<P> The Peloponnesian War ( 431 -- 404 BC ) was an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta . Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases . In the first phase , the Archidamian War , Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica , while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese and attempt to suppress signs of unrest in its empire . This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC , with the signing of the Peace of Nicias . That treaty , however , was soon undermined by renewed fighting in the Peloponnese . In 415 BC , Athens dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily ; the attack failed disastrously , with the destruction of the entire force , in 413 BC . This ushered in the final phase of the war , generally referred to either as the Decelean War , or the Ionian War . In this phase , Sparta , now receiving support from Persia , supported rebellions in Athens ' subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia , undermining Athens ' empire , and , eventually , depriving the city of naval supremacy . The destruction of Athens ' fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war , and Athens surrendered in the following year . Corinth and Thebes demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved , but Sparta refused . </P>
<P> The Peloponnesian War ( 431 -- 404 BC ) was an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta . Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases . In the first phase , the Archidamian War , Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica , while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese and attempt to suppress signs of unrest in its empire . This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC , with the signing of the Peace of Nicias . That treaty , however , was soon undermined by renewed fighting in the Peloponnese . In 415 BC , Athens dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily ; the attack failed disastrously , with the destruction of the entire force , in 413 BC . This ushered in the final phase of the war , generally referred to either as the Decelean War , or the Ionian War . In this phase , Sparta , now receiving support from Persia , supported rebellions in Athens ' subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia , undermining Athens ' empire , and , eventually , depriving the city of naval supremacy . The destruction of Athens ' fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war , and Athens surrendered in the following year . Corinth and Thebes demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved , but Sparta refused . </P>
what was the war between sparta and athens
what was the war between sparta and athens
Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War