Jeffrey Keeten's Reviews > Hannibal: One Man Against Rome

”There is a warning to the modern world, as well, in Hannibal’s life. It is that warfare need not be a vast conflict of technological skills and accumulation of weapons of destruction. Regardless of its mechanisms, war remains an equation of human beings, and their minds. It has never ceased to be an art, in which a supreme artist may appear out of a pass of the Alps to prevail over money- and man- and weapon-power. No amount of stock-piling of things can offset a superiority in minds. In 219 the Roman state was prepared for war in the usual manner; the Carthaginian was not. ‘Of all that befell both the Romans and the Carthaginians the cause was one man and one mind--Hannibal’s.’”


Hannibal Barca

Hannibal is considered one of the greatest military strategists of all time. Most people think of him as the man who brought war elephants over the Alps. It is generally considered nearly impossible to bring armies over the Alps, but bringing elephants certainly adds an extra romantic flair to the endeavor. Some might know of his genius at the Battle of Cannae, where he destroyed a Roman army composed of 50,000 men with losses below 6,000 for himself. Men love to be covered in glory, but they also love to live through the experience, so it is easy to understand why Hannibal’s men loved him. It isn’t that he outfought the Romans, although that was the end result. It is more important and the key to his success against them that he outthought them.

The thing about the Romans is that they are never really satisfied and never really defeated. The Carthaginians concede to them several times leading up to the Punic Wars, but each time the Romans come back and want more. They come up with pretenses to start wars so that they can shake the African nation down for more money or for more territory. So they have the option to capitulate, as the Etruscans did and many other nations, or eventually risk annihilation. Living peacefully with an agreed upon border between themselves and Rome is always a temporary thing. The Romans fought three Punic Wars with Carthage and win all three wars. They lose battles, big battles, and when Hannibal comes across the Alps and spends 14 years harassing them in their own backyard, they discover the meaning of psychological warfare.

”The Carthaginians fought for their own preservation and the sovereignty of Africa, the Romans for supremacy and world dominion.”--Polybius

The Romans are famous for taking the best of other cultures and incorporating those aspects into their own. They learn from their opponents in war. They refine their tactics, and losses are just learning experiences. They are tenacious, and really, their whole culture revolves around war and the spoils that it provides Rome. The Roman citizens will quickly become bored if there isn’t a war going on somewhere, though Hannibal breathing down the very neck of Rome itself is a bit too real for even the most bloody-minded of Romans.


Scipio Africanus

Scipio Africanus keeps insisting that the way to get Hannibal out of Rome is to attack Carthage. He is right. Once Scipio starts burning his way across Hannibal’s homeland, the Carthaginians recall their greatest warrior home. What is interesting is that we are really talking about a David and Goliath story. There are 700,000 Carthaginians and 6,000,000 Romans; and yet, somehow Hannibal nearly brings them to their knees. Why doesn’t Hannibal take Rome? He certainly could have. Would the Roman Empire have ever existed past 200 BC if he had?

Hannibal declares all of his men, from the generals to the lowliest slaves, free men. He inspires loyalty in a motley group of disenfranchised men from all nationalities. ”It is one of the most fantastic facts of Hannibal’s career that he arrived in Italy with forces of Spaniards and Africans, and departed with Bruttians and Gauls, for the most part, with many Roman deserters.” If he had shared with Alexander the Great the grand ambition to rule the world, he might very well have done it. He’d have found more men to join him wherever he marched.

When Hannibal returns to Carthage in 203BC, it is the first time he has been on African soil in 34 years. As a boy, his father, Hamilcar Barca, had taken him with him to Spain in search of new lands for Carthage to replace what they had lost to Rome. They wanted to find lands with riches beyond the reach of Rome, and Hamilcar was successful. Silver and many other precious resources flowed back to Carthage. It is from Spain that Hannibal launches his march into Italy. Only when Carthage is in danger of being destroyed does he finally return home.

Hannibal was defeated in the much anticipated head to head confrontation with Scipio. There were some circumstances that worked against him. Because of the havoc Scipio was wrecking in his homeland he felt compelled to engage Scipio before he was ready, before all of his allies are gathered. The problem was that he didn’t know which, if any, of the allies of Carthage would respond to the call for help or when they would come. As it turned out, if he had waited even 24 hours he would have had enough troops to nearly match the Roman numbers. Hannibal’s other problem was that he was facing, quite possibly, the finest general that Rome ever produced. I wonder what would have happened if, instead of embarking for home, Hannibal had taken a page out of Scipio’s battle plan and had attacked Rome? Would Scipio have been forced to bring his army back to defend the very heart of the homeland?

Scipio later became frustrated with the politics of Rome and exiled himself to his country estate, never to return. Hannibal spent the rest of his life on the run, hounded by Rome. Rome refused to forget about the boogie man of Carthage and would not rest until he was destroyed. In one of those odd historical parallels, both Scipio and Hannibal died in 183 BC.

Harold Lamb was one of many writers who were quite popular in their day but have since been practically forgotten by readers. For me, he brings Hannibal vividly to life, and though the dust jacket art lead me to believe that this is historical fiction, it is most assuredly a serious work of nonfiction. Lamb was famous for the wonderful pace with which he told a story. He wasn’t just relating facts. He was really doing his best to introduce the reader to the subject of whatever book he chooses to write. I’ve read about Hannibal before, in many other books, but I’ve never come away from any book, except this one, where I felt like I really understood the man and his motivations.

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