Spartas Second Attic War, Paul A. Rahe
Spartas Second Attic War, Paul A. Rahe
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Sparta's Second Attic War
The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, 446–418 BC

Author: Paul A. Rahe

Narrator: Paul A. Rahe

Unabridged: 15 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2020

Synopsis

The latest volume in Paul Rahe’s expansive history of Sparta’s response to the challenges posed to its grand strategyIn 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.

About Paul A. Rahe

Paul A. Rahe studied ancient history at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, then later at Yale. He holds the Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College, where he is professor of history.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Christopher

"All states are by nature fighting an undeclared war with all other states." -Plato Rahe continues his thorough look into the grand strategy of Sparta against Athens, now focusing on the during the the second half of the Peloponnesian War. How can isolationist Sparta combat expansionist Athens' clear......more

Goodreads review by Koit

I clearly got carried away with Mr Rahe’s books on Sparta’s grand strategy, having finished this one in short succession to the previous two instalments. This was as good as the previous books, and it similarly carried on the same annoying stylistic devices that I did not quite appreciate. Neverthel......more

Goodreads review by Dennis

Sparta's Second Attic War: The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, 446-418 BC by Paul A Rahe is a very capable new entry in the series that Rahe is producing. I'm a sucker for books like these, and Rahe has increased his strategic reasoning in the text. Unfortunately, that leads to a bit more specul......more

Goodreads review by Robert

This is a straight-up, scholarly yet readable narrative of the Peloponnesian War that addresses major questions about sources. Rahe is quite good at getting into the 'known unknowns' of it all, yet he doesn't shy away from thoughtful. inferences. His trilogy of histories covering the 5th century BC......more

Goodreads review by Alexander

Shot through this book because it was going off Audible, and I wanted to finish the series. More accessible than Thuycidides, but for some reason it stops before Athens invades Sicily. So the most interesting characters, Alcibiades and Lysander, are excluded. It feels like this series needs another......more

Quotes

“Paul Rahe stands out as one of the world’s leading scholars on the Peloponnesian War. His latest volume on Sparta’s protracted struggle with Athens, Sparta’s Second Attic War, 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

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