istoryworld
Wars timeline
The renewal of the Peloponnesian War prompts Thucydides to begin a great work of contemporary history
A plague strikes Athens in the second year of the Peloponnesian War
Athenians vote to kill all the men on the captured island of Mytilene, but the next day change their mind - almost too late
The Athenians, capturing Melos, kill all the males of the island and sell the women and children into slavery
The Persians, renewing their interest in the Aegean, fund the Spartans in the building of a fleet to match that of Athens
The last remaining Athenian fleet is surprised and destroyed by the Spartans in the Hellespont
The famous Long Walls of Athens, her impregnable defence, are dismantled by the Spartans in the final act of the Peloponnesian War
A Spartan army is overwhelmed at Leuctra by a smaller number of Thebans under Epaminondas
Alexander the Great, at the age of sixteen, conducts his first successful military campaign – against the Thracians
The Macedonians develop the catapult as a siege engine for the armies of Philip II and Alexander the Great
Philip of Macedon defeats Athens and Thebes at Chaeronaea, giving him control of Greece
The League of Corinth resolves to launch a war against Persia, with Philip II in command of the confederate forces
An advance guard of 10,000 troops sets off towards Persia in the spring, with Philip due to follow later with the main army
The League of Corinth elects Alexander to take his father's place as leader of the campaign against Persia
The 21-year-old Alexander the Great marches east with some 5000 cavalry and 30,000 footsoldiers
At Issus, close to the Turkish border with Syria, Alexander defeats the Persian emperor Darius III, captures his family and treats them with courtesy
Alexander moves south through Syria and Palestine, excluding the Persian fleet from their familiar harbours
Tyre, the only coastal city to offer serious resistance to Alexander, is taken and destroyed after a siege of seven months
As a conclusive end to the long rivalry between Greece and Persia, Alexander destroys the great palace of Xerxes at Persepolis
In the Indian monsoon Alexander's Greek troops have finally had enough and threaten to mutiny unless he turns for home
The flexibility of the Roman legion transforms the Greek phalanx into an even more effective fighting machine
The Roman siege technique is improved by the 'tortoise' which protects the attacking force
Pyrrhus lands in Italy, with 25,000 men and 20 elephants, to fight for the Greek colony of Tarentum against the Romans
A clash in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, leads to the First Punic War
