Athenian Mistakes; The Peloponnesian War - Books 5-8, Thucydides

 Why you might read the Peloponnesian War?

(This is taken from the first post on this work as the reasons are still the same)

Thucydides work in the Peloponnesian war is credited as the first of modern history. While it is not the first to try and report history. It is none the less the first that tries to do so dispassionately and without melodrama. As such it is a great way to expand your understanding of what history is and where the genre has come from.

For my Self-Education project, it serves as the second history that I have sat down to read. It is the more important of the two for the reasons outlined above. One of the objectives of this project was to start at the start of genres and ideas. Because of this Thucydides deserves pride of place as the first serious and focused history.

The Content of the Peloponnesian War, Books 5-8

Book 5:

Battle of Amphipolis

The summer after the truce, Athens makes an attack on Cophos which is currently held by the Spartans. The Spartans come out of the city to confront the Athenian army. But the Athenians have sent ships around to the harbour. The Spartans try and retreat but are beaten to the city by the Athenian boats.

Cleon lead forces against Amphipolis, where Brasidas was. When the Athenians arrived the Spartans were well inside the walls. Cleon was overconfident and had his troops move closer to the city to have a look. Brasidas seeing the opportunity, took some troops to attack the disorganised centre. The troops under Clearidas were instructed to stay inside the city until he had attacked. Then to rush out and take the already frightened troops by surprise. This went to plan and the Athenians were routed and over 600 killed but Brasidas died.

Peace of Nicias

The Athenians now having lost a few engagements are far more open with peace and the Spartans agree. They return a few cities each way. They agree to peace that will be re-pledged every year. There are a few hiccups with local commanders not wanting to give up cities. They also take it a step further and come to a mutual defence treaty. In this treaty, they will support each other in the case of an outside attack. It included in Sparta's case of the helots revolting. Thucydides states that is the end of the 10 years of war 10 summers and 10 winters.

Negotiations with Argos

Thucydides notes that the specifics of the treaty were not really born out. So he considers what comes next as the eleventh year of the war rather than the first year of peace.

Sparta's allies did not agree to the peace deal. There is a lot of bad feeling in the Peloponnesian cities. Argos, decides they want to make a play for the leadership of the Peloponnese.  Argos has just had their treaty with Sparta run out. So they attract some of the Spartan allies into an alliance with them. When they try and push it further they get rebuffed by cities loyal to Sparta. In the meantime, Sparta is trying to get a treaty sorted with Argos but they can't agree on terms. Sparta in trying to get back Pylos sets up a treaty with Boeotia. This is against the treaty with Athens. Sparta hopes if they make a treaty with Boeotia they can trade a city, which the Boeotians hold, for Pylos. This fails as Boeotia dismantles the city before turning it over. Sparta then suggests to Boeotia that they ally with Argos. So they then can try and win the whole group over to Sparta. This fails in the end because the envoys can't get the Senate to agree to ally with Argos. 

Alliance between Athens and Argos

In the end Argos and her allies ally with Athens, except Corinth which ends up neutral in terms of Argos. Again the terms were non-aggression and mutual defence. This included not being able to make other treaties unilaterally. Argos was assaulted by Sparta and came away with a four-month truce

Battle of Mantinea

Argos is forced to act contrary to the truce with Sparta. This is due to the clause in their treaty with Athens. This is about not making other treaties unilaterally. So with their allies, they invade the Peloponnese and attack Tegea. The Spartans responded by laying waste to the land around Mantinea. The Argives array themselves on a position which will be hard to assault. The Spartans move as if to attack them but they retreat at the last minute. They then go and change the watercourse or a river to try and draw out the Argives. This works and the two forces meet on open ground. When they attack the right-wing of the Spartan's gets out of touch with the main force of the army and is defeated. The rest of the fighting goes the way of the Spartans. Their king seeing the wing failing sends his main troops to attack the Argives. Instead of pursuing the routing main part of the army. Following this defeat, the Argives sue for peace. A 50-year treaty is formed under what seems at this point to be the standard terms. This includes the return of the captured cities. The winter that followed was the end of the fifteenth year of the war.

