Athenian Victory in Peleponnesian War?

Hey all, how plausible would it be for Athens to win over Sparta in the Peloponnesian War? I was thinking that in 430 B.C., Pericles could decide not to raid the Spartan coast as in OTL but instead enforce maritime security in Athenian waters. Thus, ships carrying the plague of Athens are refused landfall at Peraeus, with some even being diverted to Sparta. Once in Sparta, the Plague wreaks havoc, and weakens Sparta to the point of defeat. Could be a surprise Athenian offensive, could be an enterprising helot revolt, could be anything.

Can Athens ultimately win over Sparta without the burden of the Plague hanging over them? And, after all this, what does a world where the Delian League is victorious look like? Does democracy arrive sooner? Is there a Delian/Persian showdown? Where does Alexander end up? The possibilities are many...
 
Well, what happened with the Spartan victory is that Sparta and Athens basically broke the back of each other's power, leading to the rise of Thebes and eventually Macedon.
It's quite likely that we'd see similar events occurring, perhaps with Argos (Though it had long passed its prime) gaining power, since it had been, similar to Thebes, a de facto Athenian ally.
 
Hey all, how plausible would it be for Athens to win over Sparta in the Peloponnesian War? I was thinking that in 430 B.C., Pericles could decide not to raid the Spartan coast as in OTL but instead enforce maritime security in Athenian waters. Thus, ships carrying the plague of Athens are refused landfall at Peraeus, with some even being diverted to Sparta. Once in Sparta, the Plague wreaks havoc, and weakens Sparta to the point of defeat. Could be a surprise Athenian offensive, could be an enterprising helot revolt, could be anything.

Can Athens ultimately win over Sparta without the burden of the Plague hanging over them? And, after all this, what does a world where the Delian League is victorious look like? Does democracy arrive sooner? Is there a Delian/Persian showdown? Where does Alexander end up? The possibilities are many...

Athens could have won the war in 418 BCE at Mantinea, could have ground out a lasting peace if it hadn't frittered away its navy in the Sicilian expeditions and could even have won as late as 406 BCE if it hadn't fired its best admirial / general and executed half a dozen others.

To be honest the question is more how did Athens manage to lose the war!
 
Either side when winning could simply accept one of the other sides very generous peace offers, in OTL when winning the side would refuse to negotiate even when offered sizeable gains and the wars situation would flip around quickly
 
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