When Did The Proverb The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Enemy Appear?

2025-08-28 04:50:20 398
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4 Answers

Theo
Theo
2025-08-29 01:56:30
My take is more of a political-mindset dive: the proverb's authoritative early attestation is often traced to ancient South Asian political theory, namely 'Arthashastra' (classical dates debated, but roughly 4th century BCE). The core strategic logic — that a common adversary can create incentive for cooperation — is what made the phrase portable across Greek, Arabic, and later European diplomatic thought. I find it helpful to separate the proverb's historical origin from its life as a rhetorical device; historians point to Kautilya, while journalists and diplomats kept recycling the phrase during colonial era power plays and 19th-century imperial alignments.

The inverted version you mentioned — where the enemy of an enemy remains an enemy — is interesting sociologically. It shows up in modern commentary about coalition risks: sometimes those shared enemies are temporary, and hostility can persist or even spread. I teach or argue this point in discussions: alliances of convenience can store troubles for the future. If you want a deeper read, compare the original political context in 'Arthashastra' with case studies from 20th-century alliances to see how the proverb gets bent to suit narratives.
Cole
Cole
2025-08-30 22:00:09
I've gotten into debates with friends about this line and the confusion is real: most historical traces point to the idea that teaming up with your enemy's enemy is useful, not that the enemy of my enemy remains my enemy. The pro-friend version is ancient — often credited to Kautilya's 'Arthashastra' from around 300–400 BCE — and shows up as a practical rule for statecraft. Across centuries the idea turns up in different cultures, because alliances are a universal headache.

The flip version, 'the enemy of my enemy is my enemy', reads like a modern contrarian joke or political warning: be careful who you ally with because they might become your foe later. I first heard that twist in a political podcast and it stuck as a neat one-liner about short-term realpolitik failing in the long run.
Nolan
Nolan
2025-08-31 06:35:13
You could think of this proverb as ancient common sense. The more familiar line, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', goes back a very long time — people usually point to the Sanskrit political manual 'Arthashastra' from around the fourth century BCE as among the oldest written places the idea appears. That makes sense: early states needed rules for making and breaking alliances.

The version you asked about, where the enemy of my enemy is my enemy, is mostly a modern twist. I first heard it tossed out in a debate as a warning that short-term alliances can backfire; it’s a retort more than a classical proverb. In class we used it to discuss how wartime partners sometimes fight later — it’s a neat, skeptical flip that sparks conversation.
Isaac
Isaac
2025-09-03 12:00:42
History nerd hat on: I get a little giddy about origins like this. The version most people recognize is actually 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' and its basic logic goes way back. Scholars usually point to ancient India — specifically the treatise known as 'Arthashastra' attributed to Kautilya (also called Chanakya) — as among the earliest textual expressions of that diplomatic idea, roughly around the 4th century BCE. So this kind of pragmatic alliance-making is at least two millennia old.

That said, proverbs and diplomatic maxims have popped up independently in many cultures, so similar formulations show in later Greek, Arabic, and medieval European writings too. The twist you asked about — 'the enemy of my enemy is my enemy' — reads like a modern, cynical inversion used to warn against short-term alliances that breed long-term problems. I’ve seen it in opinion pieces and alt-history novels where alliances backfire; it’s less of an ancient proverb and more of a contemporary rhetorical spin. If you like digging, read a bit of 'Arthashastra' and then scan some 19th–20th century diplomatic histories to see how the saying has been repurposed over time.
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