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The Peloponnesian Wars were neither a battle of territories nor of religious debate, but wars of political powers. Taking place from 431-421 B.C. and then again from 415-404 B.C., the war was between the two Greek super-powers, Athens and Sparta. (Global Past, 161) Athens was a classic totalitarian democracy, believing in the idea that all citizens should be given the right to decide the political leaders of their city-state. On the contrary, Sparta was a militaristic-style oligarchy, which believes in having total military and political decisions made by a select group of qualified militaristic leaders. (Human Record, 113-114) Although both of these two poleis were very strong in their time, the Peloponnesian War would decide the political fate of the Greek peninsula. Though the Spartans waged war on the Athenians, it was the Athenian civilization that caused for the war to take place. This was due to three main ideas: their society was based around participating in wars, they used any means to gain control of surrounding areas in order to strengthen their democratic rule, and it was almost guaranteed that they would arise victorious causing egotistical actions.
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