Reasons for the Decline of Sparta
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Although historians offer a panoply of possible reasons for the decline of Sparta, essentially its downfall was the result of one glaring fault. This fault, although it manifested in a number of disparate ways, could be summed up in one word: shortsightedness. This shortsightedness occurred in areas such as its attitudes, its failure to modify the rigid Lycurgan system, its tactical naivetT, its failure to adapt when opponents began hiring mercenary armies, its wrongdoing, its lack of diplomacy and cooperation with its own allies. Although Sparta had great military strength, it dissipated the effect of that strength by obtusely refusing to consider anything outside its narrow field of vision. It was like a bulldog on a single-minded mission, resolutely forging ahead as though no one else matteredùnot even its own allies. Ultimately, SpartaÆs incredible and overweaning shortsightedness caused it to lose its hegemony and become demoted from a world-class reigning military power to a much lesser power.Sparta was the epitome of military strength in the 10th century B.C. and seemed invincible from all perspectives. The Spartan army was superlative, and it won battle after battle. However, Sparta did eventually decline, and the decline was due to a number of factors. One of these was its uncompromising attitudes. If Sparta were a person, it would be a perfectionistic, defensive personùmore introspective than extrovertùand determined to maintain military superiority
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ion toward its own allies appears particularly shortsighted in retrospect. After the fall of Athens in 404 B.C., SpartaÆs leading allies, Corinth and Thebes, wanted Athens destroyed. Sparta brashly ignored their wishes, however, and converted Athens into a puppet state by setting up a brutal pro-Spartan oligarchy known as ôThe Thirty Tyrants.ö Corinth and Boeotia already distrusted SpartaÆs ambitions to rule in Central Greece, and when Sparta stubbornly refused to share the spoils of war with them, they began a passive resistance that finally led to actual warfare in 395 B.C. At that time, the Quadruple Alliance of Corinth, Boeotia, Argos, and Athens engaged in war near Corinth, a war appropriately referred to as the Corinthian War. The Spartans had been growing their power over the Greeks at PersiaÆs expense, and this had aroused fear among GreeceÆs leading states. Greece was afraid that if Sparta were successful against the Persians, it would use its supremacy to establish a Spartan empire in Greece, something that seemed likely given GreeceÆs aggressive behavior toward Greece at the time (Buckley, 1996, 424-425). SpartaÆs shortsightedness in allowing its former allies, Boeotia and Corinth, to become its enemies is almost
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Approximate Word count = 2122
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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