History of the Peloponnesian War Study Guide

Plot Summary

The incomplete text recounts the history of the Peloponnesian war and famously ends mid-sentence in 411 BC, several years prior to the conclusion of the war. The Peloponnesian war was fought in ancient Greece from 431 to 404 BC between the Athenian empire and the Peloponnesian League, an alliance of city-states led by Sparta.

For approximately fifty years prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 431 BC, the city-state of Athens had accumulated enormous monetary reserves and extensive political influence in the Aegean region and beyond. Athens' political supremacy led to empire and her traditional enemies, as well as some of her vassals, viewed Athenian ascendancy with suspicion. Opposition to Athenian empire coalesced around Sparta, the nucleus of the Peloponnesian League. For several years political tensions mounted as various diplomatic failures occurred until hostilities broke out. The.....

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