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→Long-term Factors in the Outbreak of War
====Long-term Factors in the Outbreak of War====
The underlying cause of the war was the rapid rise of the Athenians. They had grown from just another city-state to into an Empire. During and after the Persian Wars, it had transformed itself and became a major trading and maritime power.<ref>Cawkwell, George. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FA5ZGY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FA5ZGY&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=b0d12599fc35ad97a1a071a79c90ab5e Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War]</i> (London: Routledge, 1997), p 67</ref> It had developed into the greatest maritime power in the Greek world and could dominate the trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean. It had emerged as a great Empire in a quick period, and this upset the traditional balance of power. For many decades’ Sparta, had been the greatest military power in Greece. This superiority was based on its Sparta's well-disciplined and much-feared armywas the source of its military power. The Spartan Hoplite was considered the best soldiers in the Greek world.<ref>Hanson, Victor Davis. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812969707/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812969707&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=2988ca75b4a6858afae8101e8c5ce3d0 A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War]</i>. (New York: Random House, 2005), p. 56</ref>
The rise of Athens meant that there were two great powers in the Greek world. These powers both had a network of alliances all over the Greek world and beyond. The Greeks became divided into a Spartan and an Athenian camp.<ref>Cawkwell, p.115</ref> Athens and Sparta had different spheres of influences, as outlined in the ‘Thirty Year Peace’ treaty and theoretically this meant that they both could have lived in peaceful co-existence. Athens controlled the coastal areas of Greece and the Greek islands, while Sparta, a land power could control the Peloponnese. Despite this, Sparta grew increasingly fearful of Athens and its main ally Corinth was actively encouraging it to attack Athens.<ref>Hanson, p. 117</ref>
In 440 BCE, Corinth urged the Spartans to wage war on Athens at the same time as Cornith was suppressing a revolt on the island of Samos. The Spartan Kings were cautious and decided to avoid warconflict with Athens at that time. However, the Thirty Years Peace was under increasing strain. In the Spartan assembly, they were growing alarmed at the growth of Athenian power.<ref> Kagan, p. 134</ref> As Athens seemed to be growing more powerful, there was a growing pro-war party in Sparta. They argued that the Spartans had to attack Athens before it became too powerful. The fear of Athens increasingly led the Spartans to prepare for war, even though there is no evidence that the Athenians had any designs on Sparta or its allies.<ref>Kagan, p. 213</ref> Additionally, there were those in Athens who believed that a war should be welcomed. There was a strong ‘imperial’ party in Athens who believed that it was entitled to a great empire because of its role in the defeat of the Persians. Sparta's concerns were not entirely unfounded.
The Greek historian Thucydides argued that Sparta's fear of Athens was the ultimate cause of the war. According to Thucydides, the growth of the ‘power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon (Sparta) made war inevitable."<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.67–71</ref> Thucydides believed that the Peloponnesian War was inevitable because when a rising power confronted another power, they would inevitably wage a war against each other to further or protect their interests.<ref>Thucydides, <i>The Peloponnesian War</i> 1.67–71 </ref> Some later historians have also argued that war was inevitable between the two greatest Greek powers. It is still widely held that in international relations, the growth of a nation-state or empire will inevitably lead to rivalry and war with an established power.<ref>Kagan, p. 71 </ref>
