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The Peloponnesian War
Download PDF The Peloponnesian War
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For almost three decades at the end of the fifth century BC the ancient world was torn apart in a conflict that was, within its historical context, as dramatic, divisive, and destructive as the great world wars of the 20th century. The Peloponnesian War pitted Greek against Greek: the Athenians, with their glorious empire, rich legacy of democracy and political rights, and extraordinary cultural achievement, against the militaristic, oligarchic Spartan state. The result was a period of unprecedented brutality, one that violated even the rugged code that had previously governed Greek combat, and led to an enormous destruction of life and property, intensification of factional and class hostility, and a reversal of the trend toward democratic development. With these came a collapse in the habits, institutions, beliefs, and restraints that had long been the foundation of civilization.
Now Donald Kagan, one of the world's most respected historians, has written a new account of the Peloponnesian War-a lively, readable narrative that offers a richly detailed portrait of a vanished world while honoring its timeless relevance. In chronicling the rise and fall of a great empire, The Peloponnesian War illuminates the interplay of intelligence and chance in human affairs, the role of great individuals and masses of people in determining the course of events, and the potential of leadership and the limits within which it must operate. Among the brilliant portraits of extraordinary statesmen are those of Pericles, the greatest among the Athenians and a man determined to pursue a policy of deterrence, and the charismatic, duplicitous Alcibiades. Kagan captures the dynamic of war in his thrilling re-creations of some of the most famous military campaigns of antiquity.
With its fresh examination of a pivotal moment of Western civilization, The Peloponnesian War is a magisterial work of historiography-a chronicle of a dark time whose lessons are especially resonant today.
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Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 19 hours and 1 minute
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Audible.com Release Date: November 30, 2010
Language: English
ASIN: B004EIMGTC
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
Soldiers of Salamis is a novel by Javier Cercas. The title conveys a central theme. The Battle of Salamis, between the Greek and Persian navies, took place in 480 BC. To all too many of today’s Spaniards, the events of their own Civil War, of which a few participants are still living, are as remote as those that occurred at Salamis. The Peloponnesian War commenced a half century after the Battle of Salamis. It would also be a Civil War, Greek upon Greek. It was a war that I knew little about, but would feel comfortable using as a metaphor for wars of long ago, even though some of the participants of those wars were still living. I knew that it was a war between Athens and Sparta, but I was not even sure who won. (And how many Americans know who won the Spanish Civil War?)Donald Kagan’s book (finally!) ended the darkness of not knowing about one of the best documented of ancient conflicts, and a prototype for so many subsequent ones. He has produced a very well-written dense, scholarly work that relies on several ancient texts, most notably one written by a participant, Thucydides. He brings a modern sense of judgment to the historical record, balancing what is written with the most likely scenarios possible, based on his overall knowledge of this time period. There are 29 excellent maps, spaced appropriately throughout the book, that provide the visual basis for understanding the narrative of the battles, and geopolitical landscape.Athens and Sparta. A long term rivalry. Two rather different systems of government, with the Athenians famously having a democratic form. Both had united to beat the Persians, a half century earlier. Neither really wanted war, fearful of the expense and consequences. But entangling alliances, and some “damnable conflict in the Balkans†which were the motive forces that commenced the First World War were operative in commencing the Peloponnesian one also. Athens was the naval superpower of the time, dominating (in general) the sea. Sparta was the land power, and could simple march into the Athenian territory of Attica at the beginning of the war, and start devastating their farms and agriculture.The war raged over the entirety of modern day Greece, the islands in the Aegean Sea, the western coast of modern day Turkey, including the two straits leading to the Black Sea, as well as the coast of southern Italy and Sicily. The war would last for almost three decades, with one significant truce of several years that was frequently violated. Athens had its sea-based empire; Sparta had numerous land-based allies, such as Corinth and Thebes. Athens and Sparta both experienced revolts in their empires. Cities would change sides. Each side also experienced class conflicts, essentially the eternal ones, between the elites and the plebs. And naturally the elites themselves had many a conflict, as egos jockeyed for power. Most impressively, somehow Donald Kagan makes these complex events of almost two and a half millennium ago understandable to the modern reader, by identifying five or ten key causative factors to significant events, and then providing balanced, reasonable judgments.A small sampling of what I learned. The fighting in Sicily was a disaster for Athens. It was initiated by a bluff that was called; the Athenian leader did NOT want to go there… thought he would overestimate what was required, and his bluff was called, not once, but twice, when he asked for reinforcement. The defeat in Sicily should have been the KO punch for Athens, but the war dragged on for another decade. Both sides ran to their former adversary, the Persian Empire, and sought aid and an alliance; rather amazing for two city-states proclaiming the importance of Greek independence. Alcibiades was one slippery character. He was Athenian, went over to the side of Sparta, cuckolded Sparta’s king, then ingratiated himself with Cyrus, the 17 year old son of King Darius of Persia, and made himself out to be the critical and decisive factor behind the great Athenian navel victory at Cyzicus. And as the dragged on, the savagery, brutality, and atrocities increased, which included the execution of their own generals and leaders.And there was much that I did not learn, but certainly do not fault Kagan for it. He covered well enough complex material. How, for example, given the difficulty in transportation, and with only rudimentary hand-tools, and a population devastated by war and the plague, was Athens (as well as Sparta) able to build (and maintain) so many triremes. Athens was dependent on wheat from the Black Sea area. Where exactly, and what were the terms of trade. And why was Sparta not?Finally, the time-worn adage that history is written by the winners appears NOT to be true about the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides was an Athenian, and they were the losers…at least for a while. 6-stars for Kagan’s excellent account.
