The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta and the Struggle for Greece - Softcover

NIGEL BAGNALL

  • 3.61 out of 5 stars
    49 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780712698818: The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta and the Struggle for Greece
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0712698817 ISBN 13: 9780712698818
Publisher: PIMLICO, 2004

Synopsis

A brilliant and refreshing new history of one of the most significant wars of the ancient world, a power struggle in which Athens and her allies were finally conquered by the confederation led by Sparta.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Sir Nigel Bagnall was born in India in 1927. He joined the British Army in 1945 and served in Palestine, Malaya, Borneo, the Canal Zone, Cyprus, Singapore, and Germany. He ended his distinguished military career as chief of the General Staff in London, and went on to become an honorary fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He died in 2002.

From Publishers Weekly

Bagnall (The Punic Wars, 2005), a former British army chief of the general staff, completed this rigorous study of ancient Greece's 27-year civil war just before his death in 2002. A seminal event in ancient history, the Peloponnesian War pitted the two great Greek rivals, democratic Athens and authoritarian Sparta, in what Bagnall calls "a fearful, self-destructive war." The conflict, precipitated by Athens' lust for Greek hegemony, quickly settled into a stalemate—"an elephant versus a whale"—because neither Sparta, a land power, nor Athens, a naval power, had a clear strategy for victory. Sparta and her allies finally prevailed by severing Athens' supply lines and starving the city-state into submission. In dense prose, Bagnall captures the Greeks' self-destructive madness. Though the action occasionally slows, Bagnall is at his best when painting in-depth portraits of the major players, like Pericles, and when dissecting the endless battles in far-flung theaters from Asia Minor to Sicily. He concludes with a brief survey of the lessons learned and their contemporary relevance. While much of this ground has been covered, students and enthusiasts of ancient Greece and military history will welcome this excellent perspective on a watershed event. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
PIMLICO
Publication date
2004
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0712698817
ISBN 13 
9780712698818
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
352
Rating
  • 3.61 out of 5 stars
    49 ratings by Goodreads