Why War was so fundamental to Social and Political Organization in Ancient Rome during the Republic Era? The ancient worlds were constantly characterized by wars. Many factors were the cause of these wars, although many countries avoided conflict unless it was necessary. A good example is the ancient Rome during the republic era. Those in authority during this time avoided war at all costs.
“The Melian Dialogue” by Thucydides describes the overpowering typical view of a practical person on international politics. Although, the Iraq conflict differs in time aspect and complexity, an over-head view of the conflict resonates the same view in “The Melian Dialogue.” In both conflicts the powerful nation is at war with another powerful nation. Setting aside who is just or unjust and looking at the “big picture” of the conflicts, The Athenians resemble the US and Terrorism resembles Sparta. Looking at the “small picture” of the conflicts, The US resembles Athens and Iraq resembles the Melians. Many reasons of conflict in the invasion of Melos resonate to the reasons of invasion of Iraq such as capitalism, violation of international law, only the strong survives, homeland security, help from another nation.
However Xenophon’s view is not a totally fair one, considering his past military experiences with Spartans, as well as the fact that he was not a Spartan citizen and therefore only knew the official laws laid out to him. The ancient Greeks believed that the world was created perfect, and that every change made it a little worse. This made conservatism fundamental in preventing decay in the world. The Spartans therefore found it essential to live by the laws, which were mainly military based, that the legendary Lycurgus had laid out for them in the first half of the 7th Century. Unlike other Greek states, who were much less rotated around the military and had women responsible for making clothes, the Spartans left that duty for the slave women, so that the higher class women could concentrate on physical training just as much as the men did.
The Peloponnesian War erupted from 431-404 BCE between the Spartans and the empire of the Athenians. Prior to this war the two enemies were allies against the Persians, but turned on each other. Reasons for this war were, power, greed, and treason between the two armies. Both of these powers wanted to be the most powerful and this caused a conflict amongst themselves. Athenians had been in previous wars and as time progressed it was clear that Athens had to be rebuilt, as the reconstruction process proceeded the Athenian empire began to dominate their allies politically and economically.
Tensions between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League eventually led to the Peloponnesian war. Thucydides believed that Sparta was afraid of the growing power of Athens, which had essentially resulted in the creation of an Athenian empire. Sparta felt that Athens was meddling in their business, and Athens would not agree to avoid interference. After twenty-seven years of war, and the participation in one way or another of many of the city-states belonging to the two leagues, both Sparta and Athens were in ruins. Sparta claimed the victory, and the city-states continued their bickering and fighting.
Throughout history, mankind has waged war against each other various reasons. These reasons are often times proven to be trivial and superfluous thus making wars preventable. The American civil war was a war that was inevitable because of key events leading up to the war divided the country to the point where it made war unpreventable. The first issue that made the civil war unavoidable was the Declaration of Independence (cite). The writer of the Declaration was Thomas Jefferson who wrote it based off the ideals of the enlightenment period.
Of all the ideas and theories Clausewitz presented in On War, my belief is that the most important and enduring elements are his idea that war is an extension of policy, his analysis of strategy, the trinity theory and his explanation of the components of war including friction in war, the fog of war and his centre of gravity theory. These ideas and theories from Clausewitz’s On War will be discussed in this essay and presented as his most important and enduring contributions to the theory of warfare. Clausewitz defined war as “an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will” (Clausewitz, P101) but argued that war should only be entered into when diplomatic methods fail as war is a continuation of politics and controlled by a political objective which is aimed at improving the situation. However war can therefore can vary depending on the nature of the policy and society of the time in which the war is waged. Clausewitz stated that success in war requires clear political aims and an adequate strategy (Clausewitz, P101).
were a volatile time for the Persian Empire. Its struggles with the Greek city-states resulted in general chaos as the two great spheres of power in the ancient world met in battle. The first historian, Herodotus, chose this war as his main topic of interest. This site introduces this pivotal rivalry in world history. Report broken link Persian Architecture This site is packed with information on the unique style of Persian architecture.
This was fought between the Greek city-state Athens and the Boeotian city’s forces. Hanson accounts the surprisingly dramatic impact of this battle both immediately and even until this present day on a variety of aspects about life, war, and thought. Athens was fighting on two fronts and wanted to eliminate the northern front, Boeotia, as to focus all their resources on the much stronger Sparta. In order to do so they were going to, attack Boeotia on two fronts at the same time, as to force the “outnumbered Boeotian army [to] to scatter between the pincers” (Hanson 176). Demosthenes, who was leading the naval front to northern Boeotia, arrived at his destination early and the Boeotians discovered the Athenian plans.
It is apparent on how the Ancient Athenians executed Socrates after the series of attempts of his followers to destroy Democracy. It is also a Democracy of the Sword because of the Ancient Athenians view war as a necessity to protect Democracy, which they claim to be the model government for other Greek City-States to follow but eventually these wars destroyed Democracy. The Democracy of the United States of America during the 20th century, as I see it, is a Democracy of principles in a sense that Ideologies are dominant in the United States. There are four dominant Ideologies namely: liberal, conservative, libertarian and populist. I tend to think that the United States view the world as a political area and it is just a mere battle of principles of state governance.