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

by Nigel Bagnall

The Peloponnesian War, the epic struggle between Athens and Sparta, occupies a vital part in military history because of the enormous military and political changes it inspired. In this brilliant book, Sir Nigel Bagnall sets out to analyze and clarify the war, describing in compelling detail the events that led up to it. His meticulous attention to historical context offers a refreshing contrast to traditional accounts.
The conflict lasted from 431 to 404 B.C., until the confederation led by Sparta finally conquered Athens and her allies. Bagnall dissects the complex relationship between the two states and closely studies their political conduct in the run-up to war, offering a riveting account of the strategy and tactics involved.
He also outlines its innovations and lessons, which would have enormous military repercussions for future generations. These include the importance of having clear politico-strategic objectives, the interplay of maritime and land operations, and the problems of achieving cohesion in an alliance in which all the participants see themselves as fellow citizens.
The Peloponnesian War is an important book that shines new light on an always relevant subject.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History

318 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Field Marshal Sir Nigel Thomas Bagnall, GCB, CVO, MC (10 February 1927 – 8 April 2002) was a career British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine, from 1983 to 1985, and then as Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, from 1985 to 1988. Early in his military career he saw action during the Palestine Emergency, the Malayan Emergency, the Cyprus Emergency and the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and later in his career he provided advice to the British Government on the future role of Britain's nuclear weapons.

In retirement he became a military historian and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He wrote a history of the Punic wars published in 1990 and, two years after his death, he had a history of the Peloponnesian War published.

Reviews

[Jeremy Perron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sir Nigel Bagnall was a British military officer during the mid-to late twentieth century rising to become Chief of the General Staff. After an extraordinary military career, he began a second career as a writer during which he wrote two volumes in ancient military history. This work was his last book which was published posthumously. His first work, The Punic Wars, which will be reviewed later, focused on the war between Rome and Carthage; this work focuses on the even earlier conflict, the Peloponnesian War. This famous conflict between the two most famous city-states of Ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, is a conflict that is at best really confusing, and unfortunately this book does not succeed in making it less confusing. As a historian telling a tale, one must decide if he or she is to proceed chronologically or categorically, most historians do some of both but Bagnall leans a little too heavily with a categorical focus.

The first forty-five pages of the book are historical notes that deal with all the Greek cities that participated in the conflict. In doing this he should have limited these brief histories up to the start of the rest of the book instead of the roles that each city played during the conflict. Sir Nigel might have been better served scraping the whole forty-five pages and instead give us a one-page timeline in bullet points in order to give a clear picture to his reader about how this whole event happened. Also, we do not arrive to the actual Peloponnesian War into chapter 6 starting on page 131! The earlier Greek wars with Persia dominated the first four chapters, I understand how a historian might feel that one event cannot be explained without really explaining an earlier event, but in doing so he over explains somethings and under explains others. For example, an explanation into the forming of the Delian League and how Athens itself became corrupted with power transforming the League it into an Athenian Empire that was ruthless--to say the least--to dissenters, is confusing. How central figures played role in the war and the events leading up to it deserves more attention than it gets. I realize that Bagnall was a military historian and not a political one, but his take on Pericles is so choppy and out of order that at times it is difficult to put into context.

One of the strengths in the book is how Bagnall uses his own knowledge of military history, plus what he saw in his own career to help compare and contrast the Peloponnesian War to more commonly understood historical events, such as World War II or the Cold War, to increase the readers understanding of this ancient conflict.

This is an okay book but it is more suited for someone who understands a good deal of the material already, such as a person with a focus of study on ancient or military history. I would not recommend it for the average reader wanting to learn about ancient Greece for the first time since public school.

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between 431 and 404 BC Athens and Sparta were embroiled in a war for dominance of the Aegean. This wasn't a struggle colored by legend, as Troy, but life or death warfare between competing political systems and cultures. The Peloponnesian War is interesting and continues to garner so much attention because some of the same motives behind the war, such as the yen for empire and simple hubris and the need to protect resources provided by foreign states, can be seen today in the modern world. Across the great 2400-year gulf of technological change and human learning separating us from those Greeks we can see that political and human nature doesn't change. The fundamentals of life remain the same. Bagnall's book is useful as a big picture look at a complex political situation. By concentrating on the war at the strategic level, unclouded by personality, the intentions and acts of the participant states stay in focus. Bagnall's history is a fine complement to larger histories of the war.

[Bill V · Rating 4 out of 5]

The is a very good book. I would recommend Kagan's book more. Mr. Bagnall's writing style is a bit unconventional in that he'll take events that occurred during this conflict and compare them to more recent events and conflicts such as the French and Indian War or the American conflict in Vietnam. He also writes in a more informal manner in that he seems to be delivering a personal lecture and jumping around from either a specific time frame to another or from one geographic location such as Sicily to another such as Asia Minor. I also appreciate that he went into a good amount of detail regarding the preceding conflict with the Persians, led by Darius and Xerxes.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first book I’ve read on this subject. (I plan to read Thucydides and Kagan on this subject, to accompany the game “Polis”.) It is an average book, written by a military man rather than a historian. He provides a nice summary of the context (historical, regional, political) of this struggle and occasional insightful analysis of the ancient sources. Some aspects of his style are distracting and some are pedantic, but it seems to be an adequate introduction, which can be built on and perhaps corrected by more detailed narratives.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Greece (Hardcover)

Contains good maps.

[Edward Cornejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sir Bagnall's knowledge about the Peloponnesian War is astounding and quite detailed, but his writing is something j found frustrating. I'm accustomed to reading the works of many historians and, therefore, like referring the footnotes and to the many references usually provided in a work of history. This book, however is nothing like that. He provides very few, if any, references throughout his writing and occasionally refers to a specific historian or professor without really addressing or establishing their credibility as experts. He does, however, provide a list of 10 books for suggested reading, not nearly enough for anyone interested in delving dwelt into the Peloponnesian War.

Bagnall focuses his attention on the operations, tactics, and strategies of any war. Therefore, if you enjoy the minutiae of battles, then you will love this, Especially if you love frequent comparisons to Churchill and Mahan (which I found distracting at times).

[Smiley]

Reading this book, I hope, will give me more light on the famous war since it is relatively difficult when one starts reading such an ancient history translated from the Greek language. In fact, there are some fine translations you can find to buy/read in any good bookstore worldwide. Presently I have Thucydides's "History of the Peloponnesian War" translated by Rex Werner (Penguin Books 1972).

[Sammy Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Democracy vs. Totalitarianism in ancient Greece. I found the prose and pacing of the book to be very good at telling the story of the war between Athens and Sparta.