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During the fifth century BC, Athens was a city-state to be reckoned with. Together with Sparta, it was one of the two great powers of Classical Greece. When in 431 BC the Peloponnesian War broke out, it was a showdown between the democratic naval power Athens and oligarchic militaristic Sparta. On the Athenian side was a rather colourful strategos, or general. This relatively young man's name was Alcibiades, and his life story reads like a novel about an anti-hero. Works about his life have lauded him as a fortunate and brilliant young man possessing unheard-of beauty and charm. But regardless of his charm, he did not necessarily have a moral compass. It resulted in him doing everything he could to satisfy his hunger for power and honour. He played a vital, yet incredibly controversial role during the Peloponnesian war. Initially serving as general on the Athenian side, after a drunken mishap, he deserted to the Spartans mid-war. But following a romantic escapade with the Spartan king's wife, he deserted to the Persians, the mutual enemy of Athens and Sparta. He finally returned to Athens, attempting to instigate an oligarchic coup to become a fleet commander... and surprisingly enough, successfully so. This the story of an arguably brilliant loose cannon. Consider supporting HoH: ►Patreon: ►Become a channel member: ►Leave a tip: ►Webshop: Use code “HISTORYBONUS5“ for a 5% subscriber discount! Check out House of History: the Podcast ►iTunes: ►Spotify: Socials: ►Check out my blog: ►My Twitter: My videos tend to get arbitrarily demonetized. That is why I decided to open up a Patreon where people can support the channel. If you decide to pledge as little as 1$/month you will gain access to a monthly series exclusive to my Patrons! Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:19 Early Life (450-415 BC) 4:49 Peace of Nicias (421 BC) 8:51 Persia and the Oligarchs Watch my documentary series: ►History of Prussia playlist: ►End of Empire - Downfall of the Qing Dynasty playlist: ►World War 2 playlist: ►Hitler's Spies playlist: The content of this video covers events, people or concepts via a lecture-style presentation that is educational and historical in nature. Every video is original content by House of History. The events relating to conflict in this video are portrayed in their historical context without either value judgment or an ideological message attached to it. There is no intent to shock, upset or disgust. The goal of my channel is to make interesting lecture-style videos, no more, no less. Alcibiades was born in 450 BC in the democratic city-state Athens. His father, Cleinias, was a well-known politician, and his mother, Deinomache, belonged to the Alcmaeonids, a powerful Athenian noble family. In his early childhood, his father was killed in the Battle of Coronea during the First Peloponnesian War. Subsequently, his uncle Pericles raised him. You may know Pericles as the prominent Athenian politician, general and one of the most influential statesmen being responsible for the flourishing of the city-state. Alcibiades became an intimate friend of the philosopher Socrates. Socrates saw Alcibiades' unconstrained behaviour and tried to restrain and curb it, to no avail. The boy was intelligent, supposedly had great looks and had a natural charm, disregarding some sources indicating he had a lisp. Thank you for taking the time to check out House of History, I hope you will find the films informative, interesting and enjoyable! If you have any feedback, questions or criticism feel free to leave a comment. Your opinion truly aids me in improving the content of the channel! If you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I will either write a reply, answer your question in a Q&A video, or make an entire video about it! Sources: Written by House of History Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons #HouseofHistory #History
