Elementor #1539

I need help creating a thesis and an outline on Pericles: One the Greatest War Strategist. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. Of the numerous leaders and representatives of the Peloponnesian war, the one leader that stands out, according to me, is General Pericles. He became General of the Athenian army in 444 BC and continued to guide the army till 403 BC when he died due to some infectious disease. His strategic brilliance and his desire to avert bloody encounters with Sparta during the first phase of the Peloponnesian war have been seen as one of the greatest strategic maneuvers of the time while exhibiting calm and exceptional self-control.

Pericles was born in Athens around 495 BC and had royal connections from his mother’s side. He was the son of famous Greek politician Xanthppus who had led to the victory of the Greek contingent in the war of Mycale. His family wealth helped him to pursue his education and artistic inclinations at great lengths. He was a highly skilled musician who also dabbled in philosophy. His friends and acquaintances include great philosophers like Protagoras, Zeno, and Anaxagoras. His attributes like his calmness in the face of adversity and his self-control are believed to be influenced by Xanagoras’s philosophy of life.

His ascendancy into politics happened in 461 BC when Cimon, his political opponent was accused of secretly supporting Sparta, their arch enemies, and betraying their tribe. During his political span, Pericles has been renowned for his policies of empowering the poor by legalizing their participation in the political system and public offices which had been inaccessible to them previously. This particular move of Pericles won him the trust of his people and later when he became the General of the Athenian army, his soldiers gave him their full support because the majority of them belonged to the lower class, who had been bestowed egalitarian status by virtue of Pericles’ political policies. His concept of radical democracy later became the foundation of sound democratic guidelines for the future leaders of the world.

Pericles’ education and his artistic inclination went a long way in establishing Greece as one of the greatest culturally refined and advanced civilizations. The surviving structures of Acropolis, Parthenon bear witness to an era of artistic greatness. His efforts for the beautification of the cities led to increased employment opportunities which were welcome diversions for the people who had been undergoing the socio-economic strains of the ongoing war.