If the Titans were as powerful as the gods, why were they defeated by them? What caused this conflict?

Answer 1

In Hesiod's Theogony the twelve Titans follow the Hecatonchires (the "Hundred-handed") and Cyclopes as the youngest set of children of Uranus, sky, and Gaia, the Earth:

"Afterwards she lay with Uranus and bore deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronus the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire."
Greeks of the Classical age knew of several poems about the war between the gods and many of the Titans, the Titanomachy ("War of the Titans"). The dominant one, and the only one that has survived, was in the Theogony attributed to Hesiod. A lost epic Titanomachy attributed to the blind Thracian bard Thamyris, himself a legendary figure, was mentioned in passing in an essay On Music that was once attributed to Plutarch. And the Titans played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus. Although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition.

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Answer 2

The thing is the gods were more powerful than the titans. The god's thought since they were stronger they should be in charge and the titans disagreed which led to a battle and the defeat of the weaker titans. Also the titans were older gods and when society developed they got phased out and people came up with newer versions.

Answer 3

The Gods defeated the Titans in the Titanomachy (aka "The War of the Titans").

This conflict was caused after Cronus began swallowing all his children for fear that they would overthrow him (just like he overthrew his father, Uranus). However, Zeus escaped that fate and managed to overthrow him. Once he did, he got Cronus to spit out his siblings.

Soon after, Zeus released all the prisoners Cronus had been holding in Hades. Among them were the Cyclopes and Hectanochires (Giants superior and stronger to the Titans who had a hundred arms - they preceded the Titans). They all banded together and managed to overthrow the Titans in battles that spanned 11 years.

Once they succeeded, the now-Gods imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus (the deepest part in Hades) and took their thrones in Mt. Olympus.

Answer 4

Well, the Titans were actually supposed to be more powerful than the gods, because they were the first mythical ones to walk the earth. However as history provides: all powerful creatures shall meet their downfall. And their downfall was a prophecy. Each Titan and Titanesses had their own downfall, but the most famous one would be Cronus, and the birth of Zeus. Cronus took the throne from his father, Uranus, and Zeus was destined to take his father's throne as well.

Atlas, another titan, was destined to hold the world on his shoulders for eternity. Prometheus was chained to a rock, and every day a vulture would peck at his liver, all because he stole fire from Zeus' sacred hearth, to give to mankind.

Coenus and Helios faded into the background. Sorry, that's all I remember.

Answer 5

Oh gosh... its been so long since I've read my mythology so I totally forgot their names but let me try...

If i remember correctly, it was foretold that the titan's 7th child would overthrow him so when he was born, the titan ate him to avoid the prophesey. But the wife/sister, Rhea did not want her son to be eatan so she wrapped a rock and fed it to her husband instead. The son grew up and turned out to be Zeus. As foretold, the father was overthrow and the titans were no more. Rhea wasn't really defeated, she just took a step back as the King of the gods mother. Prometheus was chained to a rock because he gave fire to man, Atlas was tricked into holding the sky. etc...
Anyway, I think it was just foretold that the titans would be defeated and they were.
This theme is repeated many times in mythology... the son overthrowing the father, father's eating their sons, prophesies that no matter how you try to avoid it (leave the child in the forest, put them in a labrynth, send them on a suicide mission) fate always wins.