The Melian Dialogue

Thucydides here details the discussion between the ruling body of Melian. This discussion is with the representatives sent to discuss them surrender. As there is a large Athenian army on their doorstep. Melian being an island. The Athenians point out their control of the seas. Because of this, the Melians were never going to get relief from Sparta. Even though they were aligned with them. This paid no regard to the fact that they had not taken part in hostilities to date. And that were, in fact, neutral in the current conflict. The Melians respond that they will be true to Sparta. Especial as they are their forbears as they are one of their colonies and that they have hope in Sparta. The Athenians create a blockading wall around the city and started a siege. The Melians broke through the blockade. They retrieve everything of use including food from the countryside. The Athenians strengthened the blockade but the Melians escaped again. At which point Athens assaulted the city and it was surrendered under force. 

Book 6:

Sicilian Antiquities

Thucydides details the people groups that have arrived on Sicily. when approximately they settled. That being said some numbers of the passage of years have the caveat "to the best of one's reckoning". He details first the non-Hellenic peoples' settlement. Then continues with he Hellenic peoples. Including how in places they displace the initial settlers.

Launching of the Sicilian Expedition

The Egestaeans are having a dispute with Syracuse and call in the Athenians to help them. The Athenians sensing a chance to take over all of Sicily agree to help. First, though they send envoys to check the Egestaeans have the money they have pledged to help. They then appoint commanders but one of them is against even going to Sicily. So he addresses the assembly reminding them of the threat that Sparta still poses. That this is not the time to dilute their strength with foreign wars. Especially when have just come out of a plague and a war but rather it is time to build up at home. Another of the commanders speaks against this. He proposes that the city keep moving forward. That it won't dilute their sea presence beyond what can handle Spartan sea presence. That Sparta already has the upper hand on land but seems unwilling to use it. In all the assembly goes with sending the expedition. The first commander inflates the number of troops needed to try and turn back the idea another way. Rather than balking, the assembly wholeheartedly agrees. A massive force is organised and sent with great provisions.

The Debate at Syracuse

The assembly at Syracuse does not believe the reports of the Athenian expedition. Thucydides reports the speech of one who did. He even went so far as to propose that they meet the force head-on at Tarentum. Their they could cut them off from ever reaching Sicily. The reply is that if they come we can take them. At this point, the general steps in and say no more discussion about the facts. Instead, we need to prepare and if it's not true all the better.

The Athenians arrive in Sicily

The Athenians arrive in Tarentum and find that a lot of cities will not grant them access. Eventually, they come to Rhegium where they are welcomed. They set up camp there while they work out their next step into Sicily. The assembly at Syracuse no longer doubts the existence of the expedition. Instead, they prepare accordingly. The Athenians send envoys to a few cities but are again not welcomed. At Catana, the army scares the locals into joining them and they move their base there. In the meantime, it has come to light that the Egestaeans do not have the money they promised. The first general suggests they only show the flag but is again overridden by the second and third. From there they debate how to attack. The second general being in favour of taking smaller cities first then Syracuse. Whereas the first wanted to take Syracuse first while the enemy was still scared of them. Again they end up going with the second option.

The story of Harmodium and Aristogiton

Here Thucydides takes a sidetrack into the history of Athens. He details the time where they were ruled by tyrants. How that went well at first. But after an attempt on the tyrant's life, it descended into mistreatment of the Athenians.

Recall of Alcibiades

Athens chooses to recall Alcibieades from the front. He is to face charges around defacement of sacred things. This is fueled by the suspicions that he is also plotting with others to take over the city. And in doing so replace the democracy with Tyranny or Oligarchy. He comes willingly in his own ship but on the way, they slip away from the escort and he goes into exile.

Athenian victory before Syracuse

The Athenians start planning to fight at Syracuse. Through spies arrive at a good place to set up for the battle. Then through a double agent deceive  Syracuse. convincing them that they will be unprotected at Catana. and the Syracusans march out, only to have the Athenians take to the ships and sail around behind them. So they go racing off to protect the city. Eventually, they come to fight in front of the city. The Athenians rout the inexperienced Syracusans. The Athenians then retreat to Catana for the winter.

The debate at Camarina

Over the winter the Athenians go looking for allies and send envoys to Camarina. Syracuse hears of this and also sends envoys to Camarina. At the assembly the Syracusans speak first, they press the idea that Athens is there to take over all of Sicily. That Camarina can either submit now to slavery or join Syracuse in the fight. This way they would have some chance of retaining their independence. Athens replies that they are in the area in the cities very request. That they are setting up opposition to Syracuse for one purpose. So that they cannot help the Peloponnesians in the war they are fighting at home. In the end, Camarina sends them both away saying they will stay neutral.

