448 BC Events(Part one)
By place:
Athens/Peloponnisos
After driving off the Spartan army that has threatened Corinth , Ephialtes supported by Pericles(Famous after his success in Cyprus) and the Thebans, persuaded the alliance to invade Laconia itself. After few months of preparations a massive allied army of 45000 troops was assembled. Moving south, they crossed the Evrotas river, the natural frontier of Sparta, which no hostile army had breached in memory. The Spartans, unwilling to engage the massive army in battle, simply defended their city, which the Athenians did not attempt to capture. The Athenians and their allies ravaged Laconia, down to the port of Gythium, freeing some of the Lacedaemonian perioeci from their allegiance to Sparta. From there Ephialtes briefly went to Arcadia where he encouraged the Arcadians to join the Delian league, before marching south again, this time to Messenia, a region which the Spartans had conquered some 200 years before. Ephialtes freed the helots of Messenia, and rebuilt their ancient city of Messinia on Mount Ithome. He then issued a call to Messinian exiles all over Greece to return and rebuild their homeland.The loss of Messinia was particularly damaging to the Spartans, since the territory comprised one-third of Sparta's territory and contained half of their helot population. In mere months, Ephialtes had created two new enemy states that opposed Sparta, shaken the foundations of Sparta's economy, and all but devastated Sparta's prestige. This accomplished, Ephialtes decided to led his army back home, victorious. The other general of the Athenian army, Pericles had different plans since he wanted to capture Sparta. So at that point, Ephialtes returned to Athens with 20000 troops and Pericles marched to Sparta with 35000 troops( his army numbers went way up after numerous new recruits from Peloponnesos).
First day of the siege
Arriving outside Sparta in the evening, Pericles attacked immediately. The appearance of the Athenian army before their city caught the Spartans prepared. Despite the Lacedaimonian gerousia being in favour of sending the women to Crete for their protection, this was opposed by Helena , the former queen, who ensured that the Spartan women would remain to assist with the protection of the city. The defenders, since Sparta had no walls, dug a trench around the city to hinder the enemy's advance. When the Athenians approached and their army was preparing its attack, the Spartans assumed defensive positions behind their trench. They were encouraged by the women who had remained and by the sight of Helena, who had placing a halter around her neck, declared that she would commit suicide if the city falls. The besiegers, led by Pericles in person, attempted to storm the Spartan defences but were repulsed as they were unable to secure firm footing in the face of Spartan attacks, rendering the trench impassable.
Seeking to circumvent this obstacle, Pericles sent a force of 2,000 Messinians and some picked Athenians to go around the trench find a weak spot and charge. Eventually the Messinians managed to find a weak spot, giving them the opportunity to burst into the city. Pleistonax, seeing the danger, exploited a series of depressions in the terrain to lead a force of 600 men undetected against the Messinian rear. This manoeuvre evoked panic amongst the Messinians who were compelled to abandon their attempt to enter the city and had to turn around to confront the attack to their rear. After a hard fought battle, the Messinian flanking group was pushed back into the trench with heavy casualties inflicted upon them.
Pericles failed to breach the Lacedaimonian defences and when night fell, he withdrew back to his camp.