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It is hard to imagine a greater conflict than that between the state of Sparta (and its allies) and the metropolis of Athens (the dominant power of the Athenian League). Sparta was at risk domestically because it consisted of the oppressed class of the Helots and the elite ruling people. In foreign policy, however, it supported a number of communities that wanted to achieve more freedom. Athens, on the other hand, was a democracy, but it obviously oppressed its allies. A war broke out between the two alliances (briefly interrupted by a truce), which spread across the entire known world and led to a major defeat for Athens. The inability to end such a war in time is one of the lessons of the Greek historian Thucydides. Prof. Dr. Ernst Baltrusch, ancient historian at the Free University of Berlin, reports.