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Pericles Goals Leading To The Peloponnesian War

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We all have goals for ourselves but do our goals interfere with other people's life? Well Pericles's 3 goals for Athens interfered with lots of lives all over Ancient Greece. Athens is on the South-east side of Ancient Greece, present it is the capital of Greece. Pericles had 3 goals for Athens when he became part of its government but did his goals lead to the Peloponnesian War? Pericles 3 goals: Beautifying Athens, strengthening Athens's democracy, and protecting Athens did lead to the Peloponnesian War. The first goal that led to the Peloponnesian War was Beautification. Pericles wanted Athens to be the most beautiful city in the world. So Pericles stole the money from the Delian League, which had formed in case Persia attacked again. This made Sparta and the other city-states feel threatened. Pericles built the Parthenon and other famous buildings, making Athens beautiful again. This made Sparta and other city-states feel even more threatened because Peericalies had already taken money from the league and what if Persia comes back how would they defeat them? This feeling of threat could lead to war. …show more content…

Pericles started paying the government officials a salary. He also passed legislation granting the lower classes access to the political system and public offices, which they had previously been banned. This made Sparta and the other-city states feel alarmed because Athens was rising and they were worried about losing their land or not being able to stand up. All of these factors could lead to the point where war will

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He was a loved and a powerful leader. Under his command, Athens won many wars and also came to be the richest and most powerful city-state in all Greece. Unfortunately, in 429 BC, a horrible plague struck Greece which resulted in the death of Pericles. After this, the Greek government and democracy was never the same again. The death of Pericles affected Greece in a negative way because it became weaker and more vulnerable to other richer and more powerful city-states.

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Although if they remained neutral, Sparta might as well stay neutral, but without communication this can lead into an inaccurate assumption, and Sparta can attack, and if Sparta attacks while Athens are on the neutral side they will end up on the loosing side. The two states could’ve cooperated more if they had a more open communication towards each other during that time, if they both provided a better communication they could’ve both tell their true intentions, and war may have been averted. However usually states tend to assume that other states desire to control all of the land, even if they attempted to communicate and cooperate, could they trust on each other? Sparta knew that the Athens were aggressive especially under the control of Pericles, even though they wanted the balance of power, this aggression towards Sparta lead them to attack

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