Post Peloponnesian War and Pre Alexander: Thebes and Xenophon

The Song of Wrath (documenting the first ten years of the of the Peloponnesian War proper) is now read. 

Not an easy read but well worth it, as "The Peloponnesian War" to me now displaces the Persian Wars as the defining period of Greek Hoplite warfare. 

Ancient Greek politics/life was certainly a dark, dangerous and sinister place to visit as your current 'best friends' were never your friends for very, very long.

So in the end (with Persian help) Sparta wins the Peloponnesian War, so then what? Along comes Thebes to challenge its hegemony but where to "read all about it"?

Reading Plan:

Lazenby will tell the history to 'the fall of Sparta at Leuctra' at the hands of their former Boeotian allies the sturdy agricultural Thebans. Victor Davies Hanson tells of the mercurial Epaminondas and his cunning plan in "Soul of Battle".

I am waiting for the latter to travel from America courtesy of an Amazon order. That gives me a chance to look at Xenophon and  where a lot of Greeks found gainful employment in Persia after The Peloponnesian Wars:

It does not look an easy read, so I might well bed myself in first via Manfredi's novel:

And Waterfield's :

Plenty of reading to be done, just as well as I am back on the caffeine ;)

The Pelopnnesian War the "unsavory" Truth (Read All About It) : Reflections

I have to confess I am not the same wargamer I once was after I finished reading big T's (Thucydides) "History of the Peloponnesian War". No it did not break my spirit because it was a big book, quite the contrast in fact. As I read more I rather got into it. However I was expecting to be uplifted, as I was after reading Big H's (Herodotus) "The Histories", but quite unexpectedly I felt unclean, as my values and perceptions had been radically changed. On reflection the "good guys" of the Persian Wars now looked rather "bad", in fact everything looked tacky, tardy and amateurish.

Originally I though the Persian Wars were where it was "at" in the ancient Greek period, but the Peloponnesian War is now the point of fascinating interest to me. Previously I had shunned it as a triviality or something I would like to rather forget about, as it seemed a case of two good friends fighting needlessly (Athens v Sparta) but I see now that I had it all wrong. In many ways it seem to be the defining moment in Greek history and a game changer in the conduct of war. The length of the war meant that hostilities were passed down through generations, with 'old scores' to settle which had faded from living memory, but used as excuses for action by the opportunistic figures of influence. The Greek reasoning often was caught up with the notion of "rank" among City States which often defied the pragmatics of winning a war in the most effective fashion (please see Song of Wrath for further details as this really needs to be read with the benefit of a professional author to do the concept justice)

It seems the factions of City States and alliances had more than enough potential to produce a pre-WWI wrecking scenario, but the seedy shifting nature of subterfuge between so called 'allies' was unbelievable in scale and duplicity. Another startling feature was the lack of "large battles" (Delium 424 and First Mantinea 418 BC) meant that is was a succession of short to medium size hoplite battles, ideal it has to be said for wargaming actions. To this end I am using "The Peloponnesian War", a solitaire game from Victory Games, as a further learning tool and source for tabletop battle generation.

Thirty Day Challenge Complete: "The Big T" Done

A sad tale of woe (see below):

Certainly a good source of small hoplite battles, as well as Delium (424 BC) and First Mantinea (418 BC). Well worth the effort reading (even though the book ends prematurely before the conclusion of the overall war, but you could see the way it was going) and I can now make more sense of Kagan's and Hanson's conclusions.

I also plan to return and skim the Landmark edition for some geographical pin-pointing and wargame inspirations ;)

Note: 
I have to say the free digital version kept me on track by being able to read at 'odd times'.