Athens Vs Sparta

By the middle of the 5th century B.C. Athens and Sparta, the two most powerful Greek city-states, found themselves on the brink of a full-scale war. According to Thucydides, at the beginning of the war both Athens and Sparta were at the pick of their might and flourishing and could trade and cooperate to each other’s benefit; instead, they got involved into an armed confrontation, in which the rest of the Greek cities participated, on one side or on the other.

The growing military and financial power of Athens as well as its policy of forcing smaller city-states to join its Delian League was shifting the prevalent balance of power in Hellas and raising anxiety among Spartans, their allies and neutral cities. Sparta’s decision to get involved

P.51), by the year of 457 had encircled the city center with a massive stone wall and fortified a broad corridor with a wall on both sides leading all the way to the main harbor at Piraeus (1.107.1. P.57-58). “… Athens was now fortified sufficiently to protect its inhabitants …” (1.91.4. P. 50). Athenian fleet, built against “the prospect of the barbarian invasion” (1.14.3. P.12), and the city fortifications – made it unconquerable to direct attack. This concept laid the basis for the Athenian strategy – defense at land and offense at sea. In the light of the preparation to the war the Athenian general Pericles “gave the citizens some advice on their present affairs… They were not to go out to battle, but to come into the city and guard it, and get ready their fleet, in which their real strength lay.” (2.13.2. P.98). Protected from the land attacks by long walls down to Piraeus, Athens would behave like an island. It would avoid any direct land confrontations with Spartans at any price while its fast and mobile navy would attack Spartans at sea. To protect the population of Attica, Pericles commanded to move more than one hundred thousand people from Attica to Athens and bring them inside the city walls. As long as Athenian navy would stay supreme, Athenians could survive any siege, by resupplying from the allies of the empire. The technology of military siege machines in this period was not developed enough to break such walls easily. Consequently, regardless of what harm was done to the agricultural lands of Attica during the war, the Athenians could rely on sea power and import food by ship through their fortified port. They had huge financial resources collected from their silver mines and from the dues of the Delian League (1.99. P.53). The