2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

that a war with Sparta was inevitable due to their aggressive behaviour against Corinth by blatantly

forming an alliance with their enemies for purely militaristic reasons, in order to secure a naval

deterrent against Sparta. Additionally, Professor of Classical Studies –McInerney argues that Athens

wanted an alliance with Corcyra in order to increase her naval strength. McInerney argues, that the

“Athenians were not driven by altruism; more compelling to them was the prospect of an alliance

with one of the largest navies in Greece” (2018,279,).

Thus, Athens had no interest in the wellbeing of Corcyra and its people. Instead, Athens was

determined to increase her naval strength by any means necessary through forming an alliance with

Corcyra. Athens had no regard for Corinth’s desire to maintain this issue as a private affair and

angered the Corinthians immensely by forming this alliance. Therefore, Athens’ interference in the

dispute between Corinth and Corcyra was part of an extremely aggressive Athenian foreign policy

which was intended to instil fear into Sparta and the Peloponnesians through naval superiority

which then caused the Peloponnesian War due to Sparta’s fear of Athenian supremacy.

The Quarrel Over Potidaea

Following the formation of the alliance with Corcyra, Athens anticipated Corinthian aggression and

lashed out at her ally and Corinthian colony, Potidaea. Thucydides states that Athens’ actions were a

sign to the Corinthians that they had openly become enemies. Thucydides writes, that “the

precautions the Athenians took with regard to the Potidaeans immediately after [the alliance with

Corcyra], for the Corinthians were now openly at variance with them” (LVII, 95, 2014). Furthermore,

Thucydides claims that this quarrel was a result of the Athenians preparing in anticipation for

Corinthian vengeance. Thucydides argues, that the crux of this issue was due to the “Athenians,

suspecting [Corinthian] enmity, required of the Potidaeans to pull their wall on the side of the

Pallene and give hostages, and, furthermore, to send away and not to receive in the future the

magistrates whom the Corinthians were accustomed to send every year” (LVI, 95, 2014). Thucydides

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