104: The Disaster Of Sicily

About this episode

The episode discusses the failures of Athens during the Sicilian expedition, highlighting key decisions and turning points in the campaign.

Athens didn’t just lose in Sicily. It ran out of time, ran out of space, and finally ran out of choices. We pick up the story at the moment the expedition is already wobbling, when Nicias can see the danger but can’t bring himself to force the clean decision that might save the army. From there, every delay becomes a gift to Syracuse and every half-measure turns into another locked door on the way out. We walk through the campaign’s brutal turning points: Syracuse learning fast under pressur...

People in this episode

Host: Mark Selleck

Topics covered

• Athenian expedition
• Sicilian campaign
• military strategy
• historical analysis
• ancient Greece

Keywords

• Sicily
• Athens
• Nicias
• Syracuse
• military failure
• ancient Greece
• historical events

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Sicily, Syracuse, Athens

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