A War Like No Other

A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hanson, Random House, 2006. 

Peloponnesian War 

The author describes the Greek civil war between Attica and Sparta. 

Athens and Piraeus 

Athens was the capital of the region called Attica. Athens was a major naval power and the center of a huge commercial empire. Many of the city states around it were its subjects. Athens build not only a wall around itself, but a long wall to its port city of Piraeus. 

Phalanx

Before the Peloponnesian War, battle was highly stylized. Infantry fought in phalanx, where they were closely spaced together, so that the shield of one soldier would also protect his neighbor. In the Peloponnesian War war, Athens did not follow these rules, and instead did what was practical. 

Style of Naval Battles 

Much of the war was fought at sea. In the naval part of the war, ships called triremes were used. They had three banks of oars. The ships would ram into each other. 

Siege and Epidemic

Sparta lay siege to Athens. Many Athenians died of an epidemic of an infectious disease, whose specific nature is not yet known. 

Sicily 

Stupidly, Athens decided to extend the war to the island of Sicily. The Spartans had an ally there, in the name of Syracuse. 

Conclusion

The war lasted for many years. Eventually, Sparta won.