History Forum / General / British History / February 2006

Anyone familiar with ancient Greece is likely to know about Alcibiades, the
nephew of the great general Pericles who led Athens during its heyday in mid
fifth century BC. Alcibiades not only was high born, he was also a natural
leader with many talents. Few could resist his charm and persuasion. He was
also a reckless spender who womanized and loved to party. During his
formative years, Athens was experiencing growing friction with its neighbor
Sparta, at the time Athens was enjoying its dominance in trade and cultural
influence throughout the Greek world. Sparta was in some ways older and more
rooted than Athens, but far more rigid and stuffy. They were not about to
yield to Athenian hegemony.

One thing that that bothered Athens greatly was any suspicion that Sparta
was gaining an advantage in the competition between the two states. At this
time all the several hundred Greek city states had to ally with one or the
other great powers, Sparta or Athens. Sicily in particular was troubling
Athens because its main city, Syracuse, was allied with Sparta. A dispute
broke out between two Sicilian city states, one of them asking Athens for
aid. The Athenian assembly intensely debated whether to send troops and how
many, etc. Leading the call for war was Alcibiades, who in the end managed
to convince the people to vote on a war that many deemed unnecessary and
dangerous.

Athens sends a massive fleet to attack Syracuse, known as the Sicilian
Expedition. It began as a glamorous display of their finest ships and amour,
meant to impress and intimidate. But things quickly begin to go badly.
Before the fighting even begins, however, Alcibiades, one of three generals
in charge, is called back to Athens to stand trial for other charges. On his
prison ship he manages to escape and flees to Sparta, where he gives them
detailed instructions on how to do the most damage to the Athenians. The
Spartans inflict massive damage on Athens, who never quite recovers. Within
another decade or so Athens is completely defeated by Sparta. In hindsight,
Alcibiades was the classic demagogue, full of seductive words, but in the
end only capable of leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

Jacob Burkardt, the great German historian, often referred to the Sicilian
Expedition as "the great disaster." It's become synonymous with any
completely unnecessary and reckless pre-emptive war. The details are told
very well by Thucydides in his famous work on the Peloponesian War.

There is much to be learned in the present age by "the great disaster."
Leaders who drag their countries into needless and costly wars are just the
prologue: part two is their ultimate betrayal of their countrymen, and the
high price that must be paid for the damage they cause. In the case of
Athens, the price was too high and couldn't be paid. Athenian democracy and
its great cultural glory simply came to an end. Other hegemonic empires were
more fortunate. The British empire, for example, scaled down gradually and
never experienced the traumatic ending that Athens did. Perhaps that was
because Britain never had a demagogue on the scale of Alcibiades.

Many believe that GW Bush has also led his country into a needless and
costly war. Now that he is staunchly defended his decision to transfer
management of six major US ports to the United Arab Emirates government, it
is a chilling reminder of the gullibility of the demos and the reckless
tendencies of a demagogue. Those who know history can only watch with
horror, knowing that very little has changed in human nature over time, that
mass-scale ignorance rules the day, and that little can be done to sway the
course of events once set in motion. We can only clutch our armchairs with
fingernails dug in tightly and watch as the madness of this human drama
unfolds.

John

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