| ID | 133374 |
| Title Proper | Thucydides |
| Other Title Information | theorist of war |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Murray, Williamson |
| Publication | 2014. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | I have been teaching and reading Thucydides since the fall of 1975, and over that nearly forty-year period I have increasingly come to appreciate his enormous skills as a historian, as well as his sophisticated theoretical understanding of war. It is not that Thucydides set out to be a theorist in his account of the Peloponnesian War. Rather, the subtext of his depiction of the great war between Athens and Sparta presents a theory of conflict that in the power of its analysis helps to clarify not only the events of the war but also fundamental, theoretical truths about the nature and consequences of human conflict, truths as relevant today as they were late in the fifth century bc.1 This combination of history with a sophisticated
theoretical basis more than justifies Thucydides's claim at the beginning of his account: "And it may be that my history may seem less easy to read because of the absence in it of a romantic element. It will be enough for me, however, if my words are judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the |
| `In' analytical Note | Naval War College Review Vol.66, No.4; Aut.2013: p.31-46 |
| Journal Source | Naval War College Review Vol.66, No.4; Aut.2013: p.31-46 |
| Key Words | Warfare History ; War Theory ; Ancient History - Europe ; Peloponnesian War ; Human Conflicts ; Athens ; Sparta ; Greece ; Enormous Skills |