The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War

Donald Kagan is Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University.

Introduction Part One: The Alliance System and the Division of the Greek World 1. The Spartan Alliance 2. The Origins of the Athenian Empire 3. Sparta after the Persian War 4. Athens after the Persian War Part Two: The First Peloponnesian War 5. The War in Greece 6. The Crisis in the Aegean 7. The End of the War Part Three: The Years of Peace 8. Athenian Politics: The Victory of Pericles 9. Athens and the West: The Foundation of Thurii 10. The Samian Rebellion 11. The Consolidation of the Empire 12. Athenian Politics on the Eve of the War Part Four: The Final Crisis 13. Epidamnus 14. Corcyra 15. Megara 16. Potidaea 17. Sparta 18. Athens Part Five: Conclusions 19. The Causes of the War 20. Thucydides and the Inevitability of the War Appendixes A. The Willingness of the Members of the Delian League to Accept Athenian Leadership B. The Historicity of Diodoms' Account of the Spartan Assembly in 475 C. Chronology of Events between ca. 470-453 D. Reconstruction of the Athenian Tribute Lists E. The Papyrus Decree F. The Foundation of Thurii G. Athenian Actions in the West between the Wars H. Athenian Treatment of Byzantium I. The Date of Pericles' Pontic Expedition J. The Site and Date of Brea K. The Date of the Battle of Potidaea Bibliography General Index Index of Ancient Authors and Inscriptions Index of Modern Authors

"Kagan's book is based on complete control of both the ancient evidence and modern scholarship."-Choice "Kagan's book is a contribution of considerable distinction, scrupulously fair, carefully argued, and lucidly written. And, what is more, it is persuasive... Kagan sets out the story in detail and with acumen. The case has been adumbrated before-but never presented with such thoroughness."-Journal of Interdisciplinary History "A profound analysis of the relation of strategy to politics, a sympathetic but searching critique of Thucydides' masterpiece, and a trenchant assessment of the voluminous modern literature on the war."-Bernard Knox, The Atlantic Monthly (reviewing the four-volume series) "The temptation to acclaim Kagan's four volumes as the foremost work of history produced in North America in the twentieth century is vivid... Here is an achievement that not only honors the criteria of dispassion and of unstinting scruple which mark the best of modern historicism but honors its readers. To read Kagan's 'History of the Peloponnesian War' at the present hour is to be almost unbearably tested."-George Steiner, The New Yorker (reviewing the four-volume series)