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History of the Peloponnesian War
9.5Thucydides
Thucydides invented historical analysis in this account of Athens versus Sparta — read at every war college from Athens to West Point for two and a half millennia.
GBM Assessment (Score: 9.5/10)
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is the foundation of political realism and remains an unsurpassed analysis of war, power, and human nature. The Melian Dialogue, in which Athenian envoys assert that the strong do what they can while the weak suffer what they must, stands as the foundational text of international relations theory.
Thucydides, an exiled Athenian general, wrote from direct experience of the conflict he chronicled. The Melian Dialogue appears in virtually every international relations course taught today, and Thomas Hobbes produced the first English translation in 1629, drawn to the work's direct analysis of power.,.
The Peloponnesian War, c. 430-400 BC
The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) pits Athens against Sparta. Plague kills Pericles (429 BC). The Sicilian Expedition ends in catastrophe. Athens massacres Melos. Socrates teaches in the agora. Despite crisis, literary production remains astonishing. Athens surrenders in 404 BC. Socrates is executed in 399 BC.
Awards & Adaptations
Foundation of political science/IR. Core at Princeton/Oxford/military academies.
Recommended Edition
R. Crawley (1874); C.F. Smith (Loeb 1919)
