The other Thucydides trap

THE Thucydides trap is a dictum made famous by Harvard professor Graham Allison who quoted Greek (Athenian) historian Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian war (431–404 BC) as an inevitable clash between Athens as a rising power and Sparta as the incumbent power.

Athens wanted to expand, whilst Sparta was determined to contain Athens, and thus the war was fought directly or through proxies and allies, stretched over 27 years, in between periods of peace or truces.