Alcibiades in Sparta

Alcibiades gets certainty that Sparta would pardon him. He then continues in his exile by going to Sparta. He offers to them all he knows about Athens. He does start by explaining why they shouldn't be angry at him. He ends with an explanation of how he is working to get back to Athens. He sees no way this will happen unless the lose the war. The Spartans decide to send some troops and a commander to Syracuse and invade Attica.

More Athenian Success at Syracuse

The Athenians take the high ground over Syracuse. They do this while the Syracusans are busy arraying the army on the plain. They then build first a fort on the high ground facing back to Megara. Following that they start building a wall around the city to cut it off. The Syracusans counter by building a wall to try and cut them off.  they then leave a guard and go back to the city. The Athenians attack the counter wall and find the guards napping and then destroy the wall. Syracuse then tries to build a counter wall out the other side of the city but is again beaten back by the Athenians. Their counter wall destroyed. The Athenians complete the wall and have the harbour blockaded. Syracuse is now besieged.  

Book 7:

Gylippus arrives in Syracuse

The Spartan general Gylippus is dispatched to Syracuse. A fast boat is sent in advance of him so that the Syracusans don't lose hope and make terms with Athens. Before he arrives in Syracuse he grabs some extra troops from a couple of cities. Once he is there he quickly takes control. He focuses on the one gap in the Athenian wall around the city. This stops Syracuse from being totally enclosed. He and the Syracusans use this as an opportunity to build a counter wall. This they complete keeping the Athenians from being able to enclose them without a fight. There are also two battles in front of the city. The first the Athenians win. Due to Gylippus letting the battle happen where he can't use his cavalry and javelin throwers. He takes the blame for this and re-motivates the Syracusans to try again and they win. Gylippus then, with things all in order, leaves most of the army. He goes to try and win more cities to his side and therefore more troops.

Letter of Nicias

The sole remaining commander of the Athenians then sends for reinforcements from home. They are now about equal with the Syracusans and cannot take the city as things currently stand. He sends a letter detailing this to the Assembly. He does not trust the messenger to convey the direness of his situation properly. In this letter, he lays out the current numbers both on land and on the water. He states that either he needs the same number of men again or they need to decide to recall Him and his forces. He adds on a personal aside that they should recall him as the commander as he is having health issues. The Athenians decide not to recall him but send two extra commanders to share the load. They also promise the troops he has requested.

Fortification of Decelea

Sparta gathers troops and ships. It does so both from its own number and its allies. These they send to Gylippus at Syracuse.

Meanwhile, in Attica, the Spartans invade again. This time they choose to fortify Decelea, which is within sight of Athens itself. This puts far more pressure on Athens. It means that all year round they cannot use the land outside of Athens for food and production. Between this and the drain of the two wars, Athens starts running out of money. They even imposes a new tax on its citizens. Due to this when some troops they had sent for arrived too late to sail with the second expedition for Sicily. They send them home but ask them to do some raiding on the way rather than keeping them and paying them. They do so and even slaughter an entire town. They are caught by the local large city Thebes sending relief troops. Over a quarter of the Athenian number are killed and the rest driven back to the sea.

Athenian defeat in the great harbour

Syracuse is concerned if they wait to attach that the Athenians will be reinforced. They make an attack both on land and at sea. They modified their boats so that they could successfully do nose to nose ramming. The land-attack came to not a lot neither did the first attack from the sea. But the Syracusans set themselves up to go and replenish the men. They then come straight back to a second attack, catching the Athenians off guard. This pushes the Athenians back towards the shore. Then into their own makeshift breakwater. While the Syracusans lost two ships they put over seven out of action, though not sunk, for the Athenians. 

