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 it lasts, the more it is likely to turn on chance. The odds of disaster are the same for both sides, and no one can see where the dangers lie…. So, while it is still possible for both sides to use good judgment, we ask you not to dissolve the treaty or breathe your oaths, but to submit our differences to arbitration according to the agreement. If not, the Gods who heard the oaths are our witnesses, and once you have started the war, we will do our best to resist wherever you show the way (I: 78).
Nevertheless, despite this rather magnanimous offer, Sparta continued to remain antagonistic toward Athens. Their King, Archidamus, warned the council that there was no income available for war, that Sparta had appropriate sea power, and that the war would last generations if they allowed it to happen:
But do not take arms just yet. Send to them instead, and make demands…. And use the time to prepare our forces. We should acquire allies…...
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
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
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
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
Thucydides Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War history is based on the historical account of Peloponnesian War between 431 and 404 BC. The war was led by Athens (the Delian League), and the other led by Sparta within the Peloponnesian League. Thucydides (an Athenian historian) serving as a general in the war developed the focus of the battle. Together with a lack of trust in Thucydides' information, the narration is not a firsthand
It made no "long speech no one would believe, of fine moral arguments" (Woodruff 103). However, Pericles' claim that Athens did not need support to uphold its borders falls completely flat in the face of Athenian desperation to hold onto its empire. Thucydides, writing with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of the outcome of the war shows the Athenians in a far more ambiguous light than Pericles the
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