Thucydides Grievances

The historian Thucydides described himself as a wealthy Athenian general whose exile to the Peloponnese allowed him to personally observe, from both the sides of the conflict, a comprehensive account of the Peloponnesian War. Book 1 in Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War” is dedicated to explaining over fifty years of the events and proceedings that led to the abandonment of the Thirty Year’s Peace and subsequent war. In Book 1 he identifies four main incidents, which I shall refer to as ‘grievances’, regarding the conduct of Athens towards both their Delian members and the Peloponnesian allies. Yet he also mentions what he deems to be a more ‘real’ truth than these four grievances that led to Sparta and the Peloponnese going to

After the formation of the Hellenic League which successfully repelled Persia from Greece, the alliance broke up into two major forces. Thucydides claims “at the head of the one stood Athens, at the head of the other Lacedaemon, one the first naval, the other the first military power in Hellas.” (1.18) Athens and allies became the Delian League, which continued fighting in Asia Minor in order to conquer and liberate Persian controlled Greek states, and Sparta and allies formed the Peloponnesian League. However, once peace had been established with Persia in 449, the Delian League was reformed and Athens held hegemony over the allies and utilized them as tribute paying subjects. This caused many issues, with many allies attempting and failing to leave the league. Thucydides states that they had “deprived [their allies] of their ships, and imposed instead contributions in money.” (1.19) Greece was now divided between two major powers: the Dealian League which formed the Athenian empire and Sparta and the Peloponnesian allies. Up until this point, Sparta had maintained its hegemony and authority as the major power or empire of Greece. Naturally, the rapid expansion and power of the Athenian empire was a concerning threat and looming anxiety to their authority. Further alienating Sparta from Athens was their oppositional governmental ideologies of Athenian democracy and Spartan