Hannibal's War, Book Review

John Peddie's book on Hannibal and the Second Punic War is a must. It looks at the actions of one of histories greatest military commanders and his battlefield victories during the Second Punic War. It also covers his failures for, after 16 years of war, he had still not achieved his objective of defeating the Roman Republic.

Hannibal is most famous for leading his army through the Alps, including war elephants, to attack the Roman Republic in Italy. At the Trebia River, he lured the Romans out of their camp and defeated them, while on the shores of Lake Trasimene, he ambushed another Roman army killing 30,000 and capturing 10,000. However, his most famous encounter with the Roman Army is the Battle of Cannae. Here, by allowing his centre to collapse under the pressure of the Roman Heavy Infantry, he was able to encircle the Romans with his smaller army and inflict over 50,000 casualties for the loss of about 16,000 killed or wounded.

While the book covers these battles, it also looks at the tactics and strategy of the different sides, and the logistics that influenced greatly the deployment of troops. The latter part of the book covers the ever increasing difficulties facing Hannibal who was effectively isolated in Italy by the Romans. A series of encounters developed as Hannibal tried to persuade city states to join the Carthaginian forces, but as new allies appeared, he was forced to provide them with garrisons, thus weakening his field army, already starved of replacements.

Much of the book details the decisions and actions of the key Roman, Carthaginian and their allied commanders, as well as the Roman and Carthaginian Senates.  Finally, the Roman victory over the Cathaginians at Zama, and Hannibal's final years are described in some detail.

Overall, well worth picking up, although this is a strategic look at the war and does not delve into the tactical detail of the war.