The Ghosts of Cannae

May 3, 2010
Military historian O’Connell (Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons, and Aggression) has established the new standard for studies of the second conflict between Rome and Carthage. In dramatic and comprehensive fashion, he describes the rivalry, based on temperament and territory, that led to the slaughter at Cannae in 216 B.C.E. and beyond. Focusing chiefly on Hannibal and his Roman nemesis Scipio Africanus, he also awards proper consideration to Fabius Maximus, whose strategy of attrition and delay could have saved countless Roman lives. Differences in Roman and Carthaginian tactics, armament, and philosophy are explained, as is the importance of religious belief to both cultures. O’Connell shatters the popular myth of the invincibility of the Carthaginians’ fabled elephants, the “panzer pachyderms.” The “ghosts” of the title are the Roman survivors of Cannae, who were unwanted reminders of defeat. They were banished to Sicily until Scipio Africanus incorporated them into the army that achieved the final Roman victory at Zama. Unfortunately, a lack of sources restricts O’Connell’s ability to provide much information on the Carthaginian home front, but ample attention is given to the political maneuvers that shaped Roman policy. 6 maps.

May 1, 2010
Readable study of a 2,000-year-old battle that still reverberates today.

On Aug. 2, 216 BCE, in southeastern Italy, a massive Roman army faced down a smaller, apparently weaker Carthaginian force led by Hannibal. Two years earlier, Hannibal had famously led that force, war elephants and all, over the Alps into Italy, devastating the armies of the Roman Republic. At Cannae, he nearly finished the job, using a pincer movement to surround the Romans and nearly annihilating them. Contemporary accounts of the battle, such as those by Livy, aren't really contemporary at all, following it by a century and more. O'Connell (Soul of the Sword: An Illustrated History of Weaponry and Warfare from Prehistory to the Present, 2002, etc.), a former analyst with the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency, has his work cut out for him in sorting out what is reliable from what is fabulous or moralizing in the records of the past. Perhaps surprisingly, he gives fairly solid marks to Polybius of Megalopolis, who came nearly 75 years after and had access to now-lost Carthaginian accounts of the battle. The"ghosts" of the title are the Roman survivors of the battle, who crossed the sea with Scipio Africanus and sowed Carthage's fields with salt, erasing it from the map in an act that can only be considered genocide. O'Connell pointedly contrasts Carthaginian and Roman society, the one commercial and the other bellicose, and at several points he likens the Punic Wars to the transcontinental slaughter of the two world wars. He also notes that modern generals continue to study Cannae as a textbook example of smart, fluid strategizing."[F]or the Allied invasion of Germany," writes the author,"Eisenhower envisioned a huge Cannae-like maneuver, employing a double envelopment of the Ruhr," and George Patton likened the Polish army in 1939 to the unfortunate Roman consular army at Cannae.

A wide-ranging account of the battle that sets it in the larger context of the Punic Wars and the rise of the Roman Empire.

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July 1, 2010
The battle of Cannae was a milestone of the Second Punic War: an immense tactical triumph for the Carthaginian general Hannibal and a defeat for Rome, nearly destroying its army. Yet it was Rome, not Carthage, that eventually triumphed in the war, owing in large part both to the military lessons learned at Cannae and to the Roman survivors of the battle who had their revenge on Hannibal and his forces 16 years later. Military historian O'Connell sets the battle itself as the narrative's centerpiece, but much of the text is devoted to exploring the war as a whole, its numerous players, and the strategy and mentality of both sides, allowing the reader to better grasp the events leading into Cannae and its aftereffects. VERDICTO'Connell's examination is thoughtful and in-depth enough to interest readers of classical or military history. Its accessible coverage of the war also makes it a fine choice for those who may not be as familiar with the historical events. An excellent companion to Adrian Goldsworthy's "Cannae: Hannibal's Greatest Victory"or Gregory Daly's "Cannae: The Experience of Battle in the Second Punic War" Libraries having either of those earlier titles may consider this one optional unless collecting comprehensively.—Kathleen McCallister, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2010
The Second Punic War began over Roman and Carthaginian competing claims in Spain and quickly escalated into a life-and-death struggle for control of the western Mediterranean. At the center of the struggle was Hannibals invasion and ravaging of Italy over a span of 15 years, during which he inflicted a series of devastating defeats upon successive Roman armies, climaxed by the slaughter of an estimated 50,000 Romans at Cannae in southern Italy in 216 B.C. This outstanding account of the background of the Italian campaign and of the battle itself is primarily a military history, but OConnell avoids excessive use of military jargon and explains the tactics and strategies in terms nonspecialists can easily comprehend. He also pays ample attention to the political aspects of the war and shows how the ability of the Roman Senate to persevere and change strategy was critical to Romes survival and eventual triumph. This is a superb chronicle of events that shaped the fate of Western civilization.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)