Sparta's Second Attic War: The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, 446-418 B.C. (Yale Library of Military History)

The latest volume in Paul Rahes expansive history of Spartas response to the challenges posed to its grand strategy Paul Rahe stands out as one of the worlds leading scholars on the Peloponnesian War. His latest volume on Spartas protracted struggle with Athens provides insight into enduring problems of politics and strategy in wartime, into why and how peoples fight, both in the ancient world and in our own troubled times.John H. Maurer, Naval War College In a continuation of his multivolume series on ancient Sparta, Paul Rahe narrates the second stage in the sixdecadeslong, epic struggle between Sparta and Athens that first erupted some seventeen years after their joint victory in the Persian Wars. Rahe explores how and why open warfare between these two erstwhile allies broke out a second time, after they had negotiated an extended truce. He traces the course of the war that then took place, he examines and assesses the strategy each community pursued and the tactics adopted, and he explains how and why mutual exhaustion forced on these two powers yet another truce doomed to fail. At stake for each of the two peoples caught up in this enduring strategic rivalry, as Rahe shows, was nothing less than the survival of its political regime and of the peculiar way of life to which that regime gave rise. In a continuation of his multivolume series on ancient Sparta, Paul Rahe narrates the second stage in the six-decades-long, epic struggle between Sparta and Athens that first erupted some seventeen years after their joint victory in the Persian Wars. Rahe explores how and why open warfare between these two erstwhile allies broke out a second time, after they had negotiated an extended truce. He traces the course of the war that then took place, he examines and assesses the strategy each community pursued and the tactics adopted, and he explains how and why mutual exhaustion forced on these two powers yet another truce doomed to fail. At stake for each of the two peoples caught up in this enduring strategic rivalry, as Rahe shows, was nothing less than the survival of its political regime and of the peculiar way of life to which that regime gave rise. In a continuation of the multivolume series on ancient Sparta, this book details the second stage in the six-decades-long, epic struggle between Sparta and Athens that first erupted some seventeen years after their joint victory in the Persian Wars. The book explores how and why open warfare between these two erstwhile allies broke out a second time, after they had negotiated an extended truce. It traces the course of the war that then took place, examining the strategy each community pursued and the tactics adopted, before explaining how and why mutual exhaustion forced on these two powers yet another truce doomed to fail. At stake for each of the two peoples caught up in this enduring strategic rivalry, as the book shows, was nothing less than the survival of its political regime and of the peculiar way of life to which that regime gave rise. In a continuation of his multivolume series on ancient Sparta, Paul Rahe narrates the second stage in the six-decades-long, epic struggle between Sparta and Athens that first erupted some 17 years after their joint victory in the Persian Wars. Rahe explores how and why open warfare between these two erstwhile allies broke out a second time, after they had negotiated an extended truce. He traces the course of the war that then took place, he examines and assesses the strategy each community pursued and the tactics adopted, and he explains how and why mutual exhaustion forced on these two powers yet another truce doomed to fail. At stake for each of the two peoples caught up in this enduring strategic rivalry, as Rahe shows, was nothing less than the survival of its political regime and of the peculiar way of life to which that regime gave rise Dedication Contents List of Maps Introduction: An Enduring Strategic Rivalry Prologue: A Sudden Reversal Part I. The Hatch and Brood of Time 1. An Uneasy Truce 2. Pericles’ Calculated Risk 3. A Tug of War Part II. Fortune’s Wheel 4. A Loss of Strategic Focus 5. Lacedaemon at Bay Part III. A Peace to End All Peace 6. Mutual Exhaustion 7. The Peloponnesus in Flux 8. An Opportunity Squandered Epilogue: The End of the Athenian Challenge List of Abbreviations and Short Titles Notes Author’s Note and Acknowledgments Index