Peloponnesian War

1. Peloponnesian War By David, Valerian, Anthony Documentary Pitch

2. Our Pitch • Our movie is directed towards high school scholars. (around our age) • PG-13 Movie • Our Movie will have one person (narrator) and he will talk about it

3. Introduction (part 1) • The Peloponnesian War was between Athens and the Athenian empire versus Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, and the members of the Peloponnesian Confederacy • It took place from 431 - 404 B.C.E. • It was the first war to be recorded by an eyewitness historian of the highest caliber • The war began on 4 April 431 B.C. • Ended on 25 April 404 B.C.

4. Introduction (part 2) • The war may be divided into three major periods • The Archidamian War • The Ionian or Decelean War • The Sicilian war • Five phases • Phase 1 (431-427) • Phase 2 (426-421) • Phase 3 (421-417) • Phase 4 (412-408) • Phase 5 (407-404)

5. Causes (part 1) • The main cause of the war was Sparta's fear of the growth of the power of Athens • If Sparta had not also been eager for war then peace would have lasted. Sparta was waiting an opportunity • Sparta seized the opportunity

6. Cause (part 2) • Confident of victory she refused an offer of arbitration made by Pericles • Sparta sent an ultimatum that would have practically destroyed Athenian power • Pericles urged the people to refuse and Sparta declared war

7. Phase I (part 1) • Sparta relied on the traditional strategy of Greek warfare • hoped by invading Attica and destroying the crops she would force Athens either to sue for peace or come out to fight the standard set piece battle in which typical Greek wars were decided • In numbers , discipline , combat effectiveness of troops Athens was inferiorto the Spartan-Theban forces

8. Phase I (part 2) • When the Spartans invaded, population of Attica moved into the city • Athens became impregnable to attack • Its great fleet secure the empire against revolts and could take the offensive to raid the Peloponnesian coast

9. Phase I (part 3) • every spring and autumn the Athenian land army would devastate the lands of Sparta's allies (especially Megara) • If Megara could be recovered, then Spartan land access to Attica would be blocked and her Theban allies would not dare come down from the north unaided.

10. Phase I (part 4) • June 430 plague brought with the grain from Egypt or Libya swept the city, overcrowded with the rural refugees • Athenian troops sent north to reenforce the army besieging Potidaea brought the plague • Pericles himself died in 429

11. Phase I (part 6) • Athens began to offer peace in 430, but Sparta refused • 430-29 Potidaea finally surrendered, boosting the Athenian position • 429 Athens won two great naval battles at Chalcis and Naupactus • June 428 Mitylene on Lesbos revolted

12. Phase I (part 7) • 427 the Spartan fleet under command of Alcidas retreated instead of helping Mitylene, forcing surrender in July • the surrender in August of Athens' ally, Plataea, to a Theban army which destroyed both population and city itself • 426 Athens gained the upper hand in Corcyra, This brought the war to a near stalemate.

13. Phase II • 426 Athens new political leaders of the democratic party, Cleon and Demosthenes • Athenian forces attempted to carry the war to Boeotia (Thebes), Sparta, and even Sicily • 426 two Athenian armies moved toward Thebes, one under Demosthenes via Acarnania other under Nicias via Tanagra.

14. Phase II (part 2) • 425 Athens won its greatest victory at Spacteria • Sparta sued for peace Cleon refused • 424 all Athenian offensive plans failed • admirals return from Sicily, due to Syracusan policies • in November against Thebes was defeated at Delium by Athens

15. Phase II (part 3) • 422 Brasidas continued victorious despite Athenian reinforcements • Brasidas defeated the Athenian force, killing Cleon dying in the process • April 11, 421 Nicias concluded a peace treaty between Athens and Sparta that he hoped would end the war

16. Phase III (part 1) • animosities and policy conflicts which divided the Greek cities remained during this period • Corinth and Thebes refused to the peace treaty b/ Sparta and Athens actually fulfilled its obligations • 420 a new alliance of Athens, Argos, Mantinea, and Elis faced the Spartan - Boeotian Alliance

17. Phase III (part 2) • Athens new democratic leader in Alcibiades.Sparta military leader in King Agis • Agis assembled a powerful army at Phlius but was forced to make a treaty and withdraw b/ the failure of his Boeotian allies • Alcibiades pressured the Argives into denouncing the treaty

18. Phase III (part 3) • Agis 418 won the largest land battle of the war at Mantinea • 416 B.C. Alcibiades had ambitions for conquering Syracuse, controlling all of Sicily, defeating Carthage, and defeat of a surrounded Peloponnese

19. Phase III (part 4) • expedition launched in June of 415 and the command was divided among these three Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus • Lamachus was killed, the fleet was defeated • Nicias assault in July 413 was also defeated • The Athenian fleet was blocked in the harbor and then defeated in battle. Nicias army massacred and the generals were executed

20. Phase IV (part 1) • Sparta resumed the war officially in August 414 • all Greece expected Athens to loose b/ Sparta now had a strong fleet • March 413 King Agis occupied Decelea to keep Athens in a constant blockade on the land side and cut off the Athenian silver mines • Athenian empire started to fall apart with one city revolt after another in 412 and 411

21. Phase IV (part 2) • Persia entered by authorizing its satrap in Sardis, Tissaphernes, to support Sparta • oligarchic party seized power in Athens and started to offer surrender until blocked by a resurgence of the democratic party • Alcibiades fled from Sparta to Sardis, persuaded Tissaphernes to withhold his support from Sparta

22. Phase IV (part3) • Athens became totally dependent on food from Crimea through the Hellespont • Athenian commanders Thrasybulus and Thrasylus defeated the Spartan, Mindarus, at Cynossema in September of 411 • March of 410 Alcibiades won a great victory over the opposing navy giving Athens again maritime supremacy

23. Phase IV (part 4) • Sparta suggested peace, but the democrat demagogues as usual refused to listen. • 409 Alcibiades recaptured Byzantium, cleared the Bosporus and secured the grain supply. • Made a triumphant return to Athens on 16 June 408

24. Phase V (part 1) • Autumn of 408 a new Spartan admiral was appointed. • Lysander and became that formidable force • Alcibiades was forced to divide his own fleet • one force at Notium under Antiochus • ordered to refuse battle • For the next year Lysander was superseded by Callicratidas

25. Phase V (part 2) • Callicratidas blockaded the Athenian fleet of Conon in Mitylene harbor • Callicratidas was drowned while loosing and Sparta again offered peace • Athenian democrats led by Cleophon refused

26. Phase V (part 3) • September 405 Lysander captured practically the whole Athenian fleet • thus brought the entire war to an end in one stroke

27. Phase V (part 4) • After six months of starvation Athens surrendered on generous terms offered by Sparta • Corinth and Thebes protested • The city walls and those connecting Athens to Piraeus were torn down and the empire dissolved

28. Bibliography • http://www.laconia.org/gen_info_literature/Peloponnesian_war.htm#Peloponnesian%20War:%20Phase%202%20(426-421)