The Peloponnesian War. Spartan Goals and Policy after the Peace of Nicias

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject History - World History - Early and Ancient History, grade: 1, , course: Thucydides, language: English, abstract: After the Archidamian War, the Peace of Nicias provided much-needed breathing space for a weakened and disgraced Sparta and a war-weary as well as plague-ridden Athens. However, in the Peloponnesus the absence of effective statesmanship and political competence made the period following the making of the Peace one of confusion and ill-channeled ambition. While Athens sought to undo the damage done by Brasidas in Thrace, Argos mounted a challenge to Lacedaemonian hegemony in the Peleponneus. Nevertheless Sparta, through innovation, resilience, and warfare successfully pursued a policy of restoration and reconsolidation in the Peloponnesus and thus emerged after the Peace in a formidable position to once again take up arms against the Athenians in the last decade of the Peloponnesian War.