I. Contradictions and disputes between Greek allies During the Greek-Persian War, Greek city-states formed an anti-Persian alliance in order to defend their independence, and elected Sparta as the leader, and Athens was actually the most powerful and prestigious member of this alliance, which played a huge role in several major battles. After the Persian army was driven out of Greece, contradictions and disputes between the Greek allies appeared.
Some city-states with developed handicrafts, commercial production and maritime trade, including Thrace, which has been liberated but is still under the rule of Persian Empire, and the Greek city-states on both sides of the Liante Strait and along the coast of Asia Minor, strongly advocate continuing the war against Persia to the end and restoring normal economic exchanges with various regions along the Black Sea.
Sparta is an agricultural country with no maritime trade. Their support for the alliance became less enthusiastic when military operations turned to the sea. In this case, the countries willing to continue fighting naturally resented the Spartans and began to gather around the Athenians. Later, these countries established a new alliance with Athens as the center, called the Athens Maritime Union. Shortly after the establishment of the Athens Maritime Union, it launched an attack on Persian troops stationed on both sides of the Black Sea, Thrace Coast and Ponte Sea in Hellers, and soon wiped out the Persian troops in this area.
In the mid-5th century BC, Athens carried out democratic reforms and became the largest and most prosperous center of economic, political and cultural life in Greece, while the maritime alliance of Athens actually became the maritime hegemony of Athens. The alliance centered on Sparta in the Peloponnesian Peninsula was greatly disgusted with this, and the contradictions between the two sides gradually became sharp. On the one hand, the opposition has economic and political reasons, on the other hand, both sides want to compete for hegemony in the Greek world. In addition, the contradictions between the allies of the two major alliances are intertwined, expanding and deepening day by day, and finally developing to irreconcilable levels.
Second, the fuse of the war was that Athens and Corinth, a member of the Spartan League, competed for immigrant land. Although Corinth's economic strength and maritime strength are also very strong, it is incomparable against such a strong enemy as Athens. Collins felt that he was weak and had to turn to the support of his Spartan allies. Sparta has long been uneasy about the strength of Athens' military power, but now it is fidgeting because of its own rear and unwilling to participate in the war. Corinth and other city-states strongly encouraged and oppressed them. Sparta was afraid of losing Corinth, one of its most powerful members, so they agreed to their demands.
In 432 BC, the Spartan League held a general meeting and put forward many tough demands to the Athenians, knowing that it was impossible to agree. Athens failed to refute the criticism imposed on Athens. Sparta sent an ultimatum to Athens, which was rejected by King Pericles of Athens. The following year, the war broke out.
Third, Corinth, an ally of Sparta, started the first battle. In the spring of 43 1 BC, Corinthians attacked Platia, an Athens ally, at night, but failed. Two months later, the Spartan king personally invaded Attica with heavy infantry and attacked each other on the plains near Athens. Rural residents could not settle down and were forced to flee to Athens.
The Athenians deeply felt that the shortage of army troops would inevitably lead to heavy losses, so they adopted a battle plan based on calculating the strength comparison between the two sides, giving full play to the advantages of maritime power and attacking the enemy with their own strengths.
Just when Sparta invaded Attica, the Athenians avoided fighting the enemy on land, concentrated their navy on the Peloponnesian coast, blocked the enemy's ports, and cut off the enemy's trade to force the enemy to make peace. The rear of Sparta was attacked. Forced to return.
In 430 BC, Spartans invaded Attica again, burning and looting, which was extremely cruel. Farmers fled the disaster of war and poured into cities. Because Athens controls the ocean, although the city is overpopulated, there is no food panic. However, there is a crisis of farmers' dissatisfaction because the rural residents who flood into the city are concentrated in narrow places and their living environment is extremely bad. The Athenian army was at a disadvantage, so did King Pericles of Athens.
