The Athens' Foreign Relations In The Peloponnesian War

The Greek mainland, located in the southeast of the Balkan Peninsula, gathered several hundreds of polis which had all kinds of relations among them, such as military alliance, economic partnership, mother and child bond state relations, neigbours and so on. Every city is in the complex network which composed of these relationships. The Peloponnesian War, which lasted twenty-seven years, from 431 B.C.to 404 B.C., is one of the most important wars in ancient Greece World. The Greek society's economy suffered severe damage, what was worse the city-state system appeared crisis so that the Greek society no longer returned to prosperity after that. In other words it is a turning point of the ancient Greek from peak to tough. The following I will regard Athens as main body and The Peloponnesian War as the time dimension to analyze the relevant foreign relations status.It consists of three parts.The introduction describes the history of studies about The Peloponnesian War and temporary situation to point out the writing foundation and the sources of argument.Chapter one mainly introduces the situations before the breakout of The Peloponnesian War, including the relationship between Athens and Tyrol alliance, and the relationship with the outside alliance, which give an arrangement for Athen's foreign policy.Chapter two introduces the changes of the external relations during The Peloponnesian War. The importance of the changes between Athens and Sparta, which was the other party of the war, do not need to be mentioned more. In the meanwhile, the internal rebellions of the Tyrol alliance also has crucial influence. In addition, Corinth, Argos and Persia's tendency largely influenced on the progress of the war. Since the relationship among the parties all had changed, I also discuss the influence factors, mainly including profit maximization, political sympathy, national homologous mental, elites' agitation, religion and public opinions.Chapter three dissertates the influence of the external relations change on Athens. To some extent, it is equivalent to the influence of the war to Athens. The Athens was famous for its wealth, enjoying a high reputation, holding the Tyrol alliance, and its commercial trade of the state before The Peloponnesian War. However, because of the changes during the war, that Athens' food imports road was blocked, the rule groups' contention for power and profit became more and more intensely all this made the athenians in low spirits.In the end, this thesis summarizes the foreign relations of Athens before the war, in the war and after the war apartly to reflect on the consequences and remind us of holding a more rational view to international relations.