Their navy was destroyed at Aigospotamai in 405 BCE and the crews captured.
Besieged Athens, without being able to import food by sea, was starved into submission.
A plague broke out in Athens in 430b.c. , and killed about one third of the population.
plague
plague
The human-made system of defense, defense walls, also known as long walls, connected the city of Athens to port of Piraeus. Salvatore Salsa
Peleponnesian War was a 27 year war ending with Sparta victor over Athens. War broke out when Athens sought to expand and allied with Corcyra that was a colony of Corinth. Sparta and Corinth were already allies and Sparta saw this as a military aggression. Athens at the time was lead by Pericles who refused to withdraw. Tension was high and war finally broke out when Thebes, ally of Sparta, attacked Plataea which sided with Athens.
A series of disputes between Athens and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta came to a head when Athens took action against one of the League members Megara. Sparta tried to get Athens to relent, Athens refused, and war broke out.
The Athenian defense was ultimately broken by a combination of factors, including the devastating plague that weakened Athens, the strategic naval superiority of Sparta, and the critical support from Persia, which provided financial resources to build a Spartan fleet. The decisive blow came in 404 BCE when Sparta captured the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami, cutting off vital supplies and communication. This led to Athens' surrender, effectively ending the Peloponnesian War and marking the decline of Athenian power in the Greek world.
The silver financed the Athenian Navy
Athens imposed a trading ban on Megara, a member of the Peloponnesian League, designed to ruin it. Megara had the League demand its raising, and when Athens refused war broke out.
The actual trigger was Athens' ruinous trading ban on its neighbour Megara, which was a member of the Peloponnesian League headed by Sparta which was opposing Athenian expansionism. The League asked Athens to rescind the ban, Athens refused and war broke out.
Blockade Runners :)
The Apology