Demosthenes (military)

Demosthenes (Δημοσθένης), the son of Alkisthenes , († 413 BC in Sicily ) was an Athenian strategos during the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC). He should not be confused with the much better known Athenian politician and rhetorician Demosthenes , who a century later wrote numerous speeches that were also historically significant, including the Philippika .

Tactician and strategist

As a general, Demosthenes used the element of surprise with preference and tried to hit the opponent by acting quickly in an as yet unprepared stage and to take advantage of his confusion and panic. The disadvantage, however, was that he relied too much on these tactics and did not prepare any alternative plans in the event that the surprise attack failed. In this case, too, he lacked the stamina for actions that required greater persistence.

Aetolia and Ambrakia

In his military career, Demosthenes had both successes and setbacks. For example, his invasion of Aetolia ended in 426 BC. BC, which he started without the consent of the Attic assembly, after initial success in a counterattack by the attacked, which drove the Athenians to flight, losing around 120 fighters and their second general Prokles.

After this defeat, Demosthenes did not dare to return to Athens and instead sought compensation in western Greece, where he was called to help by the Akarnans , who were in conflict with the city of Ambrakia . At the Battle of Olpai he won in the winter of 426/25 thanks to a ruse against the Ambrakians and allied Peloponnesians under the Spartan Eurylochos . The following day, the main contingent of Ambrakians, not yet informed of the first battle, fell into a trap on Mount Idomene, which ended in a bloodbath. Demosthenes then proposed that the now defenseless city of Ambrakia be wiped off the map, but was held back by the allied Akarnans, who, following the example just experienced, expressed their fear that they might find even worse neighbors in the Athenians than their previous ones .

Pylos and Sphakteria

Demosthenes proved his excellent eye again the following year, when he recognized the Pylos promontory in Messinia as a suitable terrain while sailing around the Peloponnese , which he managed to occupy during the naval command in order to take over the fortification work himself. After the arrival of the Spartans it came 425 BC. At the Battle of Pylos , during which Demosthenes not only repelled all Spartan attacks on land and sea, but was also able to cut off a contingent of 420 Spartan hoplites on the offshore island of Sphakteria with the help of the fleet under Eurymedon . As a result, Demosthenes had to share the credit for this greatest success of Athens throughout the war with the demagogue Kleon , a popular Athenian politician who was commissioned by the people's assembly to capture the Spartans on the island and demosthenes reduced to the role of an assistant . The plan and execution of the brilliant operation were largely due to Demosthenes, but the success was mainly credited to Kleon. The Battle of Sphakteria gave the Peloponnesian War a significant turning point, as the capture of 292 Spartan hoplites (including 120 full Spartan citizens) significantly increased the Spartans' willingness to make peace.

Intermediate peace of Nicias

424 BC BC Demosthenes tried to pull the city of Megara to the side of Athens together with his fellow general Hippocrates , but when the Spartan Brasidas rushed to the aid, they only achieved partial success by taking the fortified port of Nisaia . In the same year Athens attempted an attack on the northern neighboring region Boeotia , for which the two generals should operate in a coordinated pincer movement. At the battle of Delion on the border with Boeotia, however, Demosthenes was unable to bring help to his fellow general Hippocrates in time because of a misunderstanding. The Athenians therefore made the hero of Pylos jointly responsible for this defeat and did not entrust an army to him for several years.

In 421, however, Demosthenes was one of the signatories of the Nicias Peace Treaty , which gave the conflicting parties a respite.

In 417, after the battle of Mantineia , he organized the evacuation of the Attic troops from Epidaurus in the Argolis . Even with this relatively simple operation, he used a ruse to distract the hostile locals with a sporting competition for the time required.

Sicilian expedition

Only the critical situation of the Athenian expedition to Sicily during the siege of Syracuse led in the year 414 BC. To a reassessment of the undoubted experience of Demosthenes, who received the order to set up a relief fleet that should bring the beleaguered expeditionary army of Nikias rescue.

After their arrival in Syracuse, Demosthenes and his colleague Eurymedon advocated an energetic and determined approach. But after they suffered a defeat in a night battle on the high field, they could not prevail against the sick, overly cautious and superstitious Nikias and were thus complicit in the fatal delay. In the last naval battle in the port, Demosthenes led the Athenian fleet together with the generals of Nicias, Menandros and Euthydemus , and suffered the decisive defeat.

During the subsequent retreat inland, Demosthenes led the rearguard and had to be the first to surrender to his pursuers, negotiating a surrender treaty. He was then executed together with Nikias in Syracuse, despite promises to the contrary.

evaluation

Thucydides seems to have a rather positive attitude towards the general Demosthenes, who appears to him as by far the most capable general of Athens in the first phase of the war. However, the historian does not turn a blind eye to the episodes of human brutality to which the logic of the war drives those involved.

swell

• Thucydides : History of the Peloponnesian War .
• Diodorus : library .
• Plutarch : Nicias .

literature

• Joseph Roisman: The General Demosthenes and his Use of Military Surprise . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1993. Historia Individual Writings Vol. 78.

Remarks

1. ^ Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War III, 98 ( English translation in Wikisource , accessed 21:32, August 25, 2007)