The fleet was now commanded by Demosthenes, Menander, and Euthydemus, while the Syracusan fleet was led by Sicanus and Agatharchus of Syracuse on the wings and Pythen from Corinth in the centre. However, it would not be until 1130 that both Sicily and southern Italy were united into one kingdom, formalized by Roger II of Sicily. [19] Over the course of several speeches, Nicias raised a series of different arguments against the expedition. 30 cavalry [6], In 427 BC, Athens had sent twenty ships, under the command of Laches, in response to an appeal for help from Leontini. Nicias, exhausted and suffering from illness, now believed it would be impossible to capture Syracuse. Before too long, the prospect of foreign domination had united the Leontinians, and the two parties united in war against Syracuse. After lengthy preparations, the fleet was ready to sail. It started the Italian Campaign.. Husky began on the night of 9–10 July 1943, and ended 17 August.Husky achieved the goals of the Allies. Some 10,000 hoplites had perished and, though this was a blow, the real concern was the loss of the huge fleet dispatched to Sicily. Alcibiades was the expedition's leading proponent, and the leader of the war party, Nicias its leading critic and the leader of the peace party. For a certain stranger, it seems, coming to Piraeus, and there sitting in a barber's shop, began to talk of what had happened, as if the Athenians already knew all that had passed; which the barber hearing, before he acquainted anybody else, ran as fast as he could up into the city, addressed himself to the Archons, and presently spread it about in the public Place. Nicias personally surrendered to Gylippus, hoping the Spartan would remember his role in the peace treaty of 421. Shortly after the Congress, Syracuse intervened in an episode of civil strife between the democratic and oligarchic parties in Leontini, supporting the oligarchs. The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between the Athenian empire, or the Delian League, on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The Athenians attacked first, believing themselves to be the stronger and more experienced army, and after some unexpectedly strong resistance, the Argives pushed back the Syracusan left wing, causing the rest to flee. His misreading of the assembly had altered the strategic situation; whereas the loss of 60 ships would have been painful but bearable, the loss of the larger force would be catastrophic. In this operation, the Allies attacked and captured Sicily from the Axis forces. Many of the ships were pushed on to the shore, where Gylippus was waiting. When the Syracusans marched out to Catania, they learned the Athenians had reboarded their ships and sailed into the harbour at Syracuse. The rest of the Syracusans followed Nicias to the Assinarus river, where Nicias's troops became disorganized in the rush to find drinking water. Nicias had expected this, but the other commanders were dismayed. As they marched they defeated a small Syracusan force guarding the river Anapus, but other Syracusan cavalry and light troops continually harassed them. In 404 BC they were defeated and occupied by Sparta. They decided to invade the Italian island, using North African troops, after obtaining victory in Africa. Thucydides observed that contemporary Greeks were shocked not that Athens eventually fell after the defeat, but rather that it fought on for as long as it did, so devastating were the losses suffered.