500 - 400 BC (Guardians)

The 5th century BC is dominated by the wars between Greece and Lydia, which matched east against west for the first time and ended in triumphant victory for the Greeks. The victory established Greek dominance over the Mediterranean and the ability to spread their culture from one end to another, enabling a golden age for Greece. However, such prosperity did not last, and the many city-states that made up Greece frequently battled each other in hopes of establishing dominance. Elsewhere, the Zhou dynasty of China slides into near total irrelevancy and Buddhism becomes a major religion in northern India.

Invasion
Lydian forces invaded Attica in 499 BC to put an end to Athenian meddling in Lydian affairs, namely Athenian support for Ionian rebellion. At the battle of Marathon, the Lydians are beaten and forced to withdraw by the Athenians, who continue their efforts to free the Ionians without success. Sadyattes II gave up trying to expand east, however his son Croesus II did not.

Angered at the failure of his father, Croesus II prepared a large force which he then divided in two. One force was sent overland, across the Dardanelles and into Macedon to strike the Greeks from the north, while another force was sent by sea to ravage the southern Greek cities. The invasion commenced in 480 BC, nearly twenty years after the first battle at Marathon.

The southern Greek cities were concerned with this invasion and the way the Lydians seemed to progress through northern Greece and the Aegean unopposed. Sparta under its king Leonidas sent a force northwards to drive out the Lydians while the Athenians rallied their allies and fleets to take back the Aegean. In the battle of Thermopolyae, the Spartans were successful in defeating the Lydians and pushed north into Macedon. The Lydian assault by sea was more successful, defeating the Greeks at Artimisium before pulling back from lack of supplies.

With their homeland secured, the Athenians pushed forth in order to liberate other lands. The Spartans, although successful in freeing Macedon from Lydian control, declined to march further, needing to remain in Greece so as to keep its slave population in check. Athens sent several forces to liberate Ionia, and Ionia and the Bosphorus were free by 477 BC. Croesus II, while furious at the actions of the Greeks, was forced to allow it, as the Persians invaded once more and Croesus II had to fight tooth and nail to keep his kingdom.

Clash of the City-States
In Greece, Athens rapidly ascended as the primary Greek city-state, with considerable prestige from defeating the Lydians both in Greece and liberating other Greeks living under Lydian oppression. Athens began to flex its muscle across the Eastern Mediterranean, its power fueled by a mighty navy and a vast network of tributaries and trade. Athens began pushing its influence into Sicily, Southern Italy, and the Black Sea. Athens even tempted the wrath of the Persian Empire, striking at Cyprus and Egypt in 460 BC.

However, this Athenian Hegemony was not popular in either the east or Greece, and many resented the seemingly imperialistic agenda of the democratic state. In particular, the rivalry between Athens and the militaristic society of Sparta worsened, and many states soon began supporting Sparta in hopes of breaking Athenian power. War first broke out in 460 BC, although the first years were mainly quiet, as Athens was concerned with securing Egypt from Persian domination while Sparta, for reasons unknown, did not take advantage of this fact and kept their armies in their barracks.

Other Greek cities joined in this war, with Argos, traditional rival of Sparta, siding with Athens and Thebes aligning with Sparta. However, the war was largely inconclusive, as neither side could really strike each other effectively enough to deal a killing blow. With that in mind, the two powers signed a thirty year truce, during which both sides expanded their military potential and network of alliances.

The truce was ineffective in reducing tensions, and warfare exploded as soon as the treaty ended. As before, the beginning of the war saw little conflict between the two sides. Athens knew that it couldn't combat the superior Spartan armies in the field, so Athens instead attempted to isolate and conquer Sparta's allies, depriving Sparta the resources to continue the war.

This strategy worked with smaller cities, however some of Sparta's larger allies, such as Macedonia or Thebes, could not effectively be defeated before Spartan reinforcements arrived. Athenian attempts to get Egyptian aid in attacking Cyrene, one of Sparta's allies, did not bear fruit.

Sparta's armies were able to effectively cut off Athens from the rest of Attica, forcing Athens to rely on its navy to supply it with food and weapons. However, this resulted in a plague, killing a large portion of the city's inhabitants and manpower. That being said, neither side could effectively starve each other, as Sparta could grow its own food or import from Cyrene while Athens could import grain from Egypt.

