2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

Corinth’s affairs by forming an alliance with Corcyra aggravated Corinth to the point where the

Corinthians wanted war. Moreover, this fury towards Athens is further reinforced as the Thucydides

recounts the speech given by the Corinthian magistrates towards Athens; “You do wrong, men of

Athens, to begin a war and break a treaty; for taking up arms against us … and thus you break the

[Thirty Years’ Peace] … and treat us like enemies” (LIII, 91, 2014).

Furthermore, Athens chose to form an alliance with Corcyra for purely militaristic intentions as they

knew an imminent war with Sparta and the Peloponnesians was on the horizon. Thucydides

describes, that it would be extremely beneficial to Athens to form an alliance with Corcyra as “it had

so large a fleet … [also] the Corinthians as well as other naval powers might be found weaker in case

[Athens] had to go to war with them” (XLIV, 79, 2014). Moreover, Professor of History at Loyola

Marymount University, Lawrence A. Tritle makes puts forth the hypothesis that Athens aimed to

expand its influence in the western region of Greece by forming an alliance with Corcyra as the

Athenians knew that an imminent war with Sparta was near fruition. Tritle writes, Athens was

“expanding its influence westward, [and] an alliance with Corcyra would have struck many Athenians

as not only attractive but also potentially useful” (2010, 26,). Athens’ decision to expand her

influence in western Greece emphasises the strategic mindset exhibited by Athens during this period

of time before the outbreak of the war.

Furthermore, the clear disregard of Corinth by Athens through the formation of this alliance with

Corcyra further exemplifies the imperialistic attitude of Athens. Additionally, Zagorin – Professor of

History Emeritus at the University of Rochester, makes the claim that that Corcyra focused entirely

on the strategic interests of Athens in their plea for help in an attempt to appeal to the militaristic

mindset of the Athenians. Perez claims, that the “Corcyran plea for alliance focuses entirely on

Athens’ [militaristic] interests and omits any reference to justice [for Corcyra]” (2005, 54,).

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