Historical Overview of the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC)IntroductionThe Peloponnesian War is widely known as the second war between the Athenian and Spartan coalitions In Thucydides' work In his accounts of the war, he describes that the war took place at a time when the Greek world was divided into two great alignments each led by Athens or Sparta, both. camps being at the height of their power At the start of the war, Athens exercised great political and economic power in the Greek world. Athens was seen as the "unifying force" of the Greek territories against the Persian invasions. -Persians, Athens led the Delian League (See Figure 2) and protected its members with its powerful naval fleet – the largest fleet at the time. Athens was a thriving metropolis and trading society with an ethnically homogenous population. by the 5th century BC, it had already democratized its institutions – by establishing a Sovereign Assembly. the majority of which formed the government which directly took all vital decisions. In contrast, Sparta was largely an agrarian and more isolated society. The political system of Sparta was oligarchic and militant. Sparta's hereditary monarchy of two kings held the right to military leadership. Five ephors elected by the Assembly served as executive agents with broad powers. The Assembly acted solely by acclamation, unlike the Athenian Assembly which depended on debate. Sparta possessed great land power. Its hoplites were the most feared and effective fighters in the Greek world. Due to Sparta's respected land power, other Greek city-states also chose to form alliances with Sparta (the Peloponnesian League) to balance Athens' influence. Athens was a bastion of Greek democracy, with a foreign policy of regular intervention to aid its democratic allies. . The Spartans, who favored oligarchies like theirs, were unhappy and feared the imperialist and cultural ascendancy of Athens. There was therefore constant contempt and rivalry between the two cities. The First Peloponnesian War The First Peloponnesian War, which began in 460 BC, resulted in Sparta's allies (Megara and Corinth) drawing it into a long campaign against the dominant threat of Athens. In 446 BC, Athens and Sparta signed a "Thirty Years Peace" in which both agreed to negotiate their differences and not interfere in the affairs of their respective allies. But incessant conflicts between Spartan allies and Athens inevitably led to a Second Peloponnesian War...