This strategy actually preserved the effective strength of Athens, and later disrupted Pericles's strategy because of the plague. Residents concentrated in Athens were attacked by plague and died in large numbers. There was also a plague in the Athenian navy, and hundreds of people died. In 429 BC, Pericles also died of the plague. Great misfortune seriously affected the spirit and economy of the Athenians.
4. Cleon drove the Athenian fleet into the Peloponnesian Peninsula, and the situation in Sparta changed. In 428 BC, the heavy infantry of the Spartan League re-entered Attica, and riots broke out again in the Athens League and the city-state of Mi Terrini on the island of Lesbos on the east coast of the Aegean Sea. Athens is also divided into pacifists and warmongers. At this extraordinary moment, Democratic leader Cleon strongly advocated the war of resistance. After he became the commander-in-chief of Athens, he quickly turned Pericles's defense strategy into an offensive and aggressive war.
In 425 BC, Cleon drove the Athenian fleet into the Peloponnesus, occupied the port of Pilars, and captured a Spartan aristocratic army. He was very proud of his success in the first battle, and then he led the army to try to fight the Spartans again.
The fall of Styria changed the situation in Sparta. At this time, Sparta adopted the idea of General Brasida, avoided the main force of Athens, and led an elite army of about 2,000 people to advance northward through the Greek Peninsula, and reached the western peninsula of Cassidy between Macedonia and Thrace after a strong March. Brasida, commander-in-chief of Sven Sparta, used force here to attack Athenian allies and colonies, the most important of which was the city of Cryptopepolis. On the other hand, he incited and provoked some city-states that were willing to leave Athens, promising them freedom and protection. Under the planning of Sparta, most Athenian allies defected to Sparta.
These actions of Brasida fundamentally changed the situation of the two armies in the north. When the Athenians saw that their alliance began to disintegrate, they were very alarmed. Forcing Athens to send the main rescue.
Before the reinforcements arrived, Cleon marched into Amphipoli in 422 BC. Cleon, commander-in-chief of Athens, immediately called up 1200 heavy infantry, 300 cavalry and allies, and 30 warships to take the western peninsula of Cassidy. After landing, they attacked by land and water, successfully captured Torun City, and then went by sea to bypass atos Point and headed for Indianapolis. After the Athenian army landed at Aeon, Cleon found it difficult to win by these forces alone, so he sent messengers to Thrace and other allies for help.
The Athenians were stationed in Aeon, waiting for reinforcements. Cleon's idea is that after concentrating huge forces, he will surround the whole city of Indianapolis at once and then seize the city at one fell swoop. The plan was good, but later the soldier thought he was frightened by the enemy and expressed dissatisfaction with him. Encouraged and urged by the soldiers, his thoughts were shaken. Before the reinforcements arrived, he led the troops to March on the dark princess Boli.
The city of Amphipoli is a natural moat at the corner of the Stremont River, surrounded by rivers on three sides. A wall was built east of the city. Under the city wall, there is a road leading south to Aion, and then to the east is a hill. When the Athenian troops arrived, they occupied the hills in the east of the city. Cleon made a detailed reconnaissance of the terrain outside the city and planned to retreat at any time in case of an accident. In fact, at this time, the city of dark princess Indianapolis was not defended, and the Athenians did not find the enemy. If the Athenian army can attack at this time, it may not be difficult to capture the city. But the Athenians didn't bring siege equipment and didn't want to attack the city.
The intransitive verb Spartan Commander Brasida's Tactical Spartan Commander Brasida is in Ajilas, about 10 km away from Oncey. After he learned that the Athenian army had attacked Annapolis, he personally led scouts to conduct reconnaissance in order to further understand the situation. At this time, the Spartans had 2000 Greek heavy infantry, 300 Greek cavalry, and 2500 allied troops and cavalry light shields. According to the reconnaissance, Brasida decided to send 1500 soldiers to Aguilar to prevent the rest of the troops from moving into Annapolis quickly.
