Product Description

One of our most provocative military historians, Victor Davis Hanson has given us painstakingly researched and pathbreaking accounts of wars ranging from classical antiquity to the twenty-first century. Now he juxtaposes an ancient conflict with our most urgent modern concerns to create his most engrossing work to date, A War Like No Other.

Over the course of a generation, the Hellenic city-states of Athens and Sparta fought a bloody conflict that resulted in the collapse of Athens and the end of its golden age. Thucydides wrote the standard history of the Peloponnesian War, which has given readers throughout the ages a vivid and authoritative narrative. But Hanson offers readers something new: a complete chronological account that reflects the political background of the time, the strategic thinking of the combatants, the misery of battle in multifaceted theaters, and important insight into how these events echo in the present.

Hanson compellingly portrays the ways Athens and Sparta fought on land and sea, in city and countryside, and details their employment of the full scope of conventional and nonconventional tactics, from sieges to targeted assassinations, torture, and terrorism. He also assesses the crucial roles played by warriors such as Pericles and Lysander, artists, among them Aristophanes, and thinkers including Sophocles and Plato.

Hanson’s perceptive analysis of events and personalities raises many thought-provoking questions: Were Athens and Sparta like America and Russia, two superpowers battling to the death? Is the Peloponnesian War echoed in the endless, frustrating conflicts of Vietnam, Northern Ireland, and the current Middle East? Or was it more like America’s own Civil War, a brutal rift that rent the fabric of a glorious society, or even this century’s “red state—blue state” schism between liberals and conservatives, a cultural war that manifestly controls military policies? Hanson daringly brings the facts to life and unearths the often surprising ways in which the past informs the present.

Brilliantly researched, dynamically written, A War Like No Other is like no other history of this important war.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33804 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-12
• Released on: 2006-09-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Hanson (Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece, etc.) presents an elegant, lucidly written analysis of the 27-year civil war, a "colossal absurdity," that ended in Athens's 5th-century B.C. loss to Sparta and the depletion of centuries of material and intellectual wealth. Hanson deftly chronicles these destructive decades, from the conflict's roots (e.g., the fundamental mutual suspicion between Athens and Sparta) to its legacy (the evolution of the nature of war to something "more deadly, amorphous, and concerned with the ends rather than the ethical means"). Hanson considers the war's economic aspects and the ruinous plague that struck Athens before delving into his discussion of warfare. He offers a tour de force analysis of hoplite (or infantry) combat, guerrilla tactics, siege operations and sea battles in the Aegean. Though landlocked Sparta ultimately brought down Athens's once-great naval fleet and replaced democracy with oligarchy by 404 B.C., Hanson complicates the received notion of a lost Hellenic Golden Age. Throughout this trenchant military and cultural history, he draws parallels between the Peloponnesian War and modern-day conflicts from WWII to the Cold War and Vietnam. Across the centuries, these are lessons worth remembering. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Inevitably, we see the Peloponnesian War through the eyes and truisms of one man. The narrative he left behind is replete with oracular insights that have supplied fodder for centuries of academic lectures: "The evils inflicted by the gods ought to be borne with patient resignation and the evils inflicted by enemies with manly fortitude." "No state can possibly preserve itself free unless it be a match for neighboring powers." "For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him and admires whoever will not bend before him." Proverbial nuggets like these, at once both prescient and commonsensical, threaten to upstage all the carnage of that war.

These axioms, of course, come courtesy of Thucydides, the Athenian historian who (one would have thought) wrote the last word on the struggle. The Peloponnesian War -- that chain of bloody campaigns between the Athenians and the Spartans that gripped mainland Greece and beyond between 431 and 404 B.C. and seemed to risk destroying for all time so much that we think of as uniquely Greek, such as philosophical dialogues, wine parties and democracy -- bequeathed myriad benefits to students of history, not the least of which are those time-honored tips on both strategy and prudence. But time has sanitized the war for us. Only with effort do we see that this war arose not from the mist of Homeric legend but from the smoke of real battlefields where real men -- and not a few women and children -- were butchered with methods ever more malevolent and efficient. Massacre moved in those days from an art form to a science. If history ever gave us a war to end all wars, this should have been the one.

