Ancient Greek History - Part 1 of the Peloponnesian War - 17

Welcome to your 17th video on Ancient Greece. Today, we are going to look at the Great Peloponnesian War. Now in the previous video, we talked about the First Peloponnesian War, and if you will remember that, at the end, Sparta and Athens agreed to a 30-year peace treaty that was signed in 445 BC. But as you can see here, it didn't last. They only got about halfway there, and then in 431 BC, the Great Peloponnesian War, as it is so-called, started. Now back to that peace treaty, I think their intentions were pretty good. I think both sides honestly wanted to avoid another major war. So they did a couple things. First is, they did what everyone does at the end of a war. They tried to find out what started the war. And one of the things, of course, was that Athenian involvement in the war between Corinth and Megara. And of course, Megara switched sides and left the Peloponnesian League and became allies with Athens. And that was one of the main causes of the First Peloponnesian War. Well, what they did was they banned that. Now you could no longer recruit from either the Peloponnesian League or the Delian League. They were off-limits. And it wasn't just about recruitment. Even if a city from the Peloponnesian League or Delian League wanted to switch, Sparta and Athens was obliged to reject their overtures. So this is a very important provision to prevent another major conflict. And what this essentially meant is that you could not get involved in the affairs of the other League. That was considered their backyard and you better stay out of it. And they even went a step further. They took a look at cities that were not allied to either League. And what they decided to do with that was, those were fair games. So you could go ahead and recruit neutral cities. And that would be the provision, actually, that would lead to the crisis that started the Great Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Because that was a little bit of a gray area. And I'll talk about that in a few slides. Now the first serious test of the 30-year peace treaty occurred in 440 BC. And as always, it was the satellites that caused war almost to break out. It never seemed to be Athens and Sparta directly. It's always those satellites that you have to worry about. And in this case, the island of Samos and Miletus both fought over the colony of Praene. Now you will remember that Praene was a site of the major victory at Mycale for the Greeks during the Greco-Persian Wars. Well, now these two go to war over that and Miletus loses the war. But since these are both members of the Delian League, Athens orders Samos to call off their attack on Miletus. Samos rejects the Athenian pleas and continues on with the assault. And I think Samos can do this because they were a very powerful city in their own right. And didn't feel compelled to listen to everything Athens said. Well, the Athenians send a navy and they crush Samos. And in the process, they install a new democratic regime in Samos, throwing out the old ruling aristocrats. So Samos would be a democracy now since the oligarchs were thrown out. But the oligarchs don't go away easily. They ask Persia for help. And the Persians actually succeed in restoring the oligarchs back to Samos. And to compound matters for Athens, the city of Byzantium also rebels. So now this is a serious situation for Athens. First being that Athens is confronted with a rebellion from within. And of course these things have a habit of spreading. The other problem was what on earth were the Persians up to? Because a few years earlier, the Persians had signed a peace treaty with the Athenians. Essentially ending the Athenian aggression against the Persians. And to make matters even worse, Sparta is looming out there of course too. Because those of course were oligarchs that the Athenians had thrown out. And that was always the favored government by the Spartans. But did the Spartans really want to start another big war? Well, we would find out at one of those Spartan war consuls they called. And of course the issue was whether to make war against the Athenians over Samos. And its repression against the Samian oligarchy. Now I should point out that this would have been a violation of the 30 year peace treaty they signed. Because in that treaty the Athenians had every right to put down a rebellion that was within their own empire. Well, Corinth votes against going to war. And I find that very interesting since Corinth was permanently angry at the Athenians over the Athenian involvement in the Corinthian war against Megara. But Corinth talks the Spartans out of it. And the Athenians are allowed to go ahead and crush the revolt within their empire. And this was done quite easily without any interference by the Peloponnesians. So this crisis was averted but barely. And Athens used this time wisely to consolidate its hold on her entire empire. Well, now we move on to 436 BC. And this is the event that scholars and historians generally consider to be the one that started the Great Peloponnesian War. And it had this curious small little trigger in a place that in terms of ancient Greece was literally out in the middle of nowhere. I want you to take a look at this map here and you can get an idea how far north Epidamnus is. There is Epidamnus right there. And if you go down here, this part right here is the very northern tip of the Peloponnesus. So this is way, way up there. In fact, it's right on the edge of Greek civilization. And basically Epidamnus is surrounded by a bunch of barbarian nomadic tribes that are not even associated with Greek civilization as we know it now. And you can even see it's on the same latitude as Macedon which is also in the far north of ancient Greece. In fact, today Epidamnus is part of Albania. So again, it's this place that you would never have expected to be the cause of the Great Peloponnesian War. Now, what happens in Epidamnus is there is one of these typical Greek intercity disputes between the Democrats on one side and the oligarchs on another side. And what happens here is the Democrats toss out the ruling oligarchs and take over the city. But even in exile, the oligarchs don't give up. And they go to their mother city which is a city called Corsaira. And you can see it right here on the map. Now, Corsaira had founded Epidamnus. And actually, I'll digress here for a minute. Corsaira is actually modern-day Corfu. And you can see it down here. