Not only did the fall of Athens indicate the end of progress and philosophical thought, but also ended Greece's contribution to the world as a whole. One must remember, however, knowing that Greece was the center of democracy, it was not as selective as some claim. In its claim of spreading democracy Athens was able to justify the coercion of various outlying territories and spread the image of the city-state as being the only universal benefactor of all mankind. Sparta had conceivably attacked Athens because she extended his need for expansion too far and Sparta feared that she would eventually become an Athenian colony and known to all historians is that Sparta leads but is not a follower (Strassler, 1996). That which politicians and nations can learn form the Peloponnesian Greek tragedy may rightfully be applied to the present day and age. Whether or not history repeats itself is not a rhetorical question as all can seen in the events of 431 BC-404 BC being replicated...
Today many countries around the world are not dissuaded from the dangers of war for they blindly prefer might to right. These countries are blindly confident in their future and are seemingly full of hope and aspirations beyond their perceived and actual power - yet not beyond their ambitions. Is it then, therefore, that war is determined by a moment which seems approving, right, and advantageous rather than by provocation? (Kagan, 1995).
History Of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides asserts that the Peloponnesian War was caused by "…the rise of Athenian power and the fear this caused in Sparta." Does this argument place the blame for the start of the war on Athens or on Sparta? That is the thesis question to be approached in this paper. Using quality references -- books and scholarly articles -- this paper will answer the thesis question and
How do we know about this war? Thucydides may be counted among the foremost historians of the West to utilize a rigorous chronological standard. He recorded events based on their year of occurrence, and every year was divided into two seasons: a campaign-filled summer and a relatively inactive winter. The historian documented the Peloponnesian War in great detail. In spite of hailing from Athens and having taken part in the war, Thucydides
Athens counseled Sparta to use caution and care, to find arbitration, to find a way to mitigate the circumstances prior to giving into the fear paradigm, and resultant war. Make your decision with the slow deliberate care due to important matters, and don't bring trouble on yourselves by giving in to other people's opinions and complaints. Before you go to war, you must realize how unpredictable war is. The longer
Athens lost the Peloponnesian War for two main reasons. The first was the drain of fighting Sparta, Sparta's allies, Corinth, and Thebes. The protracted, atrocious, and murderous war lasted nearly three decades, gnawing away at the agrarian infrastructure, wrecking the social progress of civic traditions, and consuming an impoverished Athens. The second reason was the effect of the invasion of Syracuse. The invasion lost Alcibiades, all of the army and
History Of Western Civilization Explain the formation of the Peloponnesian League. What it is, and what city- states are involved in it? The Peloponnesian League was formed circa 51-500 BC. Sparta was an oligarchy dominating the southern Peloponnese region, a peninsula in southern Greece which, despite being in a position to dominate the Ionian Sea and with allies in position on the Aegean Sea, preferred building a large and well-trained army to
Given that Christianity tended to view history as progressive, and Christ's sacrifice and the event of Christendom being the ultimate apex of earlier civilization, the past was often seen as an inferior precursor to the present in a particularly judgmental light -- hence the persecution of certain groups as infidels and outsiders. It is the historian and the anthropologist's duty to unpack such cultural assumptions and to view the world
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