Athenian Defeat at Epipolae

The Athenian reinforcements arrive and this bolsters the Athenian resolve. Before they can make serious use of it reinforcement arrives for Syracuse. One of the Athenian generals decides that if they can't win quickly they should withdraw. He then launches a night attack at Epipolae. This is an absolute disaster and the Athenians take huge losses. Even though they are against a small part of the defending force. They take these loses due to loss of cohesion and not being able to tell their men from the enemy. The Athenian generals then start to discuss withdrawal. One even advocating leaving Sicily entirely. The other two out vote him and choose to withdraw to elsewhere in Sicily. They pass out secret orders to be ready to withdraw but are delayed by the omen of an eclipse. It looks like the Athenians no longer have confidence in their water superiority. So they launch a successful navel attack. Thucydides then takes a moment to detail all the people groups represented by the troops.

Syracusan victory at sea

The Syracusans start blocking off the harbour mouth. Their thinking is to not letting the Athenians escape. The Athenians make an all or nothing play for the harbour mouth. They man every ship they possibly can. They even load them with extra troops, expecting to fight a land battle on the sea. Both sides commanders speak to the crews to encourage them. This seems to be more hopeful on the Syracusan side than on the Athenian. The Athenians try to fight their war through the blockade. The battle swings wildly in both directions even at the same time. The fighting spreads across the harbour. In the end, the Athenians are routed and beach their ships and retreat to the camp. Initially, they want to slip away that night. Some Syracusans come and pretend to be on their side and tell them that Syracuse has blocked the passes. At this point, they have not.

Destruction of the Athenian expedition

The Athenians spend two days getting themselves ready. They then head out to try and get to Catana, their allies. By this time Syracuse has sent out troops to all the river crossings. They are to harry the Athenians and to find out which way they will go. When the Athenians come to the pass the Syracusan army has caught up with them. The Syracusans are harrying them with arrows and javelins but refusing to get close. The Athenian army pushes on but finds the pass blockaded and walled by the Syracusans. Spending three to four days attempting to break through. They then retreat by night to try another way. Once the Syracusan realise the Athenians are gone they march to catch up with them. After isolating the rear guard they force them to surrender. When they catch up with the main Athenian army they tell them of the rearguard surrender and ask them to do so as well. The Athenians suggest unreasonable terms and continue fleeing. They then come to a river and lose their cohesion and are being slaughtered by the Syracusans. Then their general surrenders as long as the slaughter stops. The generals are put to death by the Syracusans. This is against the wishes of the Spartan general who wanted to take them as prisoners to Sparta. The men were held in a stone quarry in poor conditions until most of them were sold as slaves. 

Book 8:

Alarm at Athens

Athens does not initially believe the total defeat in Sicily but comes to terms with it. They then vote to use the money they had previously voted not to touch. They use it to build new ships to try and hold on to their allies.

Beginning of Persian intervention

Sparta starts trying to convert Athens' allies in Ionia. They have a lot of success at first. Then Athens manages to get a force into the area and the back and forward of balanced warfare starts. Both sides over time send more and more resources to the area. Some of the cities that Sparta is liberating belong to the Persians. So a treaty is begun between Sparta and the Persian. This includes the destruction of the Athenian empire. As well as the return of Persian property to the Persian king. Thucydides records three iterations of this treaty with the Spartans. These go from them getting quite a rough deal to quite a good one. This good deal includes the Persian financial support for troops in Persian lands. 

The Oligarchic coup

Alcibiades comes back to bite Sparta in the neck. They sent him out with the navy but once he is out in Ionia he starts scheming on how to get recalled to Athens, his home. He starts buddying up with the local representative of the Persian king. He tries to convince him that they would be better allied with Athens than Sparta. He is also convincing the local general and senior men that there needs to be a revolution in Athens. They need to change to an Oligarchy. He is more successful with the second goal than the first. The Persians stay allied with Sparta for now as they are the ones with troops in Persian land. The change to Oligarchy happens in Athens without too much fuss. The Athenian general who was going back to Athens to make it happen arrives to find it all but done. On his way, he also converts Athens' allies to Oligarchy. He hopes that this will make them less likely to rebel but the opposite eventuates. The Athenian troops take the opposite view and declare themselves the Athenian democracy. Athens is then scared by the thought of the army coming home. So they start building a wall on the seaside of their harbour mouth. Alcibiades whips up the army by telling them he has Persian on his side and they make him a general. Meanwhile, he whips the Persians up because he is a general. In truth he doesn't really have backing from either. Athens sends ambassadors to Sparta to see about ending the war. Sparta thinks Athens will be a pushover because of internal strife. So their army approaches the walls. The Athenians reply by killing any who come to close from the walls and sending out the cavalry. Sparta then asks for peace but they do not come to an arrangement. Sparta sends ships to Euboea and after defeating the ships Athens send defeat the city. Athens is panicked that Sparta will send its ships on to the harbour of Athens. Sparta again isn't quite that forward-thinking. Athens suffers another mini-revolution. The 400 that have been running the city are deposed. While the 5000 they talked about but never implemented are setup instead.

