Geoffrey Hawthorn (1941-2015) was Professor Emeritus of International Politics at the University of Cambridge. He taught sociology and politics at the Universities of Essex and Cambridge and was twice a visiting professor at Harvard University. He published books on human fertility, the history of social theory, counterfactual thinking in history and the social sciences and the politics of east Asia. He also studied the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and wrote a large number of essays and reviews across a range of subjects in philosophy and politics.

'Hawthorn acts as a careful, humane guide through Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War, sympathetically exploring the importance of Thucydides' historical and political thought, but equally committed to resisting the temptation to reduce this endlessly complex work to any single or simple meaning or message (whether for antiquity or for the contemporary world). Historians, students of politics, and anyone who simply wants better to understand this fascinating text will gain much from this clear-headed, thought-provoking study.' Polly Low, University of Manchester

• Preface; Chronology; 1. The text; 2. Writing power: Athens in Greece, 478–435; 3. Explaining the war: stated reasons, 435–432; 4. Explaining the war: true reasons, 435–432; 5. Judgements, 431–430; 6. Absent strategies, 430–428; 7. Speech and other events, 428–427; 8. Meaning and opportunity, 426–424; 9. Necessities, 424; 10. Interests, 423–421; 11. Emotion in deed, 420–416; 12. Purposes and decisions, 415; 13. Character and circumstance, 414–413; 14. One war, 413–411; 15. Back to the present; Synopsis of the text.

Geoffrey Hawthorn (1941-2015) was Professor Emeritus of International Politics at the University of Cambridge. He taught sociology and politics at the Universities of Essex and Cambridge and was twice a visiting professor at Harvard University. He published books on human fertility, the history of social theory, counterfactual thinking in history and the social sciences and the politics of east Asia. He also studied the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and wrote a large number of essays and reviews across a range of subjects in philosophy and politics.

'Hawthorn acts as a careful, humane guide through Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War, sympathetically exploring the importance of Thucydides' historical and political thought, but equally committed to resisting the temptation to reduce this endlessly complex work to any single or simple meaning or message (whether for antiquity or for the contemporary world). Historians, students of politics, and anyone who simply wants better to understand this fascinating text will gain much from this clear-headed, thought-provoking study.' Polly Low, University of Manchester

• Preface; Chronology; 1. The text; 2. Writing power: Athens in Greece, 478–435; 3. Explaining the war: stated reasons, 435–432; 4. Explaining the war: true reasons, 435–432; 5. Judgements, 431–430; 6. Absent strategies, 430–428; 7. Speech and other events, 428–427; 8. Meaning and opportunity, 426–424; 9. Necessities, 424; 10. Interests, 423–421; 11. Emotion in deed, 420–416; 12. Purposes and decisions, 415; 13. Character and circumstance, 414–413; 14. One war, 413–411; 15. Back to the present; Synopsis of the text.

Geoffrey Hawthorn (1941-2015) was Professor Emeritus of International Politics at the University of Cambridge. He taught sociology and politics at the Universities of Essex and Cambridge and was twice a visiting professor at Harvard University. He published books on human fertility, the history of social theory, counterfactual thinking in history and the social sciences and the politics of east Asia. He also studied the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and wrote a large number of essays and reviews across a range of subjects in philosophy and politics.

'Hawthorn acts as a careful, humane guide through Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War, sympathetically exploring the importance of Thucydides' historical and political thought, but equally committed to resisting the temptation to reduce this endlessly complex work to any single or simple meaning or message (whether for antiquity or for the contemporary world). Historians, students of politics, and anyone who simply wants better to understand this fascinating text will gain much from this clear-headed, thought-provoking study.' Polly Low, University of Manchester

• Preface; Chronology; 1. The text; 2. Writing power: Athens in Greece, 478–435; 3. Explaining the war: stated reasons, 435–432; 4. Explaining the war: true reasons, 435–432; 5. Judgements, 431–430; 6. Absent strategies, 430–428; 7. Speech and other events, 428–427; 8. Meaning and opportunity, 426–424; 9. Necessities, 424; 10. Interests, 423–421; 11. Emotion in deed, 420–416; 12. Purposes and decisions, 415; 13. Character and circumstance, 414–413; 14. One war, 413–411; 15. Back to the present; Synopsis of the text.