Essay on Sicilian Expedition and Decelean War

The seizure and fortification of the city of Decelea signified the beginning of the second period of the Peloponnesian War, which got the name of the Decelean War.
The Athenian putsch of 411 BC was a revolutionary movement which overthrew the Athens’ democratic government and displaced it with a very nondurable oligarchy. A group of prominent and wealthy Athenians were the head of this movement. These people were the authorities in the Athenian army at Samos, and they were coordinated by Alcibiades, who gave the promise to get Persian help to Athens if the democracy could be totally overthrown. The parleys with Alcibiades soon were stopped, as he turned out to be unable to deliver all the support which was promised by him, nevertheless the leaders of the oligarchic movement continued working on their plans to overthrow the democracy in Athens. So after Athenian democracy was overthrown and replaced by oligarchy Persia joined the war on the Spartan side. The oligarchy was soon overthrown too, and Athens won the Battle of Cynossema. However, the defeat of the Sicilian expedition together with the occupations of Decelea and the Oligarchic Revolution of 411 BC were substantially the beginning of the Athens’ destruction.
In spite of the fact that both Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes served one king, they still were each other’s competitors. They sent their representatives to Sparta (in 413-412 BC), because the one who finished the agreement would become Agis’ II minion. In this strife, Tissaphernes turned out to be more successful as he offered Sparta the help of the Persian-Phoenician ships, after which the Spartans agreed to conclude a treaty, and fought Athens afresh.
The new negotiations became the cause of more tensions between these two competitors, so that king Darius had to intervene: he sent his own son Cyrus, who was asked to be in charge of the Persian participation in the war.
The Persians made a decision to help the Spartans with money and warships. The Spartans made a bargain with Persia, their one-time enemy. They traded the Persians the Spartan land for gold. After that Sparta used this money to create their own navy. In 405, the Spartan admiral Lysander defeated the Athenian navy. In 404, Athens was forced to surrender. At the same time, Pharnabazus, Cyrus, and Tissaphernes occupied the Greek towns in Asia. The Persians gained the profit from most of the Spartan victory. (Nigel Kennel)
Lysander served efficaciously as a commander of the Spartan fleet. Cyrus was very glad, just after that he started to provide the fleet of Sparta with money – and he even allowed Lysander to supervise his satrapy while he was not present (Plutarch).
Speaking about main reasons for Athenian defeat and Spartan victory let’s mention the vicissitudes that played the most important roles in this period. First of all these are Sicilian disaster in which Athens lost thousands of men, a great part of its fleet, lots of resources and its authority in the region. It also gave Sparta the opportunity to use the situation of weakening of Athens to attack its land. Not only Sparta got the chance to won a war, but even Athenian allies started to revolt after Athens started losing its power. It weakened Athens even more. Athens had political problems which weakened it from inside too (brief oligarchic coup by the Four Hundred). Next the fortification of Decelea made it impossible for Athens to use strategically important roads for the transportation of the supplies. Dealing with the Persians gave money and support on the sea to Sparta too. As we see it impossible to underestimate the great importance of the impact of the Sicilian Expedition and Decelean War on Athens and Sparta, as they were the turning point in the Peloponnesian war after which Athens started the beginning of the end for Athens. By the end of the century they were defeated and occupied by Sparta.

Works cited

Cagnazzi Silvana. “Tavola dei 28 logoi di Erodoto.” Journal Hermes 103. 1975: 385-423. Print

Kagan, Donald. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981. 393. Print

Nigel, Kennell. Spartans, a new history. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. 127. Print.

Plutarch, Lives. Life of Lysander. Vol. IV The Loeb Classical Library , 15 Dec. 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.