Delian League and NATO/Warsaw Pact
Greco-Persian Wars were a series of battle between the Achaemenid Empire also known as Persian Empire and Greek city- states: Athens, Sparta, Thebes and smaller Greek city states during the period from 499 to 449 BCE, because Athens and Eretria invaded and burned
Sardis (image: right the ruins of Temple of Artemis at Sardis) which resulted Darius’ decision to start his conquest in 492 BCE. Before Darius’ conquest he sent messengers/ambassadors across Greece demanding their submission under his empire, most of the city-states complied except Athens and Sparta where they also executed the messengers, you can imagine the scene from the movie “300” where King Leonidas yelled “This is Sparta “then kicked Persia messengers into their well and fall to death. Today’s focus will be Delian League and the impact it had during and after the Peloponnesian war, later on it was adopted during and after World War II North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the democratic side which included 30 European and North American countries to protect and defend themselves from Germany and Soviet Union. Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) was also established between Soviet Union and other Eastern Socialist republics in responds to NATO.
What is Delian League
Delian League a confederacy of ancient Greek states under the leadership of Athens, with headquarters at Delos (Pomeroy, pg139), was founded in 478 BCE during the Greco-Persian war. The organization of the league by Thucydides is for the purpose to includes all Greeks to join and defend their freedom and sovereignty from Achaemenian Persia (Persian Empire), during that period the most powerful state was Sparta controlling the strongest military in Greece, therefore, undertake the leadership. The purpose of the Delian League is to establish their independence and liberate Greek cities from the control of the Persian
empire, every member of the league have an obligation in contributing to funding in terms of money, or military vessel such as horses or navy, therefore, result in a famous navy force that they had around the region in the island of Delos (right image is the ruined island of Delos). Later on, the leadership was changed due to the inability to lead from Pausanias king of Sparta and their citizen lived a lifestyle where everyone is prepared to die for their city-state known as the “Spartan way of life” doesn’t fit with other cities – states around Greece so the transfer of power from Sparta to Athens begins which also resulted in the location of headquarter to Athens where Athenian lived. Since Athens is the leader of the Delian league, she took the opportunity to take control over the money she receives from the alliance and control by 10 Athenian treasurers and slow grow stronger than other city-states in Greece both in wealth and military power mostly navy, which also gives them control and dominated the Aegean Sea (Britannica). As you can see it feed to each other where money can help the Athenian empire obtain military power which gives them more control over the Aegean Sea that they could tax other states trading goods a never-ending cycle. Delian League allied with city-states across Greece which helped them maintain their freedom from slavery and independence, also helps them defend themselves from attacks of unknown or known enemies such as Persians in the future, even though Persia was defeated. Started with a good cause and a common enemy Persian empire but later due to the greed of the Athenian empire wanting to take control over Greece in terms of money and military destroyed Delian League itself (Delian League).
North Atlantic Treaty Organization/ Warsaw Pact
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a North Atlantic Alliance formed April 4, 1949, consisting North America and Democratic countries in across Europe, it’s headquarter is located in Brussels, Belgium. At the beginning of the NATO sign on April 4th, 1949
between 12 nations in Washington DC (image on your right), as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in case of a possible attack by Germany or the Soviet Union after World War II. The purpose of NATO is to have a security alliance of 30 countries from North America and Europe which to protect the alliances’ freedom and security through political and military powers. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty – that an attack against one Ally is an attack against all – is at the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective defense and providing democratic values and is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes (NATO). In my opinion, NATO adapted from the Delian league where they have city-states contributes through money and military vessels towards the fund and a union army comprise of different state citizen-soldiers to protect Greece, as for NATO each members states contributes a budget of around 2.5 billion for the United States and each contribution is relative to the country’s GDP (BBC news) in this case since United States have the highest GDP during 2020, therefore, their contributions are almost 20% compared to other countries, also provides tens of thousands of active-duty personnel in Europe including Turkey with Germany hosting the largest number of US forces in Europe to keep peace across the continent in the world just like Delian league defends Greece for some time.
Conclusion
During and after the Greco-Persian Wars period Greek city-states created the Delian League which defend their freedom and independence from Persia also protect future wars from happening, which set a good example and some bad examples as well. During and After World War II, Democratic government learned and adapted the upside of having an alliance instead of making new enemies which resulted North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to defend Alliances’ freedom and independence which is still peacekeeping in War intense countries such as Afghanistan and Kosovo, now new threats to security such as cyber-attacks, and global threats such as terrorism and piracy that affect the Alliance and its global network partners (NATO) being inclusive not just the members country but also countries in need.
Bibliography
Cartwright, Mark, “Delian League”, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 4 March 2016, https://www.ancient.eu/Delian_League/, Accessed 25 November 2020
- The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Delian League”, 3 April 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Delian-League, Accessed Date: November 23 2020
- U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization About NATO, https://nato.usmission.gov/our-relationship/about-nato/operations/, Accessed Date: November 24 2020
- Reality Check team BBC News, “Trump: What does the US contribute to NATO in Europe?”, July 30 2020,https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44717074, Accessed Date: November 24 2020
Comments