This book is amazing. The story underlying it is amazing, and the writing is superb - clear, flowing, and with appropriate detail and connections drawn.If you appreciate history you may be amazed at some of the events that are so epic, morally significant, and poetic as to sound far-fetched. The plot is quite thick at times. If you really can only read non-stop action pulp fiction, you probably aren't reading this review anyway, but this may come as close as you can get in non-fiction.I wish someone would make a movie with the same sensibility, it would be an instant classic. I also wish this book would come out on Kindle so one could search and highlight it. There are a lot of classic elements to this story, in every sense of the word. It's so good I want to read his four-volume treatment to see what I missed.
I enjoyed this book as a history major, it was very good at the way the Athenians and Spartans go on about warfare, honestly to the modern sense it is insane. Gets into the political systems that influenced the war and the good and some really bad decisions made to lead to the wars conclusion.
Kagan id's a premier historian. This work is of seminal importance. Written for the historian and the lay person. You don't have to be a classicist to appreciate this incredible work.
It was a treat reading Donald Kagan's book on the Peloponnesian War. As you may know, he had previously written a 4-book series on the war, each one focusing on a different phase of the war. This book was meant to be a one-book consolidation. The rub, for me, came in deciding whether or not to read the 4 separate books that delve deeper or just satisfy myself with 500 pages on the topic and move on.Kagan is one of the leading scholars on the war and writes extremely well. The book reads quickly and painlessly. I did feel slightly let down, however, because Kagan seems, in large part, to be simply retelling Thucydides, without scholarly inquiry or questioning.I especially appreciated Fagan's integration of quotes and information from Plutarch in the Thucydides' section and wished there had been more, perhaps information on what the battle scenes look like today or more background information on the city-states involved or areas Thucydides' account is deficient or contested. The post-Thucydides section at the end was more of a mish-mash of sources and quoted Xenophon's Hellenica surprisingly infrequently.If you're not sure which book to read in order to learn about the Peloponnesian War, I would definitely read Kagan's one book. If you're interested in anything much more than the storyline, you may want to look into Kagan's four books or other books or even try to slog through Thucydides (good luck!).
Professor Donald Kagan built his reputation as his generation's foremost scholar of Ancient Greece based upon his four volume history of the Peloponnesian War that was published between 1969-87. His friend John Hale of "Lords of the Sea" fame, convinced him to write a single volume history of the Peloponnesian War for non-specialists. The resulting book "The Peloponnesian War" has become a modern classic. Kagan's book has become the standard text of this conflict and it will have to be an extraordinary book that displaces it from this position."The Peloponnesian War" is the very model of a classic work. Donald Kagan is a gifted writer with the narrative gift to bring alive a 2,400 year old war. However, it takes more than good writing to make a classic book. It is the clearness of Kagan's vision which sets this book apart. Through his close reading of the ancient texts, Kagan is able to fill in the historical blank spots. For over two thousand years, readers have been able to thrill over the exploits of Thucydides, Pericles, Alcibiades and Lysander. Kagan's great contribution has been to make these great men more human by filling in the lost details. This is a great book and I highly recommend it.
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