The worst strategic blunder came with the Athenian invasion of Sicily. Eager to use the island as a base and to acquire further resources and allies, Athens sent a large force to attack Syracuse, the largest of the western Greek colonies. Sparta soon sent reinforcements to Syracuse, and a series of strategic errors devestated the Athenian force. The loss ended Athenian hopes of expansion in the Western Mediterranean and severely limited its ability to project force outside of Attica.

Despite this crushing defeat, Athens hoped that it could bide its time and recover, as it still had the largest fleet in Greece. Plague had subsided and grain and wealth continued to pour in from Egypt and Ionia. However, Sparta created an alliance specifically to counter this strategy. Figuring that dominance over mainland Greece was more important, Sparta promised the cities of Ionia to Lydia in exchange for a fleet to crush the Athenian navy and cut off their supplies. Lydia, weak from fending off Persian attempts of conquest, agreed, and sent a large fleet to blockade the ports of Athens. The Athenian fleet was decidely defeated, and Athens was forced to surrender by 404 BC.

The war had major repurcussions in Greece, as the Athenian Hegemony had ended and the Spartan Hegemony had risen to take its place. The democracy of Athens was temporarily suspended while Sparta established a link of alliances from Sicily to Africa. Lydia regained control over Ionia, a needed reinforcement for a kingdom long battered by Persian aggression. To the north, Thebes and Macedonia emerged from the war with strong armies and leaders, poised to challenge Sparta as Hegemon of the Greeks.

Greek Philosophy
Despite the Lydian invasion and the climatic struggles between the major Greek states, this period was the apex of Greek intellectual advancement. Greek thought, theory, architecture, and culture had reached what is considered to be its classical apex.

Greek philosophy in particular reached levels not seen elsewhere in the western world. Prominent Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato emerged at this time and revolutionized much in terms of rational thought and the role of government. Greek philosophy would go on and have a major impact in Roman political culture and from there dominate a significant portion of Western political and social theory for generations to come.

Rise of Rome
Rome, following the removal of the Etruscan monarch and the establishment of an aristocratic republic, started off on a path of territorial expansion and political reform. Rome battled many different nearby factions of Italic tribes and Latin confederacies and over time annexed city after city. By the end of the century, the Roman Republic was not the dominate power in Italy, but commanded considerable influence within Latium and neighboring areas. Central Italy was hemmed in by the Greeks and Samnites to the south and the Etruscans to the north. The famous dictator Cincinnatus rose to fame during this time, defending Rome against its enemies on more than one occasion.

It was also during this time that the political rivalry that dominated much of the early republic came into being. The republic was established as an aristocratic one, with clear focus and power towards the noble class, the patricians. The patricians effectively ruled over the plebeians, who made up the majority of the free population. Laws were created that limited the interactions between the two classes. As time went on, tensions rose between the two classes, and each tried different tactics to consolidate and enhance their political power. This rivalry would persist in Roman politics for many generations.

Sicily
Apart from the catastrophic Athenian invasion of Syracuse, the Greek cities of Sicily and Italy played little part in the constant struggles taking place in Greece. Syracuse and Taras were part-time allies of the Spartan Hegemony but otherwise remained concerned with their own affairs, mainly the encroachment of the Carthaginians and Samnites, respectively.

In Sicily, Carthage made another attempt to conquer the island and drive the Greeks out. The conflict between the two powers had been off and on since around 600 BC. Neither side was completely able to drive the other from the island, leading to a perpetual state of war interrupted only by times of ceasefire and attempted peace.

This struggle led to a climax at the Battle of Himera in 480, where Hamilcar I of Carthage led an army of 50,000 men to defeat the armies of Syracuse and establish a loyal tyrant in the city. The battle was a complete disaster for the Carthaginians and saw the loss of over nine thousand men as well as the king himself. Carthage was forced to withdraw from eastern Sicily and pay an indemnity as it recovered under Hamilcar's son Hanno II.

Carthage, although militarily devestated by the loss, would recover by the end of the century and launch successful raids into Greek territory in 409 and 406 BC. The Carthaginians were also successful in occupying the island of Malta, further solidifying their control over the Western Mediterranean.