Why did the Athenian expedition to Sicily fail?
Upvote:3
It was both. One problem was with Athenian commanders and the way they were treated by the Athens. One of the commanders (Alcibiades) was sent while facing serious criminal charges, with the process postponed until after his return. Upon his arrival to the theater, he was suddenly recalled to face the charges. So he had no choice but to switch to the Spartan side. Another commander (Nicias) was his bitter political opponent. Then the remaining commanders could not decide for some time about the plan of the operation.
When the operation failed, the natural thing was to withdraw, to save the army. But again the commander, Nicias was afraid of how Athens will react on this. (And he had good reasons to afraid. Athens had a long record of executing or exiling even victorious commanders!) To this a bad sign was added (a solar eclipse). As a result the retreat was postponed, which led to the complete annihilation of the army.
Another factor was the Spartan help which was promptly sent to Syracuse.
In fact the whole idea of this expedition was ill-conceived. They counted on their Sicilian allies to pay to the troops. Only when the expedition arrived, it was discovered that the allies have no sufficient funds for this. So it seems clear that it is Athens government which has to be blamed for this disaster. The timing of the eclipse shows that gods were also on Syracusian side.
More post
- 📝 What is the origin of oak leaves in military insignia and decorations?
- 📝 Which emperor tried to command the tides?
- 📝 GULAG vs the US prison system
- 📝 Do historians use Rig Veda as a reliable source of historical event?
- 📝 How/why did Plzeň become the "armourer" for Austria-Hungary?
- 📝 What was the nature of conflict between Helvetii and German in prelude to Gallic Wars?
- 📝 When did people understand where children come from?
- 📝 How did people die in Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 Where can I find information about Johannes Pohl?
- 📝 When were the first deaths from the Spanish Flu Pandemic?
- 📝 What was the effect of the Disannexation Act of 1784?
- 📝 What made Missouri the "Show Me" State?
- 📝 Did ancient Romans have a religion that involved a "fish hat"?
- 📝 How accurately could ancient soldiers/commanders maneuver during battles
- 📝 Why did Archelaus move the capitol of Macedon to Pella?
- 📝 What was Palestine before, if not a country?
- 📝 What was the route for ships from England to South Africa in 1840?
- 📝 What did Flaminius bring to the Greeks?
- 📝 WW2 - Translate German text
- 📝 How do I learn more about untitled artworks on the internet? (like this specific Basquiat painting)
- 📝 Are there historical examples of countries using pandemics as an excuse for banning protests?
- 📝 How did Churchill and Stalin intend to translate the percentages in the "Percentages agreement"?
- 📝 What is the position of modern scholarship as regarding the claims of professor Samuel Rafinesque in his book about the indigenous Americans
- 📝 How did the central government of the United States finance itself under the Articles of Confederation?
- 📝 Why were the Romans unable to conquer Germania?
- 📝 How do you estimate world population of 1000 years ago?
- 📝 When did they start mass-producing imitation leather?
- 📝 Does this CIA report describe the Soviet T-54 tank?
- 📝 Why does the map of Jordan look as it does?
- 📝 What goods did Germany trade during the Weimar Republic, and with whom?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why did the Athenian expedition to Sicily fail?
- 📝 Why did the Sassanid and the Eastern Roman Empire fail to make a lasting peace?
- 📝 Why did the Social Gospel movement of the early 1900's fail to reach the working class?
- 📝 Why did the Indian National Congress fail to convince Indian minorities to support united India
- 📝 Why did the Allied attack at Gallipoli fail during WWI?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
- 📝 Why did the Confederacy think they could win the American Civil War?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why did the British scuttle the u-boats surrendered after WWII?
- 📝 Why did Canada not join the American Revolution?
- 📝 Why did Churchill order the destruction of the bombes?
- 📝 Why did the USSR give Crimea to Ukraine?
- 📝 Why did the Western Roman Empire collapse but not the Eastern Roman Empire?
- 📝 Why did stock brokers go bankrupt after the crash of 1929?
- 📝 Why did the Germans spare Allied troops trapped at Dunkirk?
- 📝 Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
- 📝 Why did Columbus cross the mid-Atlantic instead of exploring from Greenland?
- 📝 Why did LBJ, a staunch segregationist, champion and sign the 1964 Civil Rights Bill?
- 📝 Why did the Roman military start to favour swords over the spear phalanx?
- 📝 Why did Hitler declare war on the USA?
- 📝 Why did Germany officially acknowledge the contents of the Zimmerman telegram?
- 📝 Why did Europe not see Roman-era numbers of men participating in battles until the 17th century?
- 📝 Why did the Germans use the Enigma machine rather than the far superior "Lorenz" cipher machine?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union have multiple airplane manufacturers?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union name their strongest bomb Tsar Bomba?
- 📝 Why did Lincoln wait to issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
- 📝 Why did the United States not resort to nuclear weapons in Vietnam?
- 📝 Why did China shut itself out of the world in the 15th century?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not order the use of poison gas in combat?