A War Like No Other can be read as an elaborate excursus on the work of Thucydides, performed by Victor Davis Hanson, a former professor of classics who has made himself one of our premier military historians. Hanson might fairly be accused of overproduction -- still in his prime, he has authored or co-authored 15 other books -- but this study demonstrates the care of an avid, meticulous scholar whose learning can be worn lightly because it's so assured. He has also become a formidable journalist in recent years, which has prompted him to produce prose that is starkly appealing, direct and accessible to the common, curious reader.

Hanson chronicles the "thousands of ordinary Greeks who were slaughtered for nearly three decades for the designs of fickle men, shifting alliances, and contradictory causes," and he explores the methods used to conduct the war over time, which makes the book not only a rapid read but also a handy reference for browsing. Hanson is at his best when wielding details (the widths of various pieces of armor, for instance). He economically traces the roots of enmity between Athens and Sparta reaching back at least 50 years before hostilities commenced in the days of Pericles, the legendary Athenian leader. We discover how land forces complemented or competed with trireme ships, how hoplites (heavily armored infantrymen) were used and ill-used, how craftily built walls led to the siege war that helped to draw out the conflict for almost 30 years. He is especially sound on the role of raw terror in war -- the festering fear of noncombatants as well as the heart-stopping fright experienced by those on the battlefront. He examines the Great Plague of 430 and shows how its debilitating effects cropped up in the literature of subsequent times. In other words, he gives us the context that Thucydides could not.

By the time we get to the shank end of the war, with the Athenian debacle on Sicily between 415 and 413 -- painful reading, whether in Thucydides or Hanson -- we have trudged a long way in the footsteps of cruel, unforgiving armies and their leaders, men like Alcibiades, Nicias, Gylippus, Cleon and Lysander. In the end, Hanson's is not a rosy view of the glory that was Greece; instead, he has produced a searing look at "the creative talent for killing" that marked the Greeks at their bravest and most heartless. After wading through the swamp of such devastation, one yearns for a sip of wine and a spot of Plato to redeem these people.

Hanson performs the difficult feat of not talking down to readers while still presuming no prior knowledge of the war. Although an understanding of Greek history of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. will certainly quicken one's pace, Hanson provides helpful appendices for the uninitiated or the rusty, identifying key terms, places and characters. His copious notes, written to inform and not to impress, will also fill in many gaps.

Hanson steadfastly aligns himself with generations of historians who believe that, while no two events are exactly alike, the past nevertheless has lessons to teach. Parallels with later wars come trippingly off his pen, though never without support. Outside of his book-lined study, Hanson does believe in what he sees as righteous causes, including the current war in Iraq. But there's nothing of the brass band about him. Where fighting and killing are at issue, no one is more unsparingly, unromantically frank. Once all the history and historiography have been set aside, we're left with the sobering words -- and one more axiom -- of the great philosopher Heraclitus: "War is the father of us all."

Reviewed by Tracy Lee Simmons
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

From Booklist
By the standards of modern mass warfare, the Peloponnesian War, which ravaged Greece for 27 years, was a small-scale affair. The military forces were relatively small, and the weapons seem primitive. But by the standards of the classical Greek world, this conflict was massive and devastating. Hanson is a classicist and military historian, and his concise and stirring account of the war lacks the comprehensive scope of Donald Kagan's definitive work, The Peloponnesian War (2003). However, as a strictly military account, Hanson has written a first-rate chronicle, capturing the intensity and savagery of ancient warfare and conveying how ordinary warriors must have experienced it. Hanson has a gift for explaining both strategic objectives and relatively complicated tactical maneuvers in terms easily understandable by laymen. In his portrayals of some of the key players, Hanson provides interesting insights, especially concerning some rather obscure but important figures. For general readers and history buffs who hope to gain a solid understanding of this seminal and tragic conflict, this is an ideal. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A good introduction to war in Ancient Greece
Victor Davis Hanson is my favorite military author. His "The Soul of Battle" covers three generals who led free men and were victorious. This prompted me to track down the biography "Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945." George Patton was a flawed, but fascinating person. Dr. Hanson's chapter nine of "Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power" helped me understand some of the cultural advantages the Americans had over the Japanese in World War II.

