Series: Yale Library of Military History

A fresh appreciation of the pivotal role of Spartan strategy and tactics in the defeat of the mightiest empire of the ancient world More than 2500 years ago, a confederation of small Greek city-states defeated the invading armies of Persia, the most powerful empire in the world. In this meticulously researched study, historian Paul Rahe argues that Sparta was responsible...

An authoritative and refreshingly original consideration of the government and culture of ancient Sparta and her place in Greek history For centuries, ancient Sparta has been glorified in song, fiction, and popular art. Yet the true nature of a civilization described as a combination of democracy and oligarchy by Aristotle, considered an ideal of liberty in the ages of Machiavelli...

A companion volume to The Spartan Regime and The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta that explores the collapse of the Spartan–Athenian alliance "Provocative, intriguing and cogently argued.”—David Stuttard, Classics for All 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...

The latest volume in Paul Rahe’s expansive history of Sparta’s response to the challenges posed to its grand strategy “Paul Rahe stands out as one of the world’s leading scholars on the Peloponnesian War. His latest volume on Sparta’s protracted struggle with Athens provides insight into enduring problems of politics and strategy in wartime, into why and how peoples fight,...