2
« on: February 18, 2009, 11:01:09 PM »
Hello. For those that attend Total War Heaven I'm Legion Of Hell. Due to a debt I wish to repay for Squash I shall post my war story here. Here is the prologue and I hope you enjoy reading! By the way for those who are major hard line hardcore historians this story is 90% historically true and 10% fiction, but I leave it to you to guess what is fact and what is fiction. Also if you do know what is going to happen I seriously ask you not to spoil it for other readers. Thank you and enjoy the show!
******
Prologue
******
The Great Peloponnesian War was a conflict, which affected the city-states of Greece and went on for under thirty years. It broke the previously fixed rules of combat and was mired by brutality, along with the merciless actions of Greeks, whether they be Spartan or Athenian. But to tell you why it started we have to go back to the state of Greece before the outbreak of this terrible war.
By 436 B.C.E Greece was divided into two factions. The first group were called the Peloponnesian League, known also as the Spartan Alliance. It was a loose organization bound to Sparta through a series of treaties made in the past. The second group was called the Delian League, formed after the Greek-Persian Wars, with Athens at the head of the league, using their magnificent navy to dominate their areas of influence and domination.
There have been many wars before the Great Peloponnesian War broke out, but Greece had never been fully suppressed or conquered by a foreign foe. The main reason why was because the city-states of Greece had always united against a common foe, which would seek to undermine the democracy of Greece itself. That foe was Persia. The Persians had always been the enemy of Greece. Numerous times they had tried to invade, but due to the bravery of Athenians and the men of Plataea at Marathon, the gallant Spartans and plethora of Greek city states at Thermopylae, along with the battles of Plataea and Salamis, Persia was driven back to Asia Minor to lick their wounds. However after the end of the Greek-Persian Wars the united fist that held Greece unraveled. Soon disputes and quarrels filtered throughout the city-states and this culminated in the First Peloponnesian War.
This war went on for around fifteen years, and although it wasn’t as long like the Great Peloponnesian War that would ravage the known world, it was still a bloody conflict. The first Peloponnesian War had kicked off when the city-state of Megara defected to the Delian League. Sparta was extremely worried as Megara was the gateway to Corinth, with the Corinthians in the Peloponnesian League and a staunch ally of Sparta. In addition Sparta was becoming jealous of the growing Athenian Empire. After years of bloody battles peace was sought. The war could be argued that it ended in a draw with benefits and disadvantage on both sides. Although the Athenians ravaged the Peloponnesian region, they were defeated by Boeotia at Coronea in 447 B.C.E. However ten years before that victory the Boeotians had been dealt a crushing blow by Athens at Oenophyta, which caused most of Boeotia to be under Athenian rule until they revolted and defeated the Athenians at Coronea.
A treaty had been formed called the Thirty Years Peace that was ratified between 446/445 B.C.E. The peace terms stated that Sparta would recognize the Athenian Empire. Athens also agreed that no city-state could defect to either the Peloponnesian or Delian League, like Megara had done. Finally the city-state of Megara that sparked off the events leading to war, would go back to the Spartan Alliance.
After the peace treaty was signed for ten years there were numerous incidents that threatened the peace of Greece. Such incidents were for example Spartan and Corinthian suspicions about what Athens were doing with the Italian colony of Thurii. In addition the Samian rebellion could have plunged Greece into war. But peace managed to prevail, by Corinth persuading the Spartans not to send their armies to invade Attica when Athens was preoccupied with other pressing commitments. But the main thing was that war had been averted through diplomatic meditation. For a while it seemed both sides wanted peace. However there was a matter that would unravel the peace agreement and start a chain of events that sadly led up to the Great Peloponnesian War. That was the matter of Epidamnus that was far away from the lands of Spartan and Athenian influence.
Epidamnus was a city situated just off the Ionian Gulf, near the old lands of Illyria. In 436 B.C.E, just nine years after the peace treaty was ratified a civil war erupted in Epidamnus, with the aristocratic rulers driven out by the democratic faction. The aristocrats made an alliance with the Illyrians and laid siege to the city, no doubt wanting to teach their former subjects a lesson. However the besieged democrats called for aid to the state of Corcyra that had founded Epidamnus.
