Commonly acknowledged as one of the earliest first-hand written accountsof history, this classic work chronicles the war between Athens andSparta during the fifth century B.C. Its author, Thucydides,dispassionately and accurately describes the events of this ancientGreek war in a strict chronology which includes the causes of theconflict, descriptions of battlefield strategy, political opinions, andall other aspects of the war in the brilliant detail of an intellectualand observant eyewitness. Himself an Athenian general who served in thewar, Thucydides relates the invasions, treacheries, plagues, amazingspeeches, ambitions, virtues, and emotions of the conflict between twoof Greece’s most dominant city-states in a work that has the feel of agreat tragic drama. Though, in part an analysis of war policy, “TheHistory” is also a dramatic account of the rise and fall of Athens by anAthenian. As such, it provides a historical warning for modernmilitary, political, and international relations