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…
was to capture the island and utilize its natural resources in the war against Sparta. Pericles knew that if hubris and greed led the Athenians to attack and annex countries during the course of the war, they would need to spread their forces out in an effort to guard their subjugate countries and keep them under control. With the army and navy spread too thin, they could then begin to lose control of their empire as a whole, which would almost certainly cost them the war. An Athenian named Nicias, who was one of the commanders of the Sicilian Expedition, believed as did Pericles, that Athens shouldn’t take unnecessary risks such as the Expedition. When trying to dissuade the Athenians from embarking on the campaign, he said: “ ... in going to Sicily you are leaving many enemies behind you, and you apparently want to make new ones there and have them also on your hands.” (Book 6, Chapter 10). On the other hand, Alcibiades, also a commander of the Sicilian Expedition, told the Athenians: “… we have reached a stage where we are forced to plan new conquests and forced to hold on to what we have got, because there is a danger that we ourselves may fall under the power of others unless others are in our power.”(Book 6, Chapter 18) Swayed by the arguments of Alcibiades, the Athenians disregarded the entreaties of Nicias and the advice of Pericles and departed for their attack on Sicily.
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
them. I think that Pericles’ advice to the Athenians to refrain from expanding their empire during the war, was accurate and wise, although it fell upon deaf ears. The Athenians’ insatiable desire for domination led to their loss of power, which in turn led to the demise of their empire. The fall of Athens left a mark on history that changed the western world forever.
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…
was to capture the island and utilize its natural resources in the war against Sparta. Pericles knew that if hubris and greed led the Athenians to attack and annex countries during the course of the war, they would need to spread their forces out in an effort to guard their subjugate countries and keep them under control. With the army and navy spread too thin, they could then begin to lose control of their empire as a whole, which would almost certainly cost them the war. An Athenian named Nicias, who was one of the commanders of the Sicilian Expedition, believed as did Pericles, that Athens shouldn’t take unnecessary risks such as the Expedition. When trying to dissuade the Athenians from embarking on the campaign, he said: “ ... in going to Sicily you are leaving many enemies behind you, and you apparently want to make new ones there and have them also on your hands.” (Book 6, Chapter 10). On the other hand, Alcibiades, also a commander of the Sicilian Expedition, told the Athenians: “… we have reached a stage where we are forced to plan new conquests and forced to hold on to what we have got, because there is a danger that we ourselves may fall under the power of others unless others are in our power.”(Book 6, Chapter 18) Swayed by the arguments of Alcibiades, the Athenians disregarded the entreaties of Nicias and the advice of Pericles and departed for their attack on Sicily.
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
them. I think that Pericles’ advice to the Athenians to refrain from expanding their empire during the war, was accurate and wise, although it fell upon deaf ears. The Athenians’ insatiable desire for domination led to their loss of power, which in turn led to the demise of their empire. The fall of Athens left a mark on history that changed the western world forever.