### id263995851 the Peloponnesian War is an artificial label > Sparta did win the Peloponnesian War. But there's a couple of reasons why that doesn't necessarily support their reputation as a military power. > First, the "Peloponnesian War" is an artificial grouping of a series of conflicts across a 27-year period. Many Greeks at the time actually regarded these as several separate wars. And it would be fair to say that Sparta actually *lost* the first of these, the Archidamian War of 431-421 BC. The Spartans achieved nothing militarily against the Athenian Empire until the final years of this conflict, and suffered a humiliating defeat on Sphakteria which strategically crippled them. The peace treaty that ended this war mostly reconfirmed the status quo, showing that Sparta had been unable to even reduce Athenian power, let alone destroy it. - [View Highlight](https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/q3bowq/sparta_wasnt_that_effective_in_war_were_there_any?__readwiseLocation=0%2F0%2F0%2F4%2F2%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F10%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A5%2C2%2F1%2F0%2F4%2F2%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F10%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A408#:~:text=Sparta%20did%20win%20the%20Peloponnesian%2Cpower%2C%20let%20alone%20destroy%20it.) - [[hypermilitarized groups in history#id263995851 the Peloponnesian War is an artificial label|View in Vault]]