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful island. And they even filmed the James Bond movie here. I think it was For Your Eyes Only. And so it's just a gorgeous island. If you ever go to Greece, you definitely should make a trip there. But when I was in Greece, I actually didn't get a chance to go there, unfortunately. I went all throughout Greece but missed out on Corfu and I regret it. But that's because it's on the very western side of Greece, as you can see. So the people of Corfu, their ancient ancestors, are the Corsairians. Now, back to the Corsairians for a minute. They maintained a strictly isolationist policy during ancient Greek times. They were kind of like Switzerland. They didn't like to get involved in anybody else's affairs. So they reject the oligarchs. And as far as they were concerned, that was their problem at Epidamnus and they had to work it out amongst themselves. Well, the oligarchs go to those barbarian tribes I was telling you about up north and recruit them. And together, they lay siege to the democratically held city of Epidamnus. Well, the democrats now are in serious trouble of losing the battle. And so they turn to Corinth. And this is where things start to take a turn for the worse. Now, Corinth and Corsaira also have a history. Corinth, centuries earlier, had founded Corsaira. And so they were the mother city of Corsaira. But that's about where it ended. Because the two cities developed a long-term pure hatred of each other. So this is not a friendly colony in the way we like to think of most colonies under the domain of a mother city. They really hate each other. Well, with the news that the democrats have gone to the Corinthians for help, the Corsairians send a delegation to Corinth to talk the Corinthians out of getting involved in one of their own colonies. And to give you an idea of how worried Sparta was about this whole matter, they actually attend this conference in Corinth. Now, I think under normal times, the Spartans could have cared less about tiny little Epidamnus. But I think they realized that this could spiral into something much bigger. So I think they were trying to mediate a settlement. Well, the Corinthians aren't having any of it. And they are going to invade, and they are determined to get involved in the matter at Epidamnus. And so they send their invasion fleet. And the Corsairian navy defeats the Corinthians at sea. And so this is a tremendous humiliation for Corinth. Well, the Corinthians are very determined. And they start to build a new fleet. And the very thing the Spartans worried about most is, they start to recruit members from the other Peloponnesian states. And they get these other city-states around the Peloponnesian League to donate ships. So now they have a much larger navy than the Corsairians. Now, at this point, the Corsairians' victory over the Corinthians is pretty much a hollow victory. They realize the Corinthians are coming back. And they are basically now going to have to abandon their policy of isolationism. And seek help from outside. Otherwise, they risk utter obliteration. Now, of course, they can't turn to Sparta. Because many of the other Peloponnesian states are the ones fighting the Corsairians. So they have to look to that other great city in ancient Greece, Athens. And so they send a delegation to Athens to seek an alliance. Now, this is strictly okay. Because remember, the Corsairians are neutral. So under the terms of that 30-year peace treaty, this is allowed. The Athenians could go ahead and ally with the Corsairians and not break that treaty. And so that's the very point that the Corsairians make in Athens to the Athenian Assembly. They also make an argument to the Athenians that war was inevitable anyways. So why not strengthen your position and you'll have a good navy at your disposal. And one other point that the Corsairians make here, and this must have worried Athens to no end, is that if the Corsairians lose to the Corinthians, the Corinthians then will have the Corsairian navy. And with that navy combined with their own navy, the Corinthians might threaten Athenian naval dominance. And that was something that the Athenians could not allow to happen. Because their entire war strategy relied on them having the most superior navy in Greece. Well, Corinth also sent a delegation to Athens. And they are going to try to talk the Athenians out of getting involved in the matter between Corinth and Corsaira. Now what the Corinthians argue is, although this technically does not violate the Thirty Years' Truce, it violates the spirit of the treaty. And what the Corinthians I think are saying here is that, look, although Corsaira is neutral, and technically you have a right to go ahead and ally with them, if you go ahead and form an alliance with Corsaira, your ships could end up fighting our ships. So the Delian League and Peloponnesian