Athenian victory at Cynossema

Both the Athenians and the Spartans bring their fleets up to the Hellespont. Here they have the final naval battle in the text but not necessarily in the war. The text stops abruptly after this battle. In this battle, the Spartans are slowly routing the slightly smaller Athenian force. As they start to think they have won they lose their cohesion. The Athenians drive back into them and force them to run for the river and Abydos.

Reflections on The Peloponnesian War, Books 5-8

I'm not much of a history person by nature and this was at least more interesting than I was really concerned it would be. And the fact that Thucydides barely uses dates doesn't hurt either as I have the worst time keeping dates and years straight. He does use a lot of place names though and I ended up having to pull up a map of the area just to get my head around it sometimes.

Book 5:

The Spartan victory at Amphipolis shows again Brasidas' brilliance in war. He routed better quality troops with lower quality ones. Interestingly, he thought his allies were of inferior quality. It is not obvious in the text whether they were truly inferior or he just thought they were. His plan of attack shows his lateral thinking. This approach shows his willingness to approach the problem from an unconventional angle.

You feel like Thucydides expects the truce to fail between Sparta and Athens. Whether that is dues to him writing in hindsight or due to other factors is unclear. His explanation of how he will count the "peace" years as part of the war is telling. It shows just how little the peace actually came to pass. The reluctance of Sparta's allies affects their ability to make peace.  The fact that Sparta can't actually compel them to comply with the terms also doesn't help. This is the main downfall of the treaty. Sparta cannot make them give up cities that should be given to Athens under the treaty. The allies anger at Sparta over the unilateral decision for the treaty also does not help.

Argos decides to get into the mix in the area. This throws an added dimension of complexity to the treaties and alliances. And many get thrown around over the course of this book. They Argrives start out solo. Then they quickly become Athens supporters. Then after the defeat of Athens and their allies start to move towards being allies of Sparta. They do so even with it meaning in the long term going against Athens. This puts Argos in a position as it gets closer to the recommencement of the war between Athens and Sparta. Argo's haves to break oaths with at least one of them as the Oaths they have sworn. These oaths preclude them staying neutral in the next round.

In Melain is the first time we get a dialogue between two sides of an argument in assembly. Thucydides usually just details the big speeches given and then decided on. Maybe this is because there are only the ten lawmakers present on the Melain side. Compared to the more usual whole assembly of the people. It makes for slightly easier reading but the outcome is just the same really. Thucydides does not mention anything about Sparta in the following siege. Instead, he details just the actions of the locals.

Book 6:

Thucydides delves into the history of Sicily. This seems like a detour in the process of recording this war. To Thucydides, it was obviously important to his understanding of the war. Therefore it warranted inclusion even if I, as a modern reader, find it unnecessary. That and the inclusion of some of Athens' history which seems ever more so like a detour. It is most likely included to prove that even Athens has some Tyranny in its past.

Athens reach into Sicily reminds me of their first commander. He thought that Athens could win if they didn't engage in empire building while at war. I wonder if this is the start of the end for Athens. Though by the end of this book some time has passed and we do not see Sparta capitalising on this yet.

The whole issue of Alcibiades shows how much it is important not to slight people of power in the Greek world.  I can see Alcibiades information have a great impact on the war as well as the loss of his leadership for Athens. We saw in the previous book that he tried to get them to try him before he sailed for Sicily. They refused and now with the extra allegations, he decides to slip off to Sparta. There he is an exile running from what he sees as treachery against himself.

The debate at Camarina ending with the neutrality of the city is unsatisfying. We have just spent time seeing the speeches that were laid before them. That being said it is the safest option for Camarina. Better to not alienate either side until they are certain which side will win.