"A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War" is about Sparta and its allies fighting Athenians. Before this book I knew very little about the war, other than Sparta had fought and eventually conquered Athens.

Dr. Hanson does a great job of explaining the background of the war, who the major players were, why Sparta led the attack on Athens, why the war lasted so long and why Athens finally lost.

These were two strong cities which had vastly different strengths. Sparta had the best warriors in Greece. Athens would not meet them on land. Athens dominated the ocean. Sparta did not have a fleet until Persia financed the fleet which eventually destroyed hundreds of Athenian triremes. Without their fleet to protect the food ships, Athens started to starve and eventually surrendered.

Often while reading this book I thought the Athenians were idiots. For example after years of war the majority of Athens thought it was a good idea to start another war. They launched hundreds of ships and sent 45,000 men to try to conquer Syracuse. They lost all their ships and men. This was the beginning of the end. Almost as famous as "Never get involved in a land war in Asia" is don't start a second front in a war. The Athenians were already out numbered, yet they talked themselves into attacking Syracuse. Another stupid thing was several times Sparta said we've had enough, how about we end the war, and Athens said no, we're safe behind our walls we'll keep attacking your allies from the sea.

But in fairness Sparta and their allies also made a number of blunders. Sparta started off the war by leading a large army up to Athens and dared them to come out and fight. Athens declined the opportunity for suicide, so Sparta and friends went home. The next year Sparta came back, and then went back home. And again. And again. They did they five or six times. It took Sparta a long while to realize that Athens was not going to play Sparta's game.

I greatly enjoyed the book. It was well written, well organized and thought provoking. I'm glad I read it.

If you are interesting in the history of ancient Greece, this is a good book to read.

A War Like No Other: Victor Davis Hanson At His Very Best
The Peloponnesian War is perhaps the most difficult period of Classical Greek history to comprehend. Those who have read Thucydides' account of the events of that war know how problematic it can be to to follow a strictly chronological examination of the events. Dr. Hanson provides a fresh view in his "A War Like No Other" adopting a thematic approach that delves into the "human predicament" of the Greeks who were caught up in the events of the twenty-eight year struggle. This is one of those books a reader has to sort of "crawl into": what was Athens like during the plague; to suffer through a siege; fight in a hoplite battle and more? Victor Davis Hanson provides a psychological and sociological framework for the chronological events to take shape which allows for a deeper understanding of the people and their struggle. He gives the war both a context and a texture that gives life to the events. "A War Like No Other" is a must for historians and classicists but it can also be a fruitful read for anyone who wants to further understand the ancient culture that is the father of our own.

Read before Thucydides' Peloponesian War
I wish before reading Thucydides' Peloponesian War, that I had read this book as it explained what was happening. Many details I missed such as why the Spartans could cross in force so many times and do so little damage and the purpose behind the raids by the Athenian naval forces.

According to the writer much of the blame for the war from the Athenian's side on their democracy. It kept them fighting long after they should have stopped. It also feels that this democracy repeatably got rid of its capable leaders.

Finally this war he feels this war accelerated the rise in Greece of huge integrated armies with archers, cavalry, phalanxes etc all led by a general who did not fight but administered from the rear. This with the development of siege warfare and the post war atmosphere opened the way to the new empire builders that war lords like Alexander could fill.