Thucydides History Of The Peloponnesian War Essay
Thucydides’ History Of the Peloponnesian War: Pericles’ Advice
Athens and Sparta fought for supreme control of Greece for 27 years. The Peloponnesian War is the name given to this conflict between these two powers. Pericles, a prominent Athenian politician and leader, offered wise advice to the Athenians at the start of the war on how to manage the war while fighting Sparta. He said: “[Don’t] add to the empire while the war is in progress … [or] go out of your way to involve yourselves in new perils.” (Book 1, Chapter 144). Pericles died while the war was still in its earliest stages. Though the Athenians accepted the advice of Pericles while he lived, after his death they failed to heed his insightful words. At the peak of the Peloponnesian War, in the year 415 B.C., the people of Athens decided to embark on a campaign separate from the current war with Sparta. They planned to make an assault on Sicily, an island off the coast of Italy. Though the Athenians claimed that they were going to Sicily to protect their kinsmen and allies that lived there, their real motive …show more content…
After two years of intense warfare, the Sicilians vanquished the Athenians’ expedition. According to Thucydides, the Sicilian Expedition was: “ … the greatest Hellenic action that took place during the [Peloponnesian] war, and … the greatest action that we know of in Hellenic history - to the victors the most brilliant of successes, to the vanquished the most calamitous of defeats; for they were utterly and entirely defeated; their sufferings were on an enormous scale; their losses were … total; army, navy, everything was destroyed, and out of many, only a few returned.” (Book 7, Chapter 87). Though their army and navy devastated, the Athenians struggled through the last ten years of the war until the Spartans defeated
Athens and Sparta fought for supreme control of Greece for 27 years. The Peloponnesian War is the name given to this conflict between these two powers. Pericles, a prominent Athenian politician and leader, offered wise advice to the Athenians at the start of the war on how to manage the war while fighting Sparta. He said: “[Don’t] add to the empire while the war is in progress … [or] go out of your way to involve yourselves in new perils.” (Book 1, Chapter 144). Pericles died while the war was still in its earliest stages. Though the Athenians accepted the advice of Pericles while he lived, after his death they failed to heed his insightful words. At the peak of the Peloponnesian War, in the year 415 B.C., the people of Athens decided to embark on a campaign separate from the current war with Sparta. They planned to make an assault on Sicily, an island off the coast of Italy. Though the Athenians claimed that they were going to Sicily to protect their kinsmen and allies that lived there, their real motive …show more content…
After two years of intense warfare, the Sicilians vanquished the Athenians’ expedition. According to Thucydides, the Sicilian Expedition was: “ … the greatest Hellenic action that took place during the [Peloponnesian] war, and … the greatest action that we know of in Hellenic history - to the victors the most brilliant of successes, to the vanquished the most calamitous of defeats; for they were utterly and entirely defeated; their sufferings were on an enormous scale; their losses were … total; army, navy, everything was destroyed, and out of many, only a few returned.” (Book 7, Chapter 87). Though their army and navy devastated, the Athenians struggled through the last ten years of the war until the Spartans defeated