Virtual assignment number 2

In the time that the Athenians were fighting the Spartan, the Spartans surrounded the city and burned all of the crops in the surrounding fields.  These crops were the lifeline for Athens, but they still had one other method of survival, their navy.  Pericles thought that they could use their naval strength to ship in all of the good and grain that they needed in order to ensure the survival of their civilization.  Although this plan would work in theory there was one unforeseen consequence to this plan.  This unforeseen consequence was a disease.  This was one of the worst plagues in history. With all of the people of Athens walled up in the city, it spread like wildfire.  This plague would eventually kill 1/3 of the Athenian people and leave the great state in shambles. People had no desire to do good if the good and the bad were going to die the same.  Then the disease struck Pericles, killing him after 6 months of disease.   This truly broke Athens.  After this with no central leader, the Athenian democracy showed that it was susceptible to mob rule and many people, doing whatever the masses wanted attempted to take power leading to a long line of chaos. overall one small unforeseen consequence led to the downfall of Athens.