Much of life is defined by moments of intense competition – sport, most obviously, but other areas of human endeavour too – but what makes some more compelling than others can be hard to put a finger on. The ones that matter demand a scrap for real estate – the rivals have to be close in space and time. Sometimes aggressive, unexpected action by one party ferments a hatred that will not die; other times a betrayal of friendship becomes impossible to forgive. Taunting or backstabbing or switching of alliances certainly stokes the flames, but sometimes it’ll be just be one great encounter – a defining clash – that echoes down the years. Here, plenty of the great rivalries have been omitted for space – in politics, Disraeli vs Gladstone; in literature, Hemingway vs Faulkner; in gangsterism, Al Capone vs Bugs Moran – and others for obviousness (Pepsi vs Coke, Beatles vs Stones). But each defined its times, and engendered great passion on both sides.
Athens vs Sparta Rivals in: Ancient Greece Peak of rivalry: 431BC
Blues vs Greens Rivals in: chariot racing Peak of rivalry: 532AD
Cope vs Marsh Rivals in: dinosaur hunting Peak of rivalry: 1873
Tesla vs Edison Rivals in: electricity Peak of rivalry: 1890
The two greatest city states of ancient Greece were geographically close, but philosophically miles apart. One depended on trade, the other agriculture; one concerned itself with democracy; the other was hugely militaristic. And while Athens heaved with ideas about how things should be run, Sparta cared little about matters outside its borders – until there was someone to fight. Things came to a head when Athenian ambition led to the Peloponnesian War, which kicked off in 431BC and ran for 28 years. Sparta eventually won, but – in true Greek style – refused to sack their enemy, merely stripping it of overseas possessions. Athens survived, but the inability of these two to play nice meant the collapse of a Golden Age.
There were four major chariot racing teams in the Eastern Roman Empire of the 5th century AD, but the Blues and the Greens were the ones with real influence, part street gang, part political party. Rioting at the races was common, and in 531 one turned very nasty, with both Blues and Greens hanged for murder. One of each, though, escaped and hid in a church. Emperor Justinian I, worried, declared a special chariot race on January 13, 532, and commuted the pair’s sentences to imprisonment. But at the Hippodrome it all kicked off, an angry crowd’s chants of ‘Blue!’ or ‘Green!’ soon turning into a unified ‘Nika!’. It meant ‘Conquer!’, and in the riots that followed half the city was destroyed, and tens of thousands killed.
During the Bone Wars of the late 1800s – in which palaeontologists scoured the rich bone beds of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming for dinosaur remains – few underhand methods were out of bounds, including bribery, theft, and vicious attacks on reputations. The leading competitors were Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh – one time friends, who’d even named species after each other in happier times. They started out as wealthy men, but the relentless competition ruined them both, financially and socially. This said, their contributions to science are undeniable – 32 of the dinosaurs we know today were discovered in this crazy period, including Triceratops, Diplodocus, Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.
Thomas Edison was the iconic inventor of the light bulb; his rival, Nikolas Tesla, was an eccentric whose inventions made possible modern power and mass communications systems. They were total opposites – slobbish Edison made a fortune; haughty Tesla died penniless – and while Edison was a tinkerer who employed others to do his work, Tesla was incredibly precise. Edison had more patents, but his inventions were almost ‘obvious’ while Tesla’s tended to be disruptive tech with world-changing implications. Things came to a head with America’s The War of Currents: it was Edison’s simpler DC system versus Tesla’s AC. Edison fought viciously but AC won, and it’s Tesla who’s now considered the greatest geek who ever lived.
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