20. The Peloponnesian War, Part II

In this lecture we continue our discussion of the Peloponnesian War. Hostilities resumed in 421 BC following the Peace of Nicias, and the war expanded into the Aegean, as Spartan fleets challenged Athenian supremacy. Eventually the Athenians would embark on the disastrous invasion of Sicily, creating a second front when their resources were already beginning to reach the breaking point. Although Athens survived the destruction of its invasion force, the Athenians were severely weakened by their losses, and they fought the last campaigns of the war primarily in the very waters in which formerly they had been unchallenged. In 404 BC, a Spartan fleet sailed into the Piraeus, the port of Athens, and the Athenians capitulated.