The Peloponnesian War (Part One)
Listen to "The Peloponnesian War (Part One)"
The Peloponnesian War was fought by Athens and Sparta in the late 5th century BC. It was an epic war between two superpowers, and the similarities to the Cold War are numerous. Since most people know about the Cold War, since it was so recent, I will summarize this episode via comparisons between it and the Peloponnesian War.
This first episode covers the beginning through the Amphipolis Campaign/Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Participants:
For more information, read: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General
The Peloponnesian War was fought by Athens and Sparta in the late 5th century BC. It was an epic war between two superpowers, and the similarities to the Cold War are numerous. Since most people know about the Cold War, since it was so recent, I will summarize this episode via comparisons between it and the Peloponnesian War.
This first episode covers the beginning through the Amphipolis Campaign/Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Participants:
- Athens/United States: wealthy, democratic, powerful navy, supported by numerous smaller states (Delian League/NATO)
- Initially led by Pericles/FDR: rulers during the expansion of their respective nations' geopolitical status
- Sparta/USSR: communist, totalitarian, powerful army, supported by numerous smaller states (Peloponnesian League/Warsaw Pact)
- Initially led by Archidamus II/Stalin: rulers during the expansion of their respective nations' geopolitical status
- Thebes/China: Weaker third power allied with Sparta/USSR
- Persian Wars/WWII: Sparta/USSR and Athens/USA were originally allied in the fight against Persia/Axis
- Pentecontaetia/Berlin Blockade: Sparta/USSR and Athens/USA skirmish briefly over intermediate territory (Corinthian Isthmus/Germany)
- Archidamian War/Korean War: Sparta/USSR engages in a land war with Athens/USA over intermediate territory (Corinthian Isthmus/Germany). Results in a stalemate.
- Pylos Campaign/Suez Crisis: Athens/USA intervenes in territory close to Sparta/USSR in order to gain an economic and political advantage.
- Amphipolis Campaign/Cuban Missile Crisis: Sparta/USSR sneaks into the Athens/USA sphere of influence and creates an outpost.
- Aegean Sea Propaganda Campaigns/Third World War: Sparta/USSR provides support to revolutions in Athens/USA's sphere of influence.
- Sicilian Expedition/Vietnam War: Athens/USA attempts to contain Sparta/USSR's sphere of influence and fails miserably (loses lives and money).
- Sparta launches a successful, massive land invasion against Athens (Problem: USSR never fought USA over Europe). Decisive victory at the Battle of Mantinea
- Sparta destroys the entire Athenian Navy at the Battle of Aegospotami (Problem: USSR never defeated the American Navy decisively)
- Athens surrendered to Sparta (Problem: The US won the Cold War)
For more information, read: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General
posted by George Hageman at 6:23 PM
1 Comments:
Such sadness that people engage in pop history. It is democracy that is totalitarian. Communism is a Democractic movement! Democracy and Socialism go hand in hand.
"Democracy is the road to socialism." Karl Marx
"Democracy is indispensable to socialism." Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
"Modern Socialism is inseperable from political democracy." Elements of Socialism, pg 337.
"The view that democracy and Socialism are inwardly related spread far and wide in the decades which preceded the Bolshevist revolution. Many came to believe that democracy and Socialism meant the same thing, and that democracy without Socialism or Socialism without democracy would not be possible." Socialism, Ludwig von Mises, pg 67.
But excuse me if I bring some sort of references to your pop analogies here. Sparta can not be compared to the Soviet Union, to communism. Sorry. Private property was respected in Sparta. Communism is a Democratic movement of the proletariat. Democracy is a proletarian system of government. All the ancients held that Sparta had the greatest liberty. Sparta was held by the greatest regard amongst the Greeks and barbarians alike.
If you want to make analogies, the American Civil War is the best example. Athens is the Union, the mercantilist/commercial/money center and Sparta is the confederacy, the agrarians. It is agrarians vs the banavsos Sparta and the Confederacy were aristocratical and the Union and Athens where the proletariat masses.
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