Athenian defeat in Sicily
The desertion of Alcibiades left the
Athenian expedition against
Sicily1 without a strong and decisive
leader. The Athenian fleet was so strong that it won initial victories against
Syracuse and its allies even without brilliant leadership, but eventually the
indecisiveness of Nicias undermined the attackers' successes.
The Athenian
assembly responded to the setbacks by authorizing large reinforcements led by the
general Demosthenes,2 but these new forces proved incapable of defeating Syracuse, which enjoyed
effective military leadership to complement its material strength. Alcibiades had a
decisive influence on the quality of Syracusan military leadership because Sparta
adopted
his suggestion to send an experienced Spartan commander to
Syracuse3 to combat the invading expedition. The Athenian forces were eventually trapped
in the harbor of Syracuse and completely crushed in
a climactic naval
battle4 in 413 B.C. When the
survivors of the
attacking force tried to flee overland to safety,5 they
were either slaughtered or captured almost to a man. The Sicilian expedition ended in
ignominious defeat for Athens6 and the crippling of
its navy, its main source of military power.
