A result of the division of forces was the establishment by the Peloponnese of a permanent garrison at Decelea in northern Attica. It was about fifteen miles from Athens itself. This forced the Athenians to abandon the surrounding lands and live permanently in the city. Thousands of slaves deserted to the Peloponnesians and industry and trade declined (Botsford and Robinson 218). This had a huge impact on Athens' economy and its ability to finance the war. With its enemies behind it, Athens was unable to gather its forces in Sicily to conquer Syracuse. This hampered the expedition, particularly because of the lack of cavalry that Athens retained to defend Attica. Another failure was the Athenians' complete disregard for operational security which greatly hampered the expedition. During the Syracuse expedition, the Athenians' lapses in security proved fatal to their campaign. A major mistake early in the campaign was that of Alcibiades and the Athenian assembly's attempt to recall him. Immediately before the expedition's departure, the assembly suspected Alcibiades of religious sacrilege. Fearing Alcibiades' power in the army, the Athenian assembly decided to wait for his departure to pursue the matter. The Athenian assembly indicted Alcibiades for sacrilege after he left for Sicily and ordered him to return to face the charges. On the return voyage on a separate ship, Alcibiades escaped to Thurii and subsequently exiled himself to Sparta (218). The Athenians failed to anticipate Alcibiades' possible defection and take steps to prevent it. A secondary consequence was that the assembly took the spiritual and tactical advantage of the expedition by recalling Alcibiades. The expedition had a greater chance of success if command had passed to Alcib... middle of paper ...... editor's note. To make matters worse, when faced with these problems, Nicias became too cautious and would not listen to his subordinates. He repeatedly violated the principles of surprise, mass, maneuver and offensive. Nicias showed himself incapable of imposing his will on the Syracusans. He failed to anticipate their actions and as a result his forces were unable to respond quickly. It is not surprising that the Syracusans, motivated and properly equipped, ultimately defeated the Athenians. They understood these principles and used the lack of Athenians to their advantage. If the Athenians had used proven principles of warfare, they would have had two courses of action. One, do not get involved in the conflict, or two, immediately take decisive action and crush the Syracusans. Instead, as history points out, the Syraclisians defeated the Athenians who, as a result, lost their empire..