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The Peloponnesian War

Pericles' Strategy

Now all Pericles' careful work was to pay off. The people of Attica withdrew from their farms and villages, and retired to the protection of the city walls. The Spartan army invaded Attica, ravaged the countryside, but was quite unable to lay effective siege to the city, for supplies flowed freely under the protection of the Long Walls and the fleet. In turn, Athenian ships raided all along the Peloponnesian coast.

The aristocrats of Athens didn't much like seeing their estates burn, but everyone had to admit that Pericles' strategy looked to be effective. Crops could be replanted and estates rebuilt; in the meantime, the city of Athens stood firm, and the fleet was wreaking havoc on the supply lines for both Corinth and Sparta.

There were flaws in Percles' plan, however. For one thing, his strategy protected Athens well, but it proved less effective in attacking Sparta. The fleet, after all, could not sail on land. More immediately, though, it soon appeared that Pericles had not reckoned the effect of stuffing thousands more people inside the city.

Within two years, plague broke out in Athens and revisited regularly thereafter. One of its early victims was Pericles himself.