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What if Athens and the Delian League had defeated Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, maybe through a successful Sicilian Expedition under Alcibiades?
I hear that Athens, despite being domestically democratic, was not fond of rebellious provinces. The Delian League was quite centralized into Athens, and was basically a fig leaf for Athenian imperialism. Perhaps a decisive victory against Sparta and a continued hegemony could lead to a centralized, oligarchic situation like Republican Rome arising? How will the democratic Athenian politicians deal with this hipocrisy?
After defeating Sparta and the Persians, where will the Delian League expand to? I can see an annexation of Epirus and Macedonia and sponsorhip of an anti-Persian revolt in Egypt as the League's first moves from there. After that, will they expand navally into the Adriatic and Black seas, and terrestrially into Anatolia and Italy?
How will this Athenian Empire react to the expansion of Rome and Carthage, and the decline of Persia?
 
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Can Sparta be properly subdued, or will a situation like the one made by Macedon arise, whereas the Spartans are kept independent as a boogeyman?
 
I doubt the Athenians will view their imperial designs as 'hypocrisy,' ancient forms of government were by definition exclusive to foreigners, so a democratic city-state lording over other city-states wouldn't have been a significant cause of distress or soul-searching.

As for the results of an Athenian victory... it's impossible to say, really. The Thebans did the smart thing when they freed Messania from Spartan control; the removal of so much land and the freeing of all those helots deprived the Spartans of the foundation of their power. Well, that and the unprecedented losses they took in the war. It would take mass casualties and a general invasion of the Peloponneses to enact such an upset, and I don't know if the Athenians would have ever been in a position to do such a thing.

However, in the event of such a victory it would be easy to imagine the Athenians simply destroying Sparta in a fit of triumphalist rage, which would probably cement Athenian hegemony for at least a generation. Inevitably though Athens' power would have waned, rebellions would weaken their power, and the Polis' would have continued their eternal civil war. The Greeks of this period were generally ungovernable, far too in love with their own liberty to stay united under any power for too long.
 

Really?

The freeing of the Helots is a bit of a non-starter after some of them defected to the Athenian side and caused some trouble and were accused of theft. Mind you, that probably was a one off incident, but by the peace of Niacas the reputation in Athens of them was... not good.
 
Honestly, considering the nature of Athenian politics, its direction of travel could be quite wild. Look at Alcebides after all - the man convinced them to let him invade Sicily, as much to avoid prosecution as anything else. (I also don't see that as a great PoD, but just assuming a victory.)

Plausibly, I could see Athens persist, and start to reform its Empire - Athens itself is still democratic, but have a reform that leads to the provinces being effectively democratically assigned viceroyalties - so you have a single authority in Ionia, another in the Peloponnese, etc - I could see a reformer come along with that idea. I can also see someone make a push to expand and strengthen the Black Sea and Northern Colonies - leading to conflict with Macedonia.

The idea of Macedonia (and Philip) being essentially part of Athens, and would be epic - plus, the idea of Philip of Macedon becoming a 2nd class adviser in Athens is heartbreaking.
 
After Sparta, Macedonia and Epirus are essentially an irrelevance, semi-barbarian natives who can be safely ignored and exploited.

Athens would seek to bring all the Greek colonies of the Med into their Empire (sorry. League) which I think is well beyond their ability to control. The best I could imagine would be a Social War analogue which ends up reforming the Delian League back into a league. I can see some skirmishing with the Persians, particularly over the islands but no all out war as per Phillip and Alexander.

Can see wars with Carthage and Rome over Magna Graecia and Sicliy and it's anyone's guess who would win. My money wouldn't be on Athens though.
 
@Derek Pullem - That I think would probably be a post-provincial reform (in my mind) - after all, simply controlling those regions is a task, but local unity is still important, so even in a Social War analogue, I can expect it to consist like a League-in-Parts (Ionian Circuit, Macedonian Circuit, etc) - but with all the polis also part of Athens proper. This would probably also count for the further afield colonies - essentially local authorities and organisation tied together.

That could be quite a powerful trick though, and start the road to "De-city-state-ification", replacing the City State identification with Circuit. Which would likely change the shape of future settlement for a successful League. The question is whether Athens wins but makes concessions - or loses and despite the window for fragmentation, the League sets up a new headquarters. (In which case, where? We're basically talking about turning a city into a Washington-DC style site.) In theory you could have a defeated Athens essentially rebuilt on that premise. An "Athens as it should have been" if you will.

I do think that it would be quite a successful league though - especially if it does thinks like abolish in-league tariffs on goods or similar practices. That'd cause a economic boom, and all the forces that would otherwise be fighting each other can focus on pacifying the north.

Actually. That is the really bloody obvious option. We already know where a new capital would likely be if the League makes an effort to expand in the Black Sea and unify those Greek Cities.

Byzantion.

Which, considering its location, and the time period - would likely make trade a major focus, much like its hypothetical rival Carthage. The two may be more interested in trade with each other than war - and with an early social war, this "Byzantine League", with its strong trade focus, and relatively large army since it is pre-Alexander could easily take the role of Epirus and then some in Italy - butterflies permitting.

I won't lie, if I knew enough about the time, I'd write a TL. Sadly I'm no @Sersor .
 
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