Whoever is the prominent military power during a specific time period that dominates many types of warfare and the largest force is usually the nation.  Before the year 479 BC, this nation was Persia.  However, even with all its given strength, the nation was beaten twice by the Greeks.  Even though it was thought that the Greeks were outnumbered by more than two to one.  Why then did the Greeks not move to conquer the Persians? The main factors why Persia had not been conquered before Alexander the Great is because of the political instability caused by Athens becoming an empire, a sense of Greek independence after the Persian threat, and the Peloponnesian War.

After the Persians failed to conquer Greece a second time under the leadership of Xerxes in 479 BC, it seemed that another attempt would be made to do so.  However, this did not occur because the Persians did returned to the Greek world.  Fearing the Persians would return at some point, the Greeks needed someone to lead them following the Persian War.  Originally, the leader of the Greeks was Pausanias of Sparta (Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War 1.128.3).  However, he came off as a dictator while he spent time in Ionia and barely lasted a year.  Following this chain of events, Sparta’s old rival Athens stepped into the scene and offered to lead the Greeks. The Greeks began creating leagues which other city-states joined.  The two dominant city-states that emerged as leaders were Athens and Sparta (Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War).   Athens became the head of the Delian League, and became a large power in ancient Greece during this time. This is shown by Athens collecting tribute in the forms of cash or ships to build the Athenian navy (see image below).  For nearly a quarter century, the Delian League fought against Persia.  The League was led by Cimon, who won many great victories against the Persians.  With the Persians removed from this area, a sense of security had come about.  The greatest victory came at Erymedon (476/6) when the Persians were effectively destroyed on land and sea.  (Thucydides The History of The Peloponnesian War).  However, with the Persian threat effectively neutralized, suspicions started arising.  Many city-states such as Naxos tried to leave, but the Athenians prevented them from doing so.  With the Persian threat removed, there were no apparent reasons to stay in the League.  This caused turmoil for the Greeks because many city-states that had become unified under a threat wanted to return to their old ways of independence.  Due to Athens forcing many city-states to remain in their League caused the city-states to believe that Athens had become an empire.  This feeling created more distrust throughout Greece.

 

Although Athens had become an empire, there was disunity within that caused for tensions that would eventually build up to the Peloponnesian War.  After Cimon’s successful battles, he returned home to Athens.  Pericles and Ephialtes were against Sparta, while Cimon was for Sparta (Plutarch. Pericles 9.3-10.6).  This shows more political instability within Greek city-states.  A devastating blow came to Cimon after the earthquake in Sparta and the Spartans turned the aid of Athens away when they called out for help.  This is shown by when Cimon stated, “Let’s no to allow Greece to go lame, or their own city be deprived of its yoke-fellow” (Plutarch’s Cimon 16.8).  On the other hand, Ephialtes said, “Let Sparta’s pride be trampled underfoot” (Plutarch’s Cimon 16.8).  Following this embarrassing event, Athens allied with Argos.  This action enraged the Spartans and tensions began to run higher.  Eventually, Cimon’s power was reduced, and Ephialtes and Pericles became the dominant political figures (Plutarch. Pericles).  Also, after the earthquake Athens started having conflicts with its neighbors.  One such example would be when Corinth and Athens were competing in a trade rivalry.  All of these factors led to the inevitable outbreak of the Peloponnesian War which weakened the Greeks.  The amount of political instability that took place during this time period prevented the Greeks of any chance they might have at actually moving into conquer the Persian Empire.

The first Peloponnesian War took place between the years 460-445 BC (Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War).  The cause for the war the great amount of political conflict from many city-states.  However, this war did not last and was supposedly “undeclared”.  However, after a peaceful period between Sparta and Athens, tensions began to escalate again.  The war began in 431 BC and lasted until about 404 BC (Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian war).  The first event that triggered the conflict was Corcyra told Potidaeda to remove Corinth citizens and tear down its walls (Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War 1.24-1.66).  The city-state refused, and the two city-states were at war with each side trying to draw Athens and Sparta into the fight.  Another event was when Megara was punished by Athens who was a member of the Peloponnesian League.  Diodorus tells us, “While these events were taking place the Megarians were finding themselves in distress because of their war with the Athenians on the one hand and with their exiles on the other hand” (Diodorus. Library of History 12.66.1).  The city-state of Megara was cut off economically by Athens.  Thus the members of the Peloponnesian League were calling for Sparta to take up arms against Athens.  The argument present was Athens had become too powerful and were not respecting the difference in the poleis.  Also, in addition the Thebans attacked Plataea, and war broke out on all fronts.  The Spartans had proclaimed that they were going to liberate all of Greece from any form of tyranny (Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War 2.8).  Hearing this call of freedom, many city-states rushed to join the Spartans in their crusade.  Eventually, the Spartans were able to win the war and neither side really made any gains after decades of fighting.  Following these events, Sparta became imperialistic and Thebes allied with Athens to resist them.  Overall, fighting continued which left Greece severely weakened.  This paved the way for the Macedonians to invade Greece and unite all the different city-states under one banner.

After decades of fighting at a stalemate weakened the allies of both poleis’ and allowed for Thebes and Macedon to rise to power. Since the Greeks could not unite themselves, conquering Persia did not seem feasible.  In addition, many after the threat of the Persians, many city-states wanted to return to their independent ways.  However, the formation of leagues prevented these events from occurring.  Since the Greek poleis were not able to unite under one banner, the conquest of Persia would not occur.  That is until, the Macedonians were able to unite Greece, and a strong military leader came to launch such a conquest.

 

 

Works Cited

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War

Plutarch. Cimon

Plutarch. Pericles

Diodorus Siculus. Library of History