A rather authoritative reference point here is Donald Kagan's "The Peloponnesian War", which has been generally well regarded over the past two decades. Paul Ra

A rather authoritative reference point here is Donald Kagan's "The Peloponnesian War", which has been generally well regarded over the past two decades. Paul Rahe's recent book also seems well documented. Here are a couple of reviews to get you started: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.03.44/ https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.03.44/ https://newcriterion.com/issues/2021/1/the-spartan-way-of-war https://newcriterion.com/issues/2021/1/the-spartan-way-of-wa... > One of the many Spartan enigmas—the reluctance to deploy an otherwise superior military—was not really an enigma at all. > Sparta’s original paramilitary force, with time and sustenance to train and drill constantly against internal enemies, eventually evolved, by the early fifth century, into a crack expeditionary army, one even deadlier against Greek rivals than against Sparta’s restive serfs. > Its unmatched hoplite army was often put to Panhellenic use, most famously by the three hundred at Thermopylae and as the “Dorian Spear” that crushed the Persians at Plataea. > In this regard, Rahe shows that purportedly blinkered Spartan foreign policies gradually proved more astute than those of sophisticated Athens.