A Macat Analysis of The History of the Peloponnesian War

The History of the Peloponnesian War is acknowledged as the first great work in the fields of history and political theory. It uses narrative, debate, and analysis to document the war between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BCE). But its importance lies less in the story than in the way Thucydides tells it. It is the first major work of political inquiry that did not attribute events to divine intervention. It introduced instead a critical method of looking to human actions as the basis for understanding—a method that continues to be used today. Many greats cite Thucydides as an influence; figures including Hobbes, Hume and Nietzsche have praised his writing.