2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

adventures, and expensive campaigns” (2012, 285,). Pericles knew that war was on the horizon, he

knew fighting a war on Athenian terms would greatly benefit Athens as it would allow them to

prepare accordingly before fighting the Spartans directly. Thus, by actively provoking Corinth, Athens

could start a war on their own terms. British Historian of Ancient Greece, de Ste. Croix argues that

the Athenians, through their actions towards Potidaea, manipulated the Corinthians into violating

the Thirty Years’ Peace, which gave them the perfect cause for war against Sparta. Croix writes, that

the “Athenians [now] had a perfectly good excuse for beginning hostilities [with the Peloponnesian

League] by claiming that Corinth had been guilty of a manifest breach of the Peace [through their

actions towards Potidaea against Athens]” (2001,85). Thus, Athens’ actions towards Potidaea was

intended to provoke the Corinthians into violating the Thirty Years’ Peace which resulted in Athens

having the perfect pretext for war.

Additionally, Stevenson also puts forth the claim that the Athenians targeted Potidaea to put Sparta

in a precarious position as they had to engage in an open war against Athens in order to prevent the

abandonment of Corinth. Stevenson writes that “Sparta [was now in a difficult position], since

Peloponnesian League forces had been defeated [in Potidaea, at the hands of the Athenians. Sparta

was now forced to] lead the Peloponnesians in a general war against Athens or risk the defection of

Corinth, her most powerful ally” (Stevenson T., 2015, 6,). Consequently, Athens through her actions

towards Potidaea and Corinth, forced Sparta into a position where she had to declare war on the

Athenians in order to avoid losing Corinth as an ally. The Athenians knew that a hesitant Sparta

would prove to be an Athenian advantage in the event of war. As a result, Athens actively provoked

Corinth by targeting Potidaea in order to facilitate this difficult scenario for Sparta. Moreover,

Tannenbaum – Historian at the University of Boston, claims that Athens, in an attempt to express

the message of Athenian dominance and supremacy to the Peloponnesian League and Sparta

through targeting Potidaea as an attempt to disrespect Corinth to fan the flames of war.

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