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→Immediate causes of the War
====Immediate causes of the War====
[[File:PEP FOUR.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|Vase showing an Athenian ship, a Trireme]]
The tensions between the Athenians and the Greek only Sparta grew. Thucydides noted that many believed that war was only a matter of time and that the Thirty Years Peace Treaty would soon be broken by one side or the other. All Greece needed was a spark to start a war. Thrace became the spark.
In 459, two Spartan allies, Cornith and Megara went to war. Athens asked the Spartans for assistance. Athens despite this laid siege to the colony. The Athenians, at this time were also in dispute with the small city-state of Megara and they unilaterally banned the ships of that city from its port and its allies. This became known as the Megarian Decree. Megara was a long-time Spartan ally and this was widely resented, as it was seen as an attempt to make Megara completely dependent on Athens.<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.71-73 </ref> This was not acceptable to Sparta and they believed that if Megara came within the orbit of the Athenians that they would use the port to weaken their position in Greece.
Sparta, supported by her allies demanded that Athens withdraw the Megarian decree, but this was opposed by Athens. Pericles the de-facto leader of the Athenian Empire argued against such a move as it would only encourage the Spartans to make more demands.<ref>Kagan, p. 115</ref> Thucydides states that the Corinthians condemned Sparta's lack of action until then and warned them that they had remained too passive for too long. They demanded action. Sparta was concerned that if it displayed any weakness that this could lead to its losing its pre-eminent position in the Peloponnese League.<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.67–71</ref>
