Sparta's First Attic War

The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, 478-446 BC

By: Paul A. Rahe

Narrated by: Paul A. Rahe

A companion volume to The Spartan Regime and The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta that explores the collapse of the Spartan-Athenian alliance

During the Persian Wars, Sparta and Athens worked in tandem to defeat what was, in terms of relative resources and power, the greatest empire in human history. For the decade and a half that followed, they continued their collaboration until a rift opened and an intense, strategic rivalry began. In a continuation of his series on ancient Sparta, noted historian Paul Rahe examines the grounds for their alliance, the reasons for its eventual collapse, and the first stage in an enduring conflict that would wreak havoc on Greece for six decades. Throughout, Rahe argues that the alliance between Sparta and Athens and their eventual rivalry were extensions of their domestic policy and that the grand strategy each articulated in the wake of the Persian Wars and the conflict that arose in due course grew out of the opposed material interests and moral imperatives inherent in their different regimes.

©2019 Paul A. Rahe (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Well told Story of a Classic Struggle

Paul Rahe has done an excellent job of researching for the war in such wonderful detail and then reading it back with poise and presents. It was a wonderful experience.

Misleading Title, Great Book

Dr. Rahe once again has produced a fantastic, lively, and engaging account of Classical Greek history, but much as I found with The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta, the book is far less a high-level take on Spartan grand strategy and more an engaging and informative narrative history which (by necessity given the sources) mainly seems to revolve around Athens. But even if Dr. Rahe has done so unintentionally, he has succeeded in producing one of the best, most coherent and unified existing narrative histories of Classical Greece, which is a very considerable achievement.

Good Read

The book isn't solely focused on the battle at Attic, it also includes decisions and conflicts leading up to it which I do find very important.

Pretentious and meandering

This book, as do the others of the author that I’ve tried to listen to, makes grand claims but wanders menially. I struggled to make any connection between the title and the content, and the content itself did not seem to contain any driving force.

where it all falls apart

The middle act where it all falls apart. A strong, academically minded military history of classical Sparta that is a little less grand or strategic than promised.

Rahe's second volume in his trilogy looks at the strategic decisions and motivations of the Spartan state following the defeat of Xerxes' Persian armies at Platea. That victory for Sparta and Athens quickly led to the city-states realizing that maybe they weren't meant to be the bestest of friends proving (or establishing, given the timeframe) the adage that states have no permanent allies, only permanent interests. And woe betide to all the lesser city states that ally with Athens or Sparta (or switch) during this time as those alliances and interests are ever shifting.

Rahe does a fine job of explaining Sparta's general position as a fairly self-sustaining conservative state, not prone to expansion given the constant fear the Spartans had of revolt from their slave/serf helot class. Meanwhile, Athens, being a naval power, necessarily had to be more willing to expand and seek out new opportunities.

Beyond this, though, this isn't a book for the lay reader. I find the era interesting with a slightly above average knowledge base, but I was quickly overwhelmed by the granular nature of Rahe's approach. Frequently the "grand" Strategy of Sparta seems to be far less than advertised and it's easy to lose the forest for the trees as Sparta and Athens seemingly lurch from one minor conflict to the next (all the while the Persian threat remains). The effect is that things begin to look far less "grand" and even less "strategic." Nevertheless, it's a worthwhile and useful book but of necessarily limited appeal/utility.