Thucydides on Strategy

by Koliopoulos, Constantinos

• ISBN13: 9780231701334
• ISBN10: 0231701330
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-30
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

"Thucydides, as he himself anticipated, wrote not only the history of the Peloponnesian War. He wrote the history of the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War."& -Louis Halle"International relations continue to be a recurring struggle for wealth and power among independent actors in a state of anarchy. The classic history of Thucydides is as meaningful a guide to the behavior of states today as when it was written in the fifth century B.C.E."& -Robert GilpinMasterfully crafted and surprisingly modern, History of the Peloponnesian Warhas long been celebrated as an insightful, eloquent, and exhaustively detailed work of classical Greek history. The text is also remarkable for its deep political and military dimensions, and scholars have begun to place the work alongside Sun Tzu's The Art of Warand Carl von Clausewitz's On Waras one of the great treatises on strategy.The perfect companion to Thucydides's impressive text, this volume details the specific strategic concepts at work within the History of the Peloponnesian Warand demonstrates, through case studies of recent conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the continuing relevance of Thucydidean thought to an analysis and planning of strategic operations. Some have even credited Thucydides with founding the discipline of international relations. Written by two scholars with extensive experience in this and related fields, Thucydides on Strategysituates the classical historian solidly within the modern world of war.

Author Biography

Athanassios G.P. Latias is professor of strategy in the Department of International and European Studies at the University of Piraeus.
Constanti Nos Koliopoulos is lecturer of international politics at the Department of International and European Studies, Panteion University, Athens.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Chronology	p. xiii
Grand Strategy: A Framework for Analysis	p. 1
Athens and Sparta: Power Structures, Early Conflict and the Causes of War	p. 23
Periclean Grand Strategy	p. 35
Spartan Grand Strategy	p. 61
Thucydides and Strategy in Perspective	p. 81
Epilogue	p. 119
Appendix: Strategic Concepts in Thucydides	p. 121
Notes	p. 137
Select Bibliography	p. 183
Index	p. 189
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