies financially

- The Spartans finally give the requested cities to Persia, and Persian kings now dictate the affairs of Greece through diplomacy 

Results of Peloponnesian War:

1. Greece becomes a multi-polar system, each city-state develops and establishes its own independence 

2. Democracy survives in Athens 

3. Sparta declines because its social structure is not fit for the outside world

4. Real winner is Persia, Gain many Greek cities in the east

Greece After Peloponnesian War: 

- Spartan decline

- Sparta controls Greece from 404-372 BC 

- Greek cities generally do not support the Spartan power 

- The city of Thebes breaks free from Spartan rule and frees other Greek cities, ending Sparta's run of power 

Battle of Luektra:

 Fought in 371 BC Thebes under the general Epameinodas defeat the Spartans in battle 

- The Spartan army is only able to field 700 full Spartan citizens 

- The mystique of the Spartan warrior was broken 

- The Thebans use thor famous Sacred Band 

- After this battle many of Sparta allies abandon her 

- Thebes seizes hegemonic control of Greece until the arrival of Macedonians in 338 BC

Spartan impact :

Although they were feared, nobody wanted to model their government after them after their fall from glory 

Alkibiades is the main reason the Athenians lost:

- Sicilian expedition

- Defection 

- Advice to Spartans

- Says he can make a Persian alliance for Sparta but he cant

- Put Antioches in charge of the fleet of Samos while he was gone and Lysander took advantage of this and defeated the Athenian navy and he was no longer in power, was later killed

- A third of the turning points were due to him

Lysander 

- Lived in luxury, Spartan Naval general that was successful

- Won the battle of Aegospotmoi causing, leading to demise of Athens 

- Responsible for the surrender of Athens

- Left Sparta after this even though the Spartans want him there and then strip them of his rule when he comes back 

- After the war Lysander places a pro-Sparta oligarchy called the 30 tyrants to rule Athens

Battle of Mantinea

- In 362 BC is won by the Thebians and is the last stand of the Spartans

- The Thebeians gain hegemony over Greece for a short period of time, and the Spartans are pretty much wiped out and return to being a farming village just like they had started as a small city-state without much or any power 

Reason for Creation of Delian League:

- To prevent future Persian invasions 

- To protect grain and silver shipments that were going in and out of Athens