The Peloponnesian War was between the Greek cities of Athens and Sparta due to the growing tensions that continued to grow between the two cities which eventually reached a breaking point. The Peloponnesian War, which can be divided into three phases known as: the Archidamus War, the Sicilian Expedition and the Decelean War, is one of the greatest events in Greek history and an analysis of the causes and effects of this war will tell us will give a better understanding of how the cities of Athens and Sparta went to war and the impact it left behind. When examining the causes of the Peloponnesian War, which occurred between 431 and 404 BC, there are a number of causes that factored into the cause of this war. However, one of the most important causes of this war was largely due to the fact that the Spartans feared the growing power and success of Athens. The Spartans were “particularly alarmed by the growing power of Athens” (Cartwright, “Peloponnesian War”). During the Persian War in 479 BC, Athens with the help of its many allies became fiercely strong and powerful and continued with its merciless attacks on the Persian territories. When the Persians left Greece, Athens further infuriated Sparta when it built large, high walls around its empire in case of an attack, which was thought to come primarily from Sparta if it happened. In the years following the Persian Wars in 479 BC Athens had emerged as the most powerful of all Greek cities, with a navy that had superior strength that increased day by day. The Athenians “ruled with heavy, even brutal force, as well as with reason” (Kagan 2). This was largely due to the fact that Athens had a stable and effective government, which only increased its advantage in proving itself… middle of paper… 371 BC Sparta faced a serious defeat against Thebes. Ultimately, all of Sparta's empire would be destroyed when Philip II of Macedon conquered all of Greece, due to its instability, which "left them vulnerable to a Macedonian seizure of power several decades later" (CS "The War of the Peloponnese"). the Peloponnesian War proved too great between the stubborn, tension-filled Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. As Thucydides says in Karl Walling's article: “Never had so many human beings been exiled, nor had so much human blood been shed” (4). The three phases of the war, which once again are the Archidamus War, the Sicilian Expedition, and the Decelean War, show the events that followed the causes of the war, while also showing the impending harmful effects that ultimately effectively consumed both Athens and Sparta. reshaping Greece.