The Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War

     Describe the circumstances leading to the Persian Wars.  Were they significant events in Western history?

      The seeds were planted for the Persian Wars when Athens had sent ambassadors to the Persian rulers, hoping to make the rising power of Persia a non-threat to the city-state of Athens. Persian officials were open to this kind of relationship with Athens as long as Athens provided them with "token of water and earth" – which the Athenian ambassadors agreed to, not knowing the significance of what they had just done. For the Persians, tokens of water and earth meant that Athens was declaring Persia superior to Athens, essentially giving up Athenian freedom under the control of the Persians. By the time the Athenian ambassadors realized what they had done, it was too late. Persia continued to grow as a world power, and eventually all of the Greek city-states felt threatened enough to want to fight back. They asked Athens for help, and Athens agreed – which led to a furious reaction from the Persians, who believed that Athens was breaking her vows to Persia made with the tokens of water and earth. Athens, however, couldn't care less, and together with the other Greek city-states the Persian Wars were fought. Greece won against all odds, defeating the vastly greater Persian empire thanks to the courage and determination of her city-states. Had they not won, Greece and Greek culture could have been wiped out entirely and changed the whole course of history that followed.

      Why was the Peloponnesian War fought?

      The Peloponnesian War was a civil war in Greece that took place after their victory over the Persians. It was a war which resulted from Athens' growing power following the Persian defeat, a power which made many of the other city-states uneasy. Athens had organized the Greek city-states into an alliance called the Peloponnesian League for the purpose of defending Greece against powerful enemies, such as the Persians. In the League's early days, the other city-states were content with this arrangement, and they were also content to send tributes to Athens in order for Athens to build up a powerful navy to defend against conquering forces. But it wasn't long before the city-states began to realize that most of the money was not being used to build ships but was instead being used to beautify Athens herself, a fact which made one city-state eventually decide to leave the Peloponnesian League – and then Athens retaliated. Once the city-states realized that Athens was no longer in the business of protecting Greece from outsiders, they saw no reason to obey her any more, and the war with Athens began – the Peloponnesian War.