The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides - 4 - Brasidas the Negotiator
Book Four
Quote
"It is open to you to consolidate your present success, retaining what you now control and winning the honour and glory besides: and to avoid the common error of men who have no experience of handling a piece of good forturne — one unexpected success makes them overconfident and grasping for more."
Notes
Sparta starts a new campaign in Attica, but a group of Athenians led by Demosthenes set up a base in the Peloponnese, right in Spartan territory, in a place called Pylos. And so the Spartans leave Attica to deal with the Athenians there.
They fight and the Athenians surprisingly beat the Spartans back and defend their base. Both sides agree to a temporary truce so they can each collect their dead and Sparta tries to get Athens to agree to a larger peace. In a speech to the Athenians they say that they shouldn't let this victory go to their heads, and instead see that now is a good time to end the war. Fortune may be on their side now, but its no guarantee that it will stay there and they'll regret it later if they refuse. The Spartans also argue that reasonable and generous settlements are the most lasting, as opposed to ones that are forced on one by the other since that creates hatred and resentment.
Cleon (whom you may remember from Book Three) is totally against making peace. He demands that Sparta make more concessions before they accept any peace deal, and most Athenians are persuaded to his side. The peace talks break down as a result and the fighting continues.
The Athenians find maintaining their base at Pylos more and more difficult. Sparta is disrupting the shipment of supplies and the Athenians at the base are struggling with hunger and an overall lack of resources. Many are starting to regret the fact that they refused Sparta's peace offer.
Cleon steps back into the fray criticizing the commander in charge and says it should be easy to get rid of the Spartans harassing their base. The commander concedes and says if Cleon thinks it would be so easy then maybe he should do it. Cleon is a bit trapped since he was mostly just spitting hot air, but to his credit he follows through and takes command.
Even more to his credit, he leads the Athenians to another surprising victory against the Spartans at Pylos. He establishes a more secure shipping route to them and captures many Spartan soldiers. Athens is very surprised since Spartans are known to fight to their deaths. This is a huge victory for Athens since now they have a beachhead against Sparta in the Peloponnese.
Meanwhile, a number of Greek states in Sicily gather for a conference and agree to a peace amongst themselves. They speak at length about the inherent risks of war, even for those who feel they have been wronged: "Revenge does not have its just success simply because it is a response to injustice: and strength acquires no guarantee from the confidence which accompanies it. The greatest determinant of affairs is the incalculable future, which is the most unreliable element of all and yet clearly has the most beneficial effect, as our common fear of the future makes us think twice before setting out to attack one another."
Fighting continues all around Greece, but Brasidas from Sparta starts conquering cities using just his words. "He immediately impressed the cities (allied with Athens) with his reasonable and moderate approach, which enabled him to bring about the secession of most of them." He brings to each city the promise of liberation: "I have bound the authorities at Sparta by the most solemn oaths to guarantee the autonomy of any people I bring over to alliance with us: and when we speak of alliance, we are not looking to force or inveigle you into fighting on our side — on the contrary, our purpose is to fight on your side to end your enslavement to the Athenians."
Brasidas enjoys success after success bringing this message to Athens' allies and winning them over to Sparta's side. He continues his campaign to the city of Amphipoles, which is a key city for the Athenians, and he wins them over, too. With each success his reputation spreads and more and more cities are eager to negotiate with him.
Sidenote, Thucydides himself is the general in charge of protecting Amphipoles from being taken by the Spartans. He is exiled from Athens for his failure, though he doesn't mention that part here.
Largely motivated to stop Brasidas, Athens enters a negotiation with Sparta for a temporary truce for a year. The truce gets off to a rocky start since Brasidas keeps taking more cities even after the truce is established which sparks more fighting between him and the Athenians. Eventually the truce does set in and allows both sides some time to regroup.
Key Takeaways
Brasidas is a champion. The fact that he is so successful provokes a few questions about these cities allied with Athens and just how happy they are with their situation. Maybe he is just extremely persuasive, but it also seems likely that Brasidas is exploiting the fact that a ton of Greek cities aren't happy being allied with Athens. And it's not that he's using no threat of force — he often has his army behind him while he is making his offer — but his success seems to come more from the fact that he's making a reasonable and moderate offer of partnership and protection. Sparta's reputation usually has to do their bravery and brutality on the battlefield, but here Brasidas is adding reasonableness and sharp negotiation skills, too.
Despite the growing appetite for peace, war persists. There are a few peace negotiations, and attempts at peace negotiations, described in Book Four. Athens rejects Sparta's peace offer because they see themselves as being ahead. Brasidas doesn't show a lot of respect for the truce at the end since he's having so much success. What are the conditions that contribute to establishing peace? It seems like one's desire for peace depends a lot on how they're doing in the war. If you're winning, screw peace. If you're losing, peace starts looking more appealing.
Do you need to have one side win decisive victory before you can get peace? Or is it possible for two sides to reach a mutually beneficial agreement without one side being dominant over the other?