The victories by the Athenians over the Syracusans are inevitable. While the absolute numbers of the two forces are similar. Syracuse only has conscripts compared to Athens picked troops. So the quality difference between the forces as well as experience levels are huge. It's nice to see a city choose to go down fighting rather than surrendering to Athens the moment it is besieged. We will see how long that lasts in the next book.  

Book 7:

Gylippus' arrival in Sicily seems to mark the turning point of the invasion. The Syracusans take heart at his arrival and the troops he brings with him help as well. He proves over the course of the rest of the invasion to be a competent and forward-thinking general.

Back in Attica, they fortify Decelea. This was suggested to them by the Athenian Exiled politician Alcibiades.  It seems to have exactly the effect of Athens that he predicted. That being said I do not think we have seen the full extent of that yet.

Once Athens starts loosing in Sicily the wheels really start to come off fast. The Athenian reinforcements arrive. From there it is not long until the total defeat of the Athenian force. I think the mental blow of losing their superiority at sea hurt the Athenian moral. It seems to be this more than the physical loss. From there the troops are lacklustre and prone to panic.

Syracuse's switch from defender to aggressor avenging themself. This shows just how far the momentum shifts. As well as the ability of Gylippus to seize the moment and the momentum. In doing so he deals Athens a far worse blow. Rather than losing the invasion, it is losing that many troops and the gold they represent. This is especially important when they are also in a war with Sparta at home.

The addition of extra generals by Athens seems to have also caused more problems than it solved. The new generals seeming to almost be arguing for attacking and staying in Sicily. Yet their only argument is that they had only just been detached. It is only the one general who was already on the ground that saw clearly. Saw that the day was already lost. Their delaying and indecision eventually lead to the destruction of the entire force. 

Book 8:

I was expecting in this book to see the end of the war. I was not aware before reading this that the account is actually incomplete. I am also surprised that Sparta spends its time going for Athens' allies. Rather than for the city itself. they could have produced the greater land force at this point in time. Maybe this is a continuation of the idea that they are about freeing the Hellenic people. If this is the case it is even more important to them that the defeat of Athens itself. And this even surprises Athens at one point as well.

We also see the fall out in Athens of the total route in Sicily. There is utter disbelief. This is due to the fact that in these ancient times a defeated army would only sustain 20-30% casualties. It was this point they would rout and there would be no more losses. So forces were never destroyed in this way as a general rule. By comparison, you might lose all hands on a boat in a naval battle but you would not lose all the ships.

The Persians being bought into the fray at such a late date is interesting. It is unclear if this is when Thucydides noticed the influence that had been there all along. Or if rather they only got involved when asked. This second option is far less likely as the Persians are the real winners of the Peloponnesian war. When if that is not fully realised until the Macedonians invade under Alexander.

Alcibiades' scheming seems to work out for him in the end. While it is not recorded that he returns to Athens they do cancel his exile while he is working for them as a general. To get there though he manipulates the situation. Though at a couple of times it nearly backfires on him. Most of this is in the form of making himself out to be a bigger player than he is. He does this both in what is going on in Ionia and the coup in Athens.

Athens' departure from democracy is also a bit of a surprise as it is what, even today, they are best known for. It takes until a larger percentage of the population is part of the governance. It is only then that Athens refinds internal stability. 

What Others have to say about the Peloponnesian War

From the History Co-operative "Part of the reason Thucydides’ historical account of the Peloponnesian war is so significant is that it was one of the first times a historian put effort into determining both the short-and long-term causes of war."

"Athens was morally the aggressor, but it was Sparta who first declared war" From Colombia College

Comparisons with other texts

There is not much to add, in terms of comparison, especially to Herodotus, from my first post on this book. So I suggest you pop through that link and have a read there. 

I was musing in that post about the comparison of the fighting being about the type of government. This is something we see in modern wars as well. What we don't tend to see these days is the change in form of government in the country doing the invading and empire-building. Which is the huge inconsistency that we see when Athens takes on a form of Oligarchy. This is the very type of government they had been replacing. 

Conclusion

This post continues on from the first four books. Here we have seen Sparta gain the upper hand after Athenian overreach in Sicily. In Sicily, Athens is beaten and its army not just routed but demolished. We do not see how the story ends as the book cuts off abruptly. 

Have you read The Peloponnesian War? If so what did you think of it? 
 
Want to read The Peloponnesian War but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.

Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.

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