The Peloponnesian War was a war between two important city-states of ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, which lasted from 431 to 404 BC. The fighting involved the entire Greek world and, according to Thucydides, this war was considered one of the finest works in world history and the most significant up to that time. To learn more about the Peloponnesian War, a little background on both Athens and Sparta. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe Athenian alliance was an empire that included a good portion of the island and coastal states around the northern and eastern coasts of the Aegean Sea (82,626 mi'2). Sparta on the other hand was at the head of an alliance of independent states that included many of the major land powers of the Peloponnese and central Greece, as well as the maritime power of Corinth. The Athenians had the strongest navy and were better prepared financially than their enemies, while the Spartans had the strongest army. Athens and Sparta had fought each other before the Peloponnesian War, in what some might consider the First Peloponnesian War, and consequently agreed to a truce and called the Thirty Years' Treaty in 445. The Athenians subsequently took steps to violate after the Treaty of the Thirty Years allied themselves with Corcyra, a colony of Corinth. From that moment Sparta and her allies accused Athens of aggression and threatened war. Because of Pericles (the most influential leader) Athens refused to back down. Many efforts were made to resolve the dispute but failed. Around the spring of 431 a Spartan ally named Thebes attacked an Athenian ally named Plataea and the war began as a result. In reality, the years of fighting between Athens and Sparta can be divided into two periods separated by a six-year truce. The first period lasted about 10 years. This began with the Spartans who were under the rule of Archidamus II who was then leading an army in Attica, which is the region around Athens. This is where the Peticles refused to draw out the superior Allied forces, but instead insisted that the Athenians remain in their city and attack enemy coasts and ships. Within a few months Pericles was the victim of a plague. The killing of large numbers of civilians and much of the army. Thucydides survived a bout of plague that left a shocking impact on the confidence of the Athenians. Meanwhile, the Spartans attacked Athenian bases in western Greece but were then driven out. The Spartans also suffered a fall into the sea. Around 428 they tried to help the island state of Lesbos, which was a tributary of Athens that was planning to rebel. This revolt was later repressed by the Athenians who gained control of the capital Mytilene. Insisted by the demagogue Cleon, the Athenians voted to massacre the men of Mytilene and unfortunately enslave everyone else. But the next day they changed their minds and killed only the leaders of the revolt. Spartan originality during the plague years was unsuccessful, except for the capture of the strategic Plataea in 427. In the following years the Athenians took offense and began to attack the Sicilian city of Syracuse and campaigned in Western Greece and the Peloponnese itself. Around 425 the picture was blank for Sparta and it began to sue for peace. This was led by Brasidas, he was a hero of the Battle of Delium, a Spartan force achieved huge successes at Chalkidiki in 424 pushing and encouraging the Athenian subject states to revolt. In a battle at Amphipolis in 422 both Brasidas and the Athenian leader Cleon died. It is here that the ground was being prepared for Cleon's rival, 6