This ultimately led to the failed Sicilian expedition, which ended badly for the Athenians. With Pericles gone, the new leadership in Athens decided to depart from his tactics. While Athens sought to play to its strengths by relying on its navy, Sparta tried to encourage other city-states to revolt against Athens, inspiring them that their efforts would lead to a “free Greece.” Still, both sides struggled to get an advantage over the other, primarily due to the deadly “Plague of Athens.” The plague killed Athens’ Pericles, leading Thucydides to explore what might have happened had he survived. Thucydides used Book II to cover the strategies that Athens and Sparta used during the early stages of the war. As a result, he spends Book I outlining his methodology and how he accessed the sources he used.
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