History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides (c. 460 B.C. - c. 395 B.C.) was a Greek historian and author of the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides is considered the father of "scientific history", because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to the intervention of the gods. The History of the Peloponnesian War is the history of the 5th century B.C. struggle between Athens, a democratic state and sea power, and the states of the Peloponnese headed by Sparta, a conservative power with an efficient military force.

Thucydides of Athens, one of the greatest of historians, was born about 471 BCE. He saw the rise of Athens to greatness under the inspired leadership of Pericles. In 430, the second year of the Peloponnesian War, he caught and survived the horrible plague which he described so graphically. Later, as general in 423 he failed to save Amphipolis from the enemy and was disgraced. He tells about this, not in volumes of self-justification, but in one sentence of his history of the war—that it befell him to be an exile for twenty years. He then lived probably on his property in Thrace, but was able to observe both sides in certain campaigns of the war, and returned to Athens after her defeat in 404. He had been composing his famous history, with its hopes and horrors, triumphs and disasters, in full detail from first-hand knowledge of his own and others. The war was really three conflicts with one uncertain peace after the first; and Thucydides had not unified them into one account when death came sometime before 396. His history of the first conflict, 431–421, was nearly complete; Thucydides was still at work on this when the war spread to Sicily and into a conflict (415–413) likewise complete in his awful and brilliant record, though not fitted into the whole. His story of the final conflict of 413–404 breaks off (in the middle of a sentence) when dealing with the year 411. So his work was left unfinished and as a whole unrevised. Yet in brilliance of description and depth of insight this history has no superior. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Thucydides is in four volumes.

Chronicles two decades of war between Athens and Sparta.

This stimulating new study provides a narrative of the monumentalconflict of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, andexamines the realities of the war and its effects on the averageAthenian. A penetrating new study of the Peloponnesian War betweenAthens and Sparta by an established scholar Offers an original interpretation of how and why the warbegan Weaves in the contemporary evidence of Aristophanes in orderto give readers a new sense of how the war affected theindividual Discusses the practicalities and realities of the war Examines the blossoming of culture and intellectualachievement in Athens despite the war Challenges the approach of Thucydides in his account of thewar

An Athenian general of the fifth century B.C. chronicles the disastrous 27-year conflict between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides traces the conflict's roots and provides detailed, knowledgeable analyses of battles and the political atmosphere.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The History of the Peloponnesian War is a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, and the Delian League, led by Athens. Thucydides' account of the conflict is widely considered to be a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history. Hellenica is direct continuation of the History of the Peloponnesian War. There is virtually no transition between the two works, to the extent that the opening words of Hellenica are translated as "After this", or sometimes "Following these events". The Hellenica recounts the last seven years of the Peloponnesian war, as well as its aftermath. Many consider this a very personal work, written by Xenophon in retirement on his Spartan estate, intended primarily for circulation among his friends, for people who knew the main protagonists and events, often because they had participated in them.

Normally recognized as one of the most punctual direct written records of history, this great work narratives the war among Athens and Sparta during the fifth century B.C. Its creator, Thucydides, impartially and precisely depicts the occasions of this antiquated Greek war in an exacting order which incorporates the reasons for the contention, portrayals of war zone methodology, political feelings, and every other part of the war in the splendid detail of a scholarly and perceptive observer. Himself an Athenian general who served in the war, Thucydides relates the invasions, treacheries, plagues, amazing speeches, ambitions, virtues, and emotions of the conflict between two of Greece's most dominant city-states in a work that has the feel of a great tragic drama. However, to some degree an investigation of war approach, "The History" is additionally a dramatic account of the rise and fall of Athens by an Athenian. As such, it provides a historical warning for modern military, political, and international relations.

Presents an English translation of the Greek text which provides an account of the people and events involved in the long, fifth-century conflict between Athens and Sparta, and includes notes, a glossary, and other resources.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Naval power played a vital role in the Peloponnesian War. The conflict pitted Athens against a powerful coalition including the preeminent land power of the day, Sparta. Only Athens superior fleet, her wooden walls, by protecting her vital supply routes allowed her to survive. It also allowed the strategic freedom of movement to strike back where she chose, most famously at Sphacteria, where a Spartan force was cut off and forced to surrender.Athens initial tactical superiority was demonstrated at the Battle of Chalcis, where her ships literally ran rings round the opposition but this gap closed as her enemies adapted. The great amphibious expedition to Sicily was a watershed, a strategic blunder compounded by tactical errors which brought defeat and irreplaceable losses. Although Athens continued to win victories at sea, at Arginusae for example, her naval strength had been severely weakened while the Spartans built up their fleets with Persian subsidies. It was another naval defeat, at Aegispotomi (405 BC) that finally sealed Athens fate. Marc De Santis narrates these stirring events while analyzing the technical, tactical and strategic aspects of the war at sea.

The Stalingrad of the ancient world, this is an immensely readable, brilliant, brutal and vivid history of the greatest and bloodiest war of ancient Greece.

No Marketing Blurb

The first volume of Donald Kagan's acclaimed four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War offers a new evaluation of the origins and causes of the conflict, based on evidence produced by modern scholarship and on a careful reconsideration of the ancient texts. He focuses his study on the question: Was the war inevitable, or could it have been avoided? Kagan takes issue with Thucydides' view that the war was inevitable, that the rise of the Athenian Empire in a world with an existing rival power made a clash between the two a certainty. Asserting instead that the origin of the war "cannot, without serious distortion, be treated in isolation from the internal history of the states involved," Kagan traces the connections between domestic politics, constitutional organization, and foreign affairs. He further examines the evidence to see what decisions were made that led to war, at each point asking whether a different decision would have been possible.

Thucydides' classic work is a foundational text in the history of Western political thought. His narrative of the great war between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BC is now seen as a highly sophisticated study of the nature of political power itself: its exercise and effects, its agents and victims, and the arguments through which it is defended and deployed. It is therefore increasingly read as a text in politics, international relations and political theory, whose students will find in Thucydides many striking contemporary resonances. This edition seeks to present the author and the text in their proper historical context. The new translation is particularly sensitive to the risks of anachronism, and the notes and extensive reference material provide students with all the necessary historical, cultural and linguistic background they need to engage with the text on its own terms.