Can war and great culture coexist? Lessons from Greece

An essay by Bill McKenna   ©2012

 I hope you liked my last post.  I think it is important to start with yourself before you undertake anything as dramatic as helping to create a peaceful world.  I’ve cajoled a few friends to read, and I am happy to see that I am getting some nice response.  If you like this blog, please pass the word along.

Sadly, life gets harder when you start to get more involved.  Let’s face it, there are 7 billion of us, and only a few of us are peacemakers.  Getting people’s attention, then getting them to take peace seriously is difficult.  So keep trying, and don’t worry if you feel too small to change the world.  If you think peace is important, and are even just giving it some serious thought, the world is slowly getting better.

Now, I’d like to focus on a hard lesson learned about 2400 years ago.  In the 5^th Century BC, the Greek city-states were at the forefront of great thought.  They were pioneers in democracy, philosophy, the arts, and scientific progress.  The center of classical Greek culture was Athens.

At the beginning of their golden age, the Greeks defended themselves against the terrifying Persian Empire.  Facing annihilation by a much greater force, the Persian Wars ended in an unlikely routing of the Persians, and allowed the Greeks to flourish.  I could argue that the Persian Wars, like all wars, would have been better unfought.  In ancient times, however, many empires expanded through strength of arms, without regard for peace.   For the sake of brevity, let us take it as given that the Greeks had no choice in participating in those wars.

After the defeat of the Persians, the Greeks made preparations for the possibility of another invasion.  Given the fact that the Persians had already invaded twice it was certainly a prudent action.  Unfortunately, defensive stance taken by the Greeks led to a disaster.  Over time, a rift between powerful city-states, primarily Athens and Sparta, developed.  This led to rival defensive alliances, Athens’ Delian League, and Sparta’s Peloponnesian League.  Soon, the two alliances were no longer focused on a defense against Persia, but a hegemony struggle between themselves.

The Delian League was dominated by Athens’ naval power.  It was originally a voluntary alliance, but over time, Athens began to demand payment in lieu of city-states providing direct military support.  Over time, the alliance took on some of the characteristics of an extortion scheme.

The Peloponnesian Wars began as a series of small proxy wars with Athens and Sparta each preparing for an ultimate conflict between the opposing leagues.  The lead-up to the main wars were similar to the 20^th Century Cold War engagements.  The main war soon ensued and, thanks to remarkably modern feeling narrative provided by the historian Thucydides, we know that there were spectacular privations and atrocities.  Athens might was decimated when the population gathered behind defensive walls for an extended period and sanitary conditions precipitated a terrible plague.  The utter destruction of the warfare led Athens and Sparta to agree to peace for several years, but the peace was fragile, and the war renewed after several years.  Finally, in 404 BC, Athens was defeated, and for a time effectively subjugated by Sparta.

The wars were a catastrophe.  I don’t know how many were killed, but it was certainly a great number of people.  The wars were 27 years in duration, devouring a generation.  It destroyed classical Greece, and foreshadowed the Macedonian hegemony made famous by Alexander.

The parallels between Athens at its cultural and military apex and the United States of today are striking.  As we invest enormous amounts of resources into our military preparedness and rely on our NATO alliance to extend our global reach, while we try to maintain cultural excellence, are we really improving our security, or are we preparing to close an American Classical era?

As always, please feel free to discuss this with me.  I’ll pick up the thread with the decline of Rome, and then probably get into some of my favorite intellectuals.  It’ll be Augustine, Anselm, Kant, Hegel, Hobbes and Locke from the point of view of an amateur philosopher (me).  I look forward to your corrections!