Corcyra, situated in modern day Corfu, refused the pleas of help, because they were known to be isolationists when it came to their colonies. So the defenders of Epidamnus were forced to look towards the founder of Corcyra: the city-state of Corinth. The Corinthians had provided assistance to Epidamnus when Corcyra had founded the city. But there was one problem: Corinth and Corcyra were fierce rivals. For years they had fought many wars, as huge amounts of blood was split and endless sums of money spent. The Epidamnians offered to be a colony of Corinth in return for their help.
Corinth accepted the offer for three reasons. Firstly the Corinthians knew that if they got involved it would seriously annoy the Corcyraeans, possibly up to the point of open war. Secondly in the past during festivals Corinth was always disrespected by Corcyra. For example Corinth, being the founder and colonists of Corcyra, were to be given customary rights, such as the first sacrifice. But they were always treated with utter contempt by Corcyra. Finally the third reason was that Corinth was desperate for a sphere of influence in the Greek northwest, but would certainly bring conflict between Corcyra and Corinth. But Corinth’s power had declined while the state of Corcyra had grown, which for years they had challenged Corinthian hegemony in the region. At that time Corinth had few warships, forcing them to rely on their allies and colonists. However Corcyra had one hundred twenty warships, which was the largest naval force in Greece apart from the Athenians.
Things soon stepped up when Corinth sent hundreds of troops to reinforce the besieged garrison at Epidamnus along with many settlers that were to arrive at Epidamnus, due to the agreement that Epidamnus would be a colony of Corinth if the city were relieved. However the force took the difficult route by land, because the Corcyraean navy ruled the seas.
After the Corinthian reinforcements arrived at Epidamnus Corcyra acted and sent forty ships to the besieged city and gave an ultimatum: dismiss the garrison and take back the exiled aristocrats. The ultimatum was refused. But although Corcyra had a fleet blockading the city, along with the Illyrian/aristocratic force by land the Corcyraeans overlooked one important thing: Corinth was allied to Sparta and a member of the Peloponnesian League and could use that to their advantage. Corinth then announced that Epidamnus was their colony and invited settlers across Greece to come. Settlers from Megara and Thebes, who were allies of Sparta, came along with funds and ships.
Corcyra were alarmed and sent diplomats to Corinth, in addition with ambassadors from Sparta and other small city states like Sicyon. This showed that Sparta wanted a peaceful solution and not war. However the conference achieved nothing as Corinth refused to withdraw. This meant that Corcyra was now forced to look for aid elsewhere: Athens.
Sparta recognized that war could break out throughout the region if Corcyra tried to seek an alliance with Athens. So Sparta joined the delegation of Corcyra to force an agreement. However Corinth still wouldn’t yield and decided to make a counteroffer. If Corcyra withdrew their fleet and their land forces pulled back they would consider their proposal. This was blatantly done so Corinth could get more supplies and bolster their defenses. However after the Corcyraeans refused the Corinthians simply had enough and declared war.
Corinth sent a fleet of seventy-five ships that was impressive in strength along with two thousand soldiers to relieve the city. However the ships were intercepted by an eighty strong fleet of Corcyraean ships, and were soundly defeated at the battle of Cape Leucimne, located off the southeastern tip of Corcyra. There was double woe when on the same day Epidamnus fell, as Corcyra now ruled the city and seas. The defeat made Corinth really angry, spending two years building their largest fleet, with the men of Corinth burning for revenge. However Corinth employed help that included cities in the Athenian Empire, but the Athenians did not object. This just emboldened Corinth’s belief that Corcyra would fail in getting an alliance with Athens. But Corcyra tried to persuade Athens with an treaty. They sent an emissary to Athens to try and persuade the Athenians for help. However when Corinth got wind of this they sent their own ambassadors to persuade the Athenians not to help Corcyra. Soon both emissaries were about to gain an audience with the Athenian assembly.
Show Posts