Once the rest of Greece learned of the defeat in Sicily, other poles, including Sparta, rose up against the city of Athens. Many Athenians feared being treated with the same cruelty they had shown to other Greeks they had conquered. "Sparta did not destroy Athens, but simply demolished the long walls between Athens and Piraeus that guaranteed Athenians' access to the sea and took away all but twelve of the Athenian navy's triremes." Even though democracy is not blamed by name, Thucydides blamed democracy because it was a failure.