I'm enjoying the book. About 40% through it now. So far this is what I have gotten out of it:
1) Hannibal was a crafty general, driven by hatred of Rome but he sometimes failed to understand politics--as when he mistakenly believed he could persuade Rome's allies to change their allegiance.
2) The famous elephants were not a factor in the 2nd Punic War.
3) Many of the Romans found it difficult resist taking Hannibal on headlong, even though such a strategy would have been suicidal. Indeed, Hannibal routed the Romans in every battle (at least to this point in the book).
4) Fabius Maximus deserves a lot of credit for eschewing massed battles with Hannibal in favor of evasion and harassment. He encouraged a "scorched earth" policy (one successfully adopted centuries later by the Russians) and picked off Hannibal's foragers.
I haven't gotten to Scipio Africanus yet... It's a little puzzling that even such shrewd generals as Hannibal and Hamilcar Barca would devote so much energy to the war elephants if they were as ineffective as O'Connell believes. This makes me suspect that, while they did not have much effect in the 2nd Punic War, they must have proven useful in other conflicts (as they were in the Alps during the ambush, even by O'Connell's account).
1) Hannibal was a crafty general, driven by hatred of Rome but he sometimes failed to understand politics--as when he mistakenly believed he could persuade Rome's allies to change their allegiance.
2) The famous elephants were not a factor in the 2nd Punic War.
3) Many of the Romans found it difficult resist taking Hannibal on headlong, even though such a strategy would have been suicidal. Indeed, Hannibal routed the Romans in every battle (at least to this point in the book).
4) Fabius Maximus deserves a lot of credit for eschewing massed battles with Hannibal in favor of evasion and harassment. He encouraged a "scorched earth" policy (one successfully adopted centuries later by the Russians) and picked off Hannibal's foragers.
I haven't gotten to Scipio Africanus yet... It's a little puzzling that even such shrewd generals as Hannibal and Hamilcar Barca would devote so much energy to the war elephants if they were as ineffective as O'Connell believes. This makes me suspect that, while they did not have much effect in the 2nd Punic War, they must have proven useful in other conflicts (as they were in the Alps during the ambush, even by O'Connell's account).
Anyone else have any thoughts?