Why The Peloponnesian War Is Relevant to Us Today

It is strange to think that a war from the 5th century BC would be relevant to us today, but it is a great example of how historical patterns can be seen and used in the present day.

The Persian invasions of Greece forced the various Greek city-states to join together to resist conquest. Athens, whose main strength was sea power, played a major role in resisting Persia. Sparta was the major land power in Greece. Athenians were Ionian Greeks, while Spartans were Dorian Greeks, creating yet another division between the two city-states. The second Persian invasion of Greece failed in 480 B.C.

Persia at this time was the largest empire in the world and the largest the world had ever seen up to this point. It spread from Greece to India to Egypt. It was made up of numerous nations, all under the sway of the Persian King of Kings. Its only failures where in its attempted conquest of Greece.

Athens formed an alliance in 478 B.C. with other Greek states in the Aegean Sea, the Delian League, and gradually helped Greek cities in Asia Minor to become free of Persian domination. This alliance gradually became the Athenian empire, and other parties to the alliance became tributaries and subjects, rather than allies.

We know much of our history of this era from Thucydides and his History of the Peloponnesian War, though we have other histories that reference the facts of the war. Xenophon later wrote his own history of the era and later, including his adventures in Persia.

Tension between Sparta and Athens started almost immediately after the end of the Persian Wars. Sparta pleaded with Athens not to rebuild its walls, which would have left Athens vulnerable to Spartan invasions. Athens refused.

War finally started in 459 B.C., when two Spartan allies, Megara and Corinth, strategically located on the Isthmus of Corinth, went to war with each other. Athens supported Megara and used the war to gain control over huge sections of central Greece. Its control of Megara and its control of the seas prevent Sparta from moving its armies to Athens. And even if Sparta could get its armies to Athens, Athens had walls that kept it safe from conquest.

War had its ebbs and flows and periodic peace. During one such peace, Athens decided to invade Sicily in 415 BC. Syracuse, in southeast Sicily, was a Doric Greek colony and therefore had ties to Sparta. Carthage controlled western Sicily. Other Greeks with ties to Athens controlled northeast Sicily. Athens, due to internal politics, decided to aid a small Greek colony, and use it as a pretext to conquer Syracuse. It went very badly for Athens and opened the door to their downfall.

Athens eventually lost everything. Persia intervened to assist Sparta obtained a huge fleet. Athenian subject states tired of being subservient to Athens. Athens ended up without its empire and without its status, and a fiefdom of Sparta for the next four decades. It would decline in power and never again have an empire. Macedonia would remove the remaining independence of Athens. Athens would only be a commercial and cultural center without political power. It would remain so through Roman and Byzantine rule, until conquered by the Turks. We would belucky to be a commercial and cultural center for almost two thousand years after our complete defeat.

Now there are many lessons we can learn from this war.

Realists appreciated the Melian debate, where a small island city state wished to stay neutral and pled for fairness, and the Athenians said, “No”. The powerful get to do what they want, and the weak get to suffer. While this is true, to a point, it is an incomplete point. There is blowback for powerful nations pushing around smaller states. Might makes right, but caution and respect for smaller states is necessary in order to avoid resentment and hostility.

As related to America, it has bullied the whole world to accept its demands. That works until someone says “No”. For the Melians, they were invaded and killed and enslaved. However, such arrogance ultimately lost Athens its empire. If it treated allies and neutrals with more respect and less of “join us or die”, it might not have lost the war or its empire.

Another lesson is to avoid going on adventures of choice. Athens invaded Sicily without good reason. Yes, there were fears that Syracuse would dominate trade in the western Mediterranean Sea region, and thereby help Sparta. But Athens was quite far away from Sicily and did not have supplies lines or the interests in the region outside of these general fears.

Another lesson is to not turn your alliance into an empire. Athens was the most powerful member of the Delian League, which was formed to resist Persian control over Greek city-states. Athens turned this into an empire and treated allies like subjects. This often led to resentment, especially as Athens used its position to create great monuments in Athens. The US today often treats its allies as subject nations and dictates policies to them. It makes many nations cautious in forming too close of ties with America and has helped to create blowback, including the BRICS group.

One aspect that should not be overlooked is the role of domestic politics in foreign affairs. One of the reasons that the Sicilian Expedition became so large was politics inside Athens. There were other times when internal conflict in Athens caused unnecessary choices during the Peloponnesian Wars. It was almost a running theme. It is much easier for a monarchy or other authoritarian government to engage in war. Once the people become more involved, it becomes a careful and difficult path to do so. The Vietnam War is a great example of losing popular support for a distant and unnecessary war.

There are many more lessons from this ancient conflict, but these are some of the relevant ones now.