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Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic
Random House
July 2010
On Sale: July 13, 2010
336 pages ISBN: 1400067022 EAN: 9781400067022 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction History
A stirring account of the most influential battle in history
For millennia, Carthage’s triumph over Rome at Cannae in 216
B.C. has inspired reverence and awe. It was the battle that
countless armies tried to imitate, most notably in World
Wars I and II, the battle that obsessed legendary military
minds. Yet no general ever matched Hannibal’s most
unexpected, innovative, and brutal military victory—the
costliest day of combat for any army in history. Robert L.
O’Connell, one of the most admired names in military
history, now tells the whole story of Cannae for the first
time, giving us a stirring account of this apocalyptic
battle of the Second Punic War, and its causes and consequences. O’Connell shows how a restive Rome amassed a giant army to
punish Carthage’s masterful commander, who had dealt them
deadly blows at Trebia and Lake Trasimene, and how Hannibal
outwitted enemies that outnumbered him. O’Connell describes
Hannibal’s strategy of blinding his opponents with sun and
dust, enveloping them in a deadly embrace and sealing their
escape, before launching a massive knife fight that would
kill 48,000 men in close contact. The Ghosts of Cannae then
brilliantly conveys how this disastrous pivot point in
Rome’s history ultimately led to the republic’s resurgence
and the creation of its empire. Piecing together decayed shreds of ancient reportage, the
author paints powerful portraits of the leading players:
Hannibal, resolutely sane and uncannily strategic; Varro,
Rome’s co-consul who was so scapegoated for the loss; and
Scipio Africanus, the surviving (and self-promoting) Roman
military tribune who would one day pay back Hannibal at Zama
in North Africa. Finally, O’Connell reveals how Cannae’s
legend has inspired and haunted military leaders ever since,
and the lessons it teaches for our own wars. Superbly researched and written with wit and erudition, The
Ghosts of Cannae is the definitive account of a battle whose
history continues to resonate.
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