League states could be fighting each other, and that was what the Thirty Years' Treaty was designed to stop in the first place. And with that, Athens has a very, very difficult decision to make. And what Athens does is they vote on somewhat of a compromise. They strike up a defensive alliance with Corsaira. They will assist Corsaira if and only if Corsaira itself is under threat of invasion. So this will keep the Athenian navy from performing offensive maneuvers, and they will only help Corsaira if Corsaira comes under invasion from the Corinthians. And so the Athenians vote to send just ten ships. And I think what is going on here is what modern historians like to call gunboat diplomacy. And that involves that if the Corinthians see those Athenian ships in the Corsairian navy, the mere sight of the Athenian ships will have a considerable effect on the Corinthians, and perhaps the Corinthians will call off the attack. So it's almost like the Athenians are sending a symbol or a message to the Corinthians. If you attack the Corsairians, you could drag our superior navy into this. Well, that symbol did not have the desired effect as the Corinthian navy attacks Corsairia, and they defeat the Corsairians this time in a very tough naval battle. And that battle became known as the Battle of Ciboda. And, of course, those Athenian warships get involved, but there's too few of those to make a real difference. And so the Corsairians are forced to retreat back to their island, and now it looks like the Corinthians are going to win this war. But the Athenians at the last second had sent another detachment of 20 more ships. And so while the Corinthians are winning this, they literally look out on the horizon and see that more Athenian ships are on their way. And now they assume that this is the full armada of the Athenian fleet. And so not realizing it was a much smaller Athenian contingent, the Corinthians call off the attack and go home. And so I would think of this situation almost as a stalemate. The Corinthians won the initial naval battle, but they don't achieve their primary objective, which is taking the island of Corsairia. And so now the Corinthians are angry as all can be. And from their perspective, the Athenians have gotten involved in one of their wars, and you will remember just four or five years earlier, they had convinced the Peloponnesian League to stay out of Athenians' disagreement with Samos. So this completely changed the foreign policy of the Corinthians and set them on a course to try to force the Peloponnesian League, from this point on, into a war with Athens. And they will get their chance in the next slide when we talk about a city called Potidaea. Now about that city Potidaea, they were a member of the Athenian Empire. So they were technically off-limits to both Corinth and Sparta. But the Potidaeans had a special relationship with Corinth. And so Corinth could use the Potidaeans to start a major war that they desired at this point. And so what they're doing is they're pushing the Potidaeans to go ahead and start a rebellion against the Athenians. Now before the Potidaeans do that, they go to Sparta and ask the Spartans for help if they start a rebellion. And Sparta agrees, but keep in mind Sparta has to do this in secret because technically they're not even allowed to talk to the Potidaeans because they are part of the Athenian Empire. Now the Athenians suspected something was in the works here. So they sent a fleet which had instructions from the leadership in Athens to rip down the walls around Potidaea. And the idea here is that would deter any future rebellions. Well by the time that fleet arrives, they find the Potidaeans are already in a rebellion. So Athens goes to war with Potidaea to suppress yet another revolt. Meanwhile the Corinthians send 2,000 hoplites to assist the Potidaeans in their rebellions. But they are sent as private soldiers. Because remember, officially Corinth can't send their army units to Potidaea because that would be a violation of the 30-year treaty. So they send these quote-unquote citizens. And we see this in modern times. If we look at the US attempt to capture Bin Laden, all the seals were temporarily transferred to the jurisdiction of the CIA from the military. And that made them technically citizens. Otherwise had they still been in the military, that would have violated the sovereignty of Pakistan. Now as soon as the operation was over, they are put back into the military. So these types of games go on even in modern times. So now that Corinthians are in Potidaea, they can take their case to Sparta and attempt to get a declaration of war. So there's this big meeting in Sparta and ambassadors from all these city-states attend, including Athens and Corinth. And so Corinth goes first and they make all their usual complaints against Athenian aggression. And then comes Athens' turn. And Athens basically makes the point that this will not be an easy war for Sparta. And they even make the point that they don't have to engage in a hoplite battle because they have those walls that surround Athens and their port city of Piraeus. And they also make the case that this will be a war like no other. That future generations of Spartans and Athenians will fight each other. And so this is not an easy decision for Sparta. And the reality here is that if Sparta decides to go to war, they are the ones breaking the 30-year treaty because Athens had every right to suppress the rebellion in Potidaea. In the end, of course, Sparta makes that fateful decision and votes for war in July of 432 BC. But the actual fighting doesn't start for several months. And we will get into that in the next video.