Sparta and Athens in Persian Intervention

1. What were the motives of Tissaphernes and the Persians for intervening in the Peloponnesian War?
• Darius II wanted to recover the tribute of the Asiatic Greeks, by siding with Sparta and funding their fleet, which in turn meant that the Persians had to defeat Athens in the Aegean
• Tissaphernes wanted to delay financing the Spartan fleet, allow Sparta and Athens to weaken each other, and then potentially conquer more of Greece than initially planned
  
2. What is the significance of the treaties signed between Sparta and Persia to the conflict?
• Terms of the original treaty between Sparta and Persia (may have been just a draft):
1. All territories previously belongings to the king and his ancestors shall be his
2. All money paid by subjects previously to Athens was to go to the Persian king
3. The war would be carried on jointly
4. Any who revolt from Sparta shall be enemies of Persia
5. Any who revolt from Persia shall be enemies of Sparta
• The first term of the treaty was significant because during the Persian war, most states sided with Persia, including big states such as Thessaly, Macedonia and Thebes. If the Persians were to regain all territories lost they would even have some in mainland Greece. Additionally, it would have been very awkward for the Spartans to give back all these territories when they were supposed to be the liberators of all Greece.
• There were (supposedly) three treaties. This was because the Spartans didn't want to give back all the Greek territories and so in the final treaty they settled on the Asiatic Greeks, while Tissaphernes was to finance the Peloponnesian fleet (still, bit of a betrayal)
  
3. How did relations between Sparta and Persia change during this time?
• Tissaphernes began to break the agreement between Sparta and Persia by delaying financing the Peloponnesian fleet, in the hope that the Spartans and Athenians would eventually weaken themselves enough to be defeated by Persia
• The fact that there was so many treaties signed/drafted shows us that clearly neither side was working with the other out of friendship, but for what they could gain
  
4. What role did Alcibiades have in the events of the Persian intervention?
• Alcibiades was the one who advised Tissaphernes to delay paying for the Spartan fleet. He then convinced the oligarchs in Athens to revolt and overthrow the democracy. He was also the one who convinced Chios to revolt, which was the last ship-building ally of Athens
• The Athenian fleet remained democratic and recalled Alcibiades to lead them.
• The fleet wanted to reinstate the democracy and overthrow the oligarchy
• Alcibiades advised them against this, as if they were to fight a civil war in Athens, there would be nothing stopping the Peloponnesians attacking the empire
• The Peloponnesians sent a fleet to Euboea, which was Athens' chief source of food because of its cleruchies (estates owned by often absent Athenians)
• Since Decelea had been taken, Euboea had become crucial
• The oligarchs sent out what they had left of the fleet to intercept the Peloponnesian fleet
• The Spartans won and the remainder of the oligarchic fleet travelled to Eretria, thinking it friendly, but were massacred, as the Eretrians had defected to Sparta
• The defeat caused the oligarchy of the 400 to be deposed in favour of a new, more moderate oligarchy of 5,000. Within a year, the democracy had been restored and Alcibiades was welcomed home a hero
  
5. What effect did the Persian intervention have on the Athenian empire? 
• The Persian intervention caused the oligarchy to overthrow the democracy and spark a civil war in Athens, which led to the democratic fleet recalling Alcibiades, which in turn meant that Alcibiades was welcomed home to Athens a hero