The Peloponnesian WarKevin GarciaGreek and Roman HumanitiesEducator LorenzAncient Greece in 431 BC was not a country. It was a vast accumulation of opposing city-states located on Greek territory, on the western coast of Asia Minor and on the numerous islands of the Aegean Sea. Most of the city-states had unified with one or the other of the major military forces which were Athens and Sparta. Athens was an extraordinary maritime force, while Sparta depended primarily on its armed force for dominance. In 431 BC these collusions went to war with each other in a clash called the Peloponnesian War. The war, which lasted a long time, takes its name from the Peloponnese, the promontory on which Sparta is located. The consequence of the war was the devastating defeat of Athens and the end of its maritime dominance. An even more long-term result was the debilitation of all city-states. This left them powerless against Macedonia's seizure of power a few decades later. The Athenian Empire and the Spartan Alliance coincided for the duration of the movement of forces maintained between them. A ceasefire called the Thirty Years' Treaty had been signed by both powers in 445 BC. Within 10 years the ceasefire broke down as Athens sought to expand its kingdom. In 433 Athens joined Corcyra, a province of Corinth, but Corinth was Sparta's partner. Pushed by Corinth, Sparta blamed Athens for hostility and undermining the war. Athens, under the authority of Pericles, refused to support. The war began in the spring of 431, when Thebes, an ally of Sparta, attacked Plataea, an ally of Athens. The war was divided into three phases. The main period of the Peloponnesian War, which runs from 431 to 421... middle of paper... red in Sparta. Athens was badly defeated in Sicily, but was forced out for another two years because Sparta did not express its preference after the Sicilian misfortunes. By 412 Sparta, with the help of other allies, had built up its naval force. This was accomplished with the help of Persia, a traditional enemy of the Greek city-states. Sparta's union with Persia, on the other hand, made the other city-states uneasy, and they became less enthusiastic about rebelling against Athens. Athens was now in a bad political position. A theocracy overthrew the voting system in 411, and the oligarchs were soon supplanted by a more direct administration. The full vote-based system was reinstated in the middle of the year 410 after a great Athenian maritime triumph over the Spartans. Alcibiades was reviewed by Athens and received an incomparable summons. Be that as it may