How the Spartans Used Proxy Wars for Ultimate Victory with Dr. Paul Rahe

The Sons Of History

How did one Spartan defeat thousands of Athenians? It comes down to strategy, and, of course, having others to fight the war. When the Athenians landed on the shores of Sicily, they nearly convinced the Sicilians to acquiesce. But time was not one the Athenians' side. Dr. Paul Rahe joins the podcast to discuss Spartan strategy and how they used proxy wars to enable their ultimate victory over Athens.

Paul Rahe is the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow in Classics at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is the professor of history at Hillsdale College where he holds the Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in Western Heritage. He chairs the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Current World Affairs. And just last year, the University of Piraeus in Greece honored him with the Themistocles Statesmanship Award.

He is the author of numerous works, including Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution, Against Throne and Altar, Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty, four volumes on the grand strategy of classical Sparta - one of which we are going to be discussing this episode, Sparta’s Sicilian Proxy War.