Examine the Web sites below and then express your opinion on the issues in the space below. Your responses can be submitted to your professor if she or he requests it.

The Melians were caught in the middle of a terrible struggle known as the Peloponnesian War (431-405 B.C.). There were two great opponents in this war: Sparta and Athens. The Melians, while formally allied with Sparta, failed to participate in the actual fighting. The Athenians demanded that the Melians become a tributary of the Athenian alliance. The Melians refused and the rest is history. The interpretation of the Melian Debate has been a source of controversy throughout the ages. A fuller appreciation of this debate has implications for political outcomes in our own time.

1		Did the Greeks act unjustly? Would it have made a difference if the Melians had attacked the Athenians first? Explain.
2		In today’s world, what might happen if a military power like Athens inflicted upon their enemy the same fate as that which befell the Melians?
3		What can a nation do to avoid a fate similar to that suffered by the Melians?