If you love Roman history, you will love this book. Robert O’Connell has crafted a book about ancient history that pulls you in. Even though you know the outcome, it’s fascinating to hear his description of the people, places, decisions and outcomes that all went into this story. His insights on the military campaigns are excellent without being too technical.
The basics go like this … Rome and Carthage hate each other. Carthage loses the First Punic War. But they recover and eventually find a champion in Hannibal, arguably the greatest general ever to lead an army. Hannibal invades Italy itself and kills more Romans than anybody in history. Cannae is the location for Hannibal’s greatest victory, when his army kills over 50,000 Romans in one day. Yes, you read that right … 50,000 killed in one day.
The “ghosts” of Cannae are the Roman survivors, who leave the battle in shame and are considered cowards by Roman citizens. These soldiers, banished to Sicily for over a decade, eventually get a leader who is Hannibal’s equal: Scipio Africanus. Scipio leads these veterans to victory after victory, destroying Carthage and eventually restoring their reputation.
The moral of the story is worth considering. When veterans are treated poorly by an ungrateful nation, they began to feel more allegiance to a reliable General than to the State itself. That eventually leads to a situation that somebody like Julius Caesar utilizes to overthrow a republican form of government and create a military dictatorship. If I have one criticism of the book, it’s that this theme wasn’t explored deeply enough. I wish O’Connell had delved into it more.
Bottom line: a great book for ancient history lovers.
