Battle of Naupactus

Sybota - Potidaia - Spartolus - Stratos - Naupaktos - Plataea - Olpai - Tanagra - Pylos - Sphacteria - Corinth - Megara - Delion - Amphipolis - Mantinea - Melos - Syracuse - Miletus - Syme - Eretria - Kynossema - Abydos - Cyzicus - Ephesus - Chalcedon - Byzantium - Andros - Notion - Mytilene - Arginusae - Aigospotamoi

The Battle of Naupaktos includes two naval battles during the Peloponnesian War, which was fought on the other side in 429 BC between the Athenians on the one hand and the Corinthians and Spartans, along with other allies.

Prehistory

In Western Greece Ambracia and Chaonien had ( on the Gulf of Ambracia or against Kerkyra ) asked the Spartans to dispatch a fleet, with which they intended to attack the allied with Athens Acarnania. Therefore, the Spartan strategists decided a campaign, during which they hoped to attack by land via Aetolia also the Athenian naval base Naupaktos on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. Actually succeeded the Spartans under their commander Knemos to land with a fleet and 1,000 hoplites in Acarnania and haunt the country. Their further advance was stopped at the gates of the capital Aitoliens where the Spartans and their allies barbarians suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Stratos. While this was happening in Acarnania and Aetolia, the Athenian fleet under Phormio before Naupaktos held the position in order to prevent a union of the fleet of Corinth with the Spartans.

The first battle

The Corinthians possessed 47 ships under the command of Machaon, Isocrates and Agatharchidas, but did not dare to battle against the 20 Athenian ships, as it was their job to provide the troops of Knemos supplies. The Athenians put the Corinthians, but after and stayed at their heels. In response, the Corinthian warships presented so on in a circle, that they abschirmten the unarmed supply ships before the Athenians. This circumnavigated the Corinthians in skillful maneuvers, so that more and more together back end of the Corinthians were afraid of being hit by the Athenians finally had barely room for development. This took the Athenians the decisive attack in which she captured 12 enemy ships and numerous other sunken, but escaped some Corinthian ships were pierced to the Spartans under Knemos.

The second battle

Phormion the Corinthians pursued further but that could unite now with a Spartan fleet under Timocrates, Brasidas, and Lycophron. Although the Athenians sent another 20 ships under Nicias the Phormion to help, but had these ships with a contract to Crete. After the first battle was over before Naupaktos, which consists of 77 ships Corinthian Spartan fleet anchored for a week at the entrance of the Corinthian Gulf, the Athenian ships against. During the Corinthians, who had already gotten several times felt in naval battles, the experience of the Athenians, still hesitated, urged the Spartans in the face of the numerical superiority of the battle. The Athenian fighters feared a defeat against the obvious superiority of the enemy, but could Phormion, Report of the According to Thucydides, arouse their courage to fight again. When it finally came even to a second battle, the Peloponnesians were first nine Athenian ships capture or destroy the remaining eleven turned to flee, pursued by their enemies. Ten of the Athenian ships fled to their base in Naupaktos, the eleventh drove around a ankerndes cargo ship on the open sea and rammed one of the Peloponnesian ships. Due to this unexpected turn of events, the Peloponnesians were unsettled, so that the Athenians took advantage of the situation to a renewed attack. They were six of the enemy ships and loot the rest of the drive to flee. For fear of the 20 vessels of the Nikias, who arrived shortly thereafter, the Peloponnesians eventually moved back into the Gulf of Krisa to Corinth.

Injury

A few months later, the Spartans took under Knemos and Brasidas a surprise attack with target Piraeus. When they ran out of Nisaea, but they got scared and devastated instead the island of Salamis. Meanwhile, Athens was warned by local fire signals. After the Athenians mobilized their city guard and sent to the island, attracted from the attackers. Athens took measures that such an action in the future should not be done again. Thucydides - as Donald Kagan - believed that the attack on Piraeus had successfully can be.