Peloponnesian War Essay

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The Peloponnesian War is the conflict between the pelopoponesians league led by Sparta and the Delian league, led by Athens. Much of our knowledge on the causes and events of the Peloponnesian War, depends on the Athenian Thucydides 460-400 BC, writer of the History of the Peloponessian War. He servd as an Athenian commander in Northern Greece during the early years of the war until the assembly exiled him as he lost an outpost to the enemy. During this exile, he was able to interview witnesses on both sides of the conflicted. Unlike Heredotus he concentrated on contemporary history and presented his account of the war in an annalistic framework that only occasionally diverts from chronological order. In his account, he discuses the precursors to the war, including the 30 years truce and revolutions, such as the stasis in Corcyra. When looking at wars, the primary focus is normally the fighting itself, such as what we see for World War II. However, it is important to look at the anatomy of war, meaning what effect the war has on the people who are experiencing it first hand, and the consquences that the conflict has on the rest of the world. Therefore in this essay I shall discuss, drawing directly from Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, how the civilians reacted to the war, their involvement and socio economic factors. Furthermore, the first section of my essay shall focus on the direct effect of war on the people, regarding the plague, and violence and hopelessness that was experienced. Then I shall go on to discuss more general effects of the war and how it affected the Greek world, discussing the social and economic losses that occurred such as the cost of the war in attica, the coup d’etat that occurred in gove...

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...ons as exacty as can be expected.” (Thuc) By this quote, Thucydides means that yes, some of the data we receive may be flawed, but by evaluating and analysing the data, the truth can be found. Thucydides himself received eye witness accounts from the conflict and was involved in it himself. He was able to get among the people and see the impact the war had on people, which was mostly negative, with the Athenians made to move to the city and leave their homes , to be confronted by the plague, or an even worse situation in Corcyra where friends and family turned on one another. But, it was also important to look at the impact that this war had on the future of Greece, for instance, economic burden and loss of empire and consider more than just the fighting that occurs during the war time and rather, look at the people and the impact it had on the lives of the masses.

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