thucydides account of the peloponnesian war

Kennedy School of Government coined the term ‘Thucydides Trap’ in his book Destined for War (2017). Graham Allison, a political scientist at John F. 1 This latest escalation of tensions represents a new low-point in US–China relations and seems to verify the notion of ‘Thucydides Trap’ as a probably outcome for an escalating crisis that in its current form first emerged with Trump’s anti-China election rhetoric. The stakes are very high as President Trump, deflecting responsibility for the ineptitude of his administration in managing the crisis, blames China and talks of cutting all ties with China, while China retaliates by indicating if that happened they would take Taiwan by force. Thucydides’ work and a particular historical interpretation of the Peloponnesian War has become the basis for a framework assessing whether the US and China are destined for war at exactly the time of another great plague, COVID-19 a major global pandemic in 2019–2020. Reading Thucydides’ account of the Plague of Athens, even though he was not present, one can understand the label of ‘scientific history’ and why Thucydides is regarded by some as one the greatest historians of all time, alongside Herodotus. But internally it burned so that the patient could not bear to have on him clothing or linen even of the very lightest description or indeed to be otherwise than stark naked. Externally the body was not very hot to the touch, nor pale in its appearance, but reddish, livid, and breaking out into small pustules and ulcers. In most cases also an ineffectual retching followed, producing violent spasms, which in some cases ceased soon after, in others much later. When it fixed in the stomach, it upset it and discharges of bile of every kind named by physicians ensued, accompanied by very great distress. These symptoms were followed by sneezing and hoarseness, after which the pain soon reached the chest, and produced a hard cough.

There was no ostensible cause but people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath.

Thucydides account of the peloponnesian war