Peloponnesian War happens to be one of the most significant wars in the Ancient World. The Duration of the war was from 431 BCE to 404 BCE. It was Athens and Sparta, between the states in which the conflict was drawn. It is in the victory of Greece, over the empire of Persia. There was a combination of the leadership of the Greek Empire and Sparta with the motive to depose the Persians, followed by the powerful Asian Empire. The local loyalties were not overridden during the potential sense of a cultural heritage which is quite common among them, as well as the sense of Greekness. Such perceptions were never enough to help in the overcoming of the deep divisions that lie in the circle of the Greek world. The Greeks began to fight with each other the very moment the Persians planned to leave. After the repulsion of the invasion of Persia, Sparta, being a very deep conservative society felt to back out from the war. It was Athens, which continued to be in the state of war with Persia, and became the main cause regarding the formation of the Delian League. The Delian League was association of the city states and the islands that took the oath to be in the continuation of the war with Persians, till the time they do not represent the treat to their association any longer.

Immediate causes to the breakdown of War

The Athenians and Sparta kept growing tensions among them. It was noted by Thucydides that many people believed the war to be just a matter of time as well as that the war was a result of the break of the Thirty Years Peace Treaty. Greece just needed a spark to start an outbreak to the war. There came a conflict between the Athens and Thrace. The Athenians were also facing dispues this time with the small city of Megara. The ships were banned unilaterally from the ports and the allies by them. This came to be known as the Megarian Decree. Sparta had demanded along with its allies, a withdrawal of Megarian Decree, which the Athenians had opposed. The Athenians had been fully confident that they would not be defeated as long as they possess the appropriate navy and their allies in the battlefield. Thucydides appreciated the strategy that was planned by Pericles for the Athenians.

The Peloponnesian war played a very important role in changing Greece in whatever way it could have been possible. Almost everything changed after the outbreak of the war. Athens never became so powerful as it was before. The main cause behind the outbreak of the war was the Athenian Empire, which had upset the power balance among the Greeks, which had greatly caused an alarm to Sparta and its allies. The factor which contributed towards the increasing of the tension was the cultural difference among the two Greek powers and it led to the war.