Editing Alcibiades (section)

===Reinstatement as an Athenian general===
{{See also|Athenian coup of 411 BC}}
In spite of the failure of the negotiations, the conspirators succeeded in overthrowing the democracy and imposing the oligarchic government of the [[The Four Hundred (oligarchy)|Four Hundred]], among the leaders of which were Phrynichus and Pisander. At Samos, however, a similar coup instigated by the conspirators did not go forward so smoothly. Samian democrats learned of the conspiracy and notified four prominent Athenians: the generals Leon and Diomedon, the [[trierarch]] Thrasybulus, and Thrasyllus, at that time a [[hoplite]] in the ranks. With the support of these men and the Athenian soldiers in general, the Samian democrats were able to defeat the 300 Samian oligarchs who attempted to seize power there.<ref name="Th8.73">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:73|8.73]].</ref> Further, the Athenian troops at Samos formed themselves into a political assembly, deposed their generals, and elected new ones, including Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus. The army, stating that they had not revolted from the city but that the city had revolted from them, resolved to stand by the democracy while continuing to prosecute the war against Sparta.<ref>Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:76|8.76]].</ref>

After a time, Thrasybulus persuaded the assembled troops to vote Alcibiades's recall, a policy that he had supported since before the coup. Then he sailed to retrieve Alcibiades and returned with him to Samos. The aim of this policy was to win away Persian support from the Spartans, as it was still believed that Alcibiades had great influence with Tissaphernes.<ref name="Th8.81">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:81|8.81]].</ref> Plutarch claims that the army sent for Alcibiades so as to use his help in putting down the tyrants in Athens.<ref name="Plut26">{{cite Plutarch|Alcibiades|26}}</ref> Kagan argues that this reinstatement was a disappointment to Alcibiades, who had hoped for a glorious return to Athens itself but found himself only restored to the rebellious fleet, where the immunity from prosecution he had been granted "protected him for the time being but not from a reckoning in the future"; furthermore, the recall, which Alcibiades had hoped to bring about through his own prestige and perceived influence, was achieved through the patronage of Thrasybulus.<ref name="Kagan389">Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 389.</ref>

In his first speech to the assembled troops, Alcibiades complained bitterly about the circumstances of his exile, but most of the speech was boasting of his influence with Tissaphernes. The primary motives of his speech were to make the oligarchs at Athens fear him and to increase his credit with the army at Samos. Upon hearing his speech the troops immediately elected him general alongside Thrasybulus and the others. He roused them so much that they proposed to sail at once for [[Piraeus]] and attack the oligarchs in Athens.<ref name = "Th8.82">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:82|8.82]].</ref> It was primarily Alcibiades, along with Thrasybulus, who calmed the people and showed them the folly of this proposal, which would have sparked civil war and would have led to the immediate defeat of Athens.<ref name="Plut26"/> Shortly after Alcibiades's reinstatement as an Athenian general, the government of the Four Hundred was overthrown and replaced by a broader oligarchy, which would eventually give way to democracy.<ref>Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:97|8.97]].</ref>

Presently Alcibiades sailed to Tissaphernes with a detachment of ships. According to Plutarch, the supposed purpose of this mission was to stop the Persian fleet from coming to the aid of the Peloponnesians.<ref name="Plut26"/> Thucydides is in agreement with Plutarch that the Persian fleet was at [[Aspendus]] and that Alcibiades told the troops he would bring the fleet to their side or prevent it from coming at all, but Thucydides further speculates that the real reason was to flaunt his new position to Tissaphernes and try to gain some real influence over him.<ref name="Th8.82" /> According to the historian, Alcibiades had long known that Tissaphernes never meant to bring the fleet at all.<ref name="Th8.88">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 8#8:88|8.88]].</ref>