Brasida also lacks confidence in his own army. He believes that although the number of troops is comparable to that of the Athens army, the quality is quite different. The Athenian army is a selected elite force. However, the Spartan army has a complicated personnel, rough equipment and uneven military capabilities. If there is a direct conflict with the Athenian army, these weaknesses will inevitably be exposed to the enemy. We must launch a surprise attack and defeat the Athens reinforcements before they arrive.
To this end, he divided his troops into three parts: two parts were hidden in the south gate and north gate of the east wall of the secret princess Boli, and the other part was hidden in the middle gate, led by Brasida himself. His plan is to lure the enemy out of the city with the troops in the middle gate first, so that the Athenian army will have the psychology of underestimating the enemy, and then send troops to meet the enemy. When the two sides are at war, the other two forces will open the city gate, go around and rush to the enemy line, and then attack on three sides to win in the chaos. To this end, Brasida called the whole army to give a speech, encouraging morale and ordering the troops to deploy as planned.
7. Both commanders were killed at the same time. Because the Athenian army was stationed on the hill, commanding and seeing the actions of the Spartan army clearly. Although the city was knocked open, it failed to escape the eyes of the Athenians. Seeing everything about the Spartan army, Cleon hesitated. He wanted to take the initiative to attack but didn't bring siege equipment, and then resisted when the enemy attacked, for fear that he would suffer from insufficient troops. Thinking about it, the final conclusion is not to take risks and wait patiently for the soldiers to arrive. So he ordered the troops to return to AEON. The left wing is in front and the right wing is behind.
The soldiers were extremely dissatisfied with this. As soon as they turned around, many people were depressed, moving slowly and the team was in disorder. All kinds of weapons collided with each other and shouted. As soon as the Spartan commander Brasida saw the fighter coming, he ordered the attack. The soldiers stationed at the south gate first opened the gate and quickly intercepted the left-wing troops in the south of Athens along the avenue. The left wing of Athens is retreating south along the mountain road, and the team is in chaos. They were suddenly shocked by the Spartan army, and the team quickly dispersed and lost their balance. Some troops guarding the north gate also rushed over from the left wing, and the Athenian army was attacked from both sides, which made the order more chaotic. After the left wing of the Athenian army in front was hit, it immediately fled in rout. On the other hand, the Spartan commander Belasi led the troops to attack the right wing, and the besieged right wing resisted wildly and fought back desperately.
They concentrated on the mountains and persisted in fighting back, repelling the three attacks of the Spartan army, making it difficult for the Spartan army to get close. In the impact, Spartan commander Brasida took the lead and led his troops to kill him. As a result, he was hacked to death by the Athenian army in the melee.
The Spartan army was blocked and had to be surrounded by cavalry and light shield infantry, projecting from a distance with javelin. The Athenian army was unable to resist javelin shooting and suffered heavy casualties, so it was forced to flee. Spartan cavalry pursued the victory, and some of the Athenian troops were killed, while others fled to the mountains and ran back to Aion along the path. The commander-in-chief of Athens, Cleon, was also killed in the retreat.
In terms of casualties on both sides, the war is not too much. About 600 people were killed in Athens and dozens in Sparta, but the commanders of both sides were killed at the same time, which affected the whole war.
After the war of the secret princess Boli, the air for peace between Athens and Sparta became strong, because the two main commanders who blocked peace died at the same time. They don't want to sacrifice themselves for the war of inaction. Ten years of hard war have exhausted the strength and courage of both sides. At this time in Athens, moderates gained the upper hand. They took the initiative to send envoys to Sparta to hold talks with them and discuss the peace plan.
In 42 1 year BC, the two sides concluded a 50-year peace treaty. According to the peace treaty, Athens returned all the areas conquered in the war to Sparta, and Sparta also gave up some other cities such as Cryptopolis. However, some important members who followed Sparta, such as Corinth, Mejaffat, Pio and other city-states, fought for several years and got nothing, so they were very dissatisfied with Sparta's policies.