Letters From An Enthusiast: Inch by Inch

During my reading of Thucydides, I came across this line, “When one makes concessions to one’s enemies, one regrets it afterwards, and the fewer concessions one makes the safer one is likely to be”(56). The year was 433 bce. The democratic town of Corcyra chose to help her colony-city, Epidamnus, who had just overthrown their aristocratic government and themselves established a democracy. These two cities, however, found themselves opposed by Corinth. Corinth was an aristocracy who supported the aristocratic government deposed in Epidamnus. Both Corinth and Corcyra (who happened to be a colony herself of Corinth) sent emissaries to Athens to seek aid and win over their support. Athens requested that both sides make a speech, detailing why Athens should help that side. It was Corcyra that made the statement, “When one makes concessions to one’s enemies, one regrets it afterwards, and the fewer concessions one makes the safer one is likely to be”. Corcyra considered Corinth an enemy of Athens because Corinth was an aggressive aristocracy who had given Athens trouble in the past.

One can only imagine what would have happened had Neville Chamberlain brushed up on his Thucydides! On March 9, 1935, a weak but ambitious Nazi Germany created a new air force and introduced a military draft, increasing the armed forces of Germany from 100,000 to 550,000-a direct violation of the Versailles treaty. Three months later, on June 18, 1935, Britain signed a treaty with Germany allowing Germany to create a navy 35% the size of Britain. Slowly, inch by inch, appeasement from the European powers allowed Germany to reoccupy the Rhineland in March 1936, annex Austria in March 1938, annex the Sudetenland in October of 1938, and allowed Germany to invade Poland on September 1^st, 1939. By June 22^nd, 1940, all of France was under Nazi control and the world entered into the bloodiest war in human history. Europe certainly saw the devastation of appeasement and concession to the enemy.

The reality of Nazi Germany makes one realize that history is not useless; that Thucydides lessons could have helped the world (and the lives of 56,000,000 soldiers and civilians and 6,000,000 Jews who were viciously slaughtered) stop a monstrous atrocity before it even began. Thus Thucydides’ statement that, “My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever,” is not an arrogant bromide but a tried and true statement that man does not have to reinvent the wheel. He can and should learn from the lessons of the past and create a better future.

-Jason Roberts

Comments

An excellent point. The entire reason history is recorded is so we may remember and learn from it. Keep up the posts. I'll be interested to see what else you bring to view.

Posted by: Brendan | July 04, 2005 at 02:06 PM