Thucydides Decisions In The Peloponnesian War

As a world-renowned Athenian historian and general, Thucydides famed history The Peloponnesian War recounts some of Athens’ and other Greeks’ most telling moments world powers. Thucydides, unlike his predecessor Herodotus, approaches his history with a generally detached and serious tone, yet his opinion does shine through his writing at times. Perhaps, the Athenians’ Sicilian Expedition (415 BCE- 413 BCE) sections in the histories features the most of Thucydides’ opinion on a particular subject sneaking into the text. The Sicilian Expedition began with Athens’ distant Sicilian allies seeking help from Athens for civil strife, and Athens eventually agreed to assist and sent numerous ships and troops under the command of Nicias, Alcibiades,

In the end, the expedition proved to be a bad decision executed poorly, and it was a major blow to Athenian power, which may have ultimately led to their loss in the Peloponnesian War. Even if the events and structure are tragic, Thucydides does not appear to be sympathetic, in general. Accordingly, Thucydides’ text depicts the Sicilian Expedition in an unmistakably negative light from an Athenian standpoint, considering Athens as a whole was far from rational from the start in his view.

Subsequently, Thucydides relates the events surrounding the Sicilian Expedition as if the majority of Athenians had a skewed perception of democracy and a flawed rationality overall. Before even mentioning the expedition, Thucydides’ text suggests that he was unhappy with the demagogues, the popular leaders in Athens following Pericles’ death. Thucydides found Pericles to have been an ideal leader for the people, both in and out of war; moreover, he links straying from Pericles’ plan of attack for the Peloponnesian War to Athenian defeat. Pericles instructed the city to avoid new conquests, avoid exposing hazards to the city, and care for their ships; instead, Thucydides attributes diverging from the plan