Why did the Greeks fail to unite?

Answer 1

Each city was independent of each other. Even under Alexander the Great, each city contributed soldiers to the common cause, yet did not accept the central government that the later Romans did. The Greeks were loyal to a particular city, not to a particular country. So, when a concerted attack happened, each city fell as a unit, not the whole country. Instability occurred when there was no political unity.

Answer 2

Each state in ancient Greece had its own government. The geographical features of Greece with its many mountainous islands could not be united. The city states were split from each other by nature's boundaries. The topography of the country also added to this.

Answer 3

The Greeks established themselves on tracts of land in between mountains and built cities as the centre of their land. This led to separate city-states - about 2,000 of them, each with heir on government. With this independence, the city-states were not about to give it up to become subject to another city, and were prepared to fight to remain so. They formed alliances and leagues, which changed from time to time according to the self-interest of the cities.

Their other connections were religious in the form of games - Olympic, Nemean, Isthmian etc, and a religious council to coordinate sacred matters.

Answer 4

Originally, it had much to do with Greece's geography: almost 80% of Greece is covered by mountains, which at the time were covered with dense forests. All this made communication in ancient times very difficult. Moreover, the areas with flat and arable land were few and far between; the posession of 'good' land was much more a source of conflict and rivalry than a reason for unity. The result: if Greek States did unite for a period, it was usually just to better beat the crap out of another Greek State.

Even Alexander the great - although he directly or indirectly ruled all the Greek States - never managed to unite them, and it would take until the arrival of the Romans before Greece was more or less ruled as one State.

Answer 5

Because the huge empire was so big that it was hard to control with just one person.