The Peace of Nicias was a peace treaty signed between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta in March 421 BC that ended the first half of the Peloponnesian War.
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👉 Peace of Nicias in the context of Peloponnesian War
The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called the Peloponnesian War, was fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the ancient Greek world. The war remained undecided until the later intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet (built with Persian subsidies) finally defeated Athens, which began a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.
Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who invaded Attica several times with the full Hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by Sparta (then known as Lacedaemon). The Long Walls of Athens rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens' alliance) raided the Peloponnesian coast to trigger rebellions within Sparta. The precarious Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BC and lasted until 413 BC. Several proxy battles took place during this period, notably the battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, won by Sparta against an ad-hoc alliance of Elis, Mantinea (both former Spartan allies), Argos, and Athens. The main event was the Sicilian Expedition, between 415 and 413 BC, during which Athens lost almost all its navy in the attempt to capture Syracuse, an ally of Sparta.
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Peace of Nicias in the context of Nicias
Nicias (/ˈnɪʃiəs/; Ancient Greek: Νικίας Νικηράτου Κυδαντίδης, romanized: Nikias Nikēratou Kydantidēs; c. 470–413 BCE) was an Athenian politician and general, who was prominent during the Peloponnesian War. A member of the Athenian aristocracy, he inherited a large fortune from his father, and had investments in the silver mines around Laurion, in south-east Attica.
Following the death of Pericles in 429 BCE, Nicias became the principal rival of Cleon and the democrats in the struggle for political leadership of the Athenian state. Politically a moderate conservative, he opposed the aggressive imperialism of Cleon and Alcibiades. Despite his political views, Nicias served as strategos (general) during the Peloponnesian War, and led a number of expeditions which were mostly successful, although he had a reputation for being over-cautious. Nicias' goal was to conclude a peace with Sparta on terms favourable to Athens, and he was largely responsible for negotiating the short-lived Peace of Nicias in 421.
Peace of Nicias in the context of Second Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War (Ancient Greek: Πόλεμος τῶν Πελοποννησίων, romanised: Pólemos tō̃n Peloponnēsíōn), was fought in the Eastern Mediterranean between the Athenian-led Delian League and the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League from 431 to 404 BC for hegemony over Ancient Greece. Initially inconclusive, the intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta in 413 BC allowed the Spartan coalition to decisively defeat Athens, beginning a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.
The war consists of four related conflicts which have traditionally been combined into one. The opening phase, called the Ten Years' War or the Archidamian War, began in 431 BC when the Spartan king Archidamus II invaded Attica with his army. After successive Spartan invasions of Attica and Athenian raiding of the Peloponnese, Athens gained the upper hand at Sphacteria in 425 BC, but lost it after a defeat by Thebes at Delium in 424 BC. With both city-states exhausted from years of fighting, the Peace of Nicias was signed in 421 BC. The second phase, the Argive War, was fought between 419 and 416 BC. It was a proxy war that pitted Sparta against its Peloponnesian rivals, led by Argos and supported by Athens. The Argive alliance was defeated at the battle of Mantinea of 418 BC, restoring Spartan hegemony over the Peloponnese. The third phase, the Sicilian Expedition, was an attempt by Athens to conquer the Spartan-allied Syracuse. Fought between 415 and 413 BC, the expedition ended in defeat for Athens and the destruction of most of its navy.