Customer Reviews

Hannibal: A history of the art of war among the Carthaginians and Romans down to the Battle of Pydna, 168 B.C., with a detailed account of the Second Punic War

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3 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Theodore Ayrault Dodge was an officer in the Union army during the civil war. He saw action at Gettysburg, among other places. As a soldier, Dodge gives a unique, in-the-trenches perspective to military history that can be lost amongst history professors who sometimes tend to view their discipline from the ivory towers of academia. Although this is the only book I have read on the life of Hannibal, I cannot fathom anyone writing a more thorough biography of this singularly extraordinary individual. Dodge does a great job of providing background information such as the critical error of the Greek general Pyrrhus (why Hannibal refrained from attempting to siege Rome after Cannae), as well as a first hand account of the most likely route that Hannibal chose to march his army thru the Alps (Dodge personally visited & inspected the various passages himself). He also furnishes us with detailed information on Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal & his ultimate defeat by Nero.

At heart, however, this book is about the Second Punic War (also known as the war against Hannibal). Dodge gives us an exhilerating picture of how this man led a basically rag-tag army of mercenaries against the greatest fighting machine the world had ever known.....and somehow managed to win, anyway. From his infamous triumph over Varro at Cannae to his eventual defeat at Zama in 202 BC, Dodge chronicles the successes and tribulations of this important historical figure. It is no wonder that Virgil intentionally wrote allusions to him in The AEneid.

For those who enjoy this book, I would HIGHLY recommend the biography that B.H. Liddell Hart wrote on the life of Scipio Africanus for a glimpse of the "other side" of this struggle.

Dodge's book was written over a hundred years ago. The author has traveled around the battlefields of the second Punic War and tried to work out from the existing historical sources what really happened. Dodge was an army officer who served in the American Civil War. As such he knows the difficulty of moving large bodies of men, of supplying them with food, the difficulties of feeding horses and keeping them in good condition.

The book establishes the greatness of Hannibal. Very little is left to tell us much of what Carthaginian civilization was like. Coins and sculpture suggest that the Greeks heavily influenced it. We know that Carthage was an oligarchy and that it was a city that traded extensively.

It seems that it was probably a city that depended on slavery to produce its agricultural produce. This led to Rome having a pronounced advantage in the conflicts between the two cities. Rome had a sizeable peasant class who were integrated into its civil life. The Roman peasant class formed the basis of its armies. Rome as well had built up a coalition of allied cities some of which shared the benefits of citizenship. This meant that in any conflict Rome was able to put in the field 750,000 soldiers. In addition it had considerable economic power. Thus in the first Punic war Rome was able to build a number of fleets to challenge the Carthaginians at sea. The Carthaginians did not have a large class of landed peasants who could be mobilized and they depended on mercenary armies. The history of Carthage prior to their first war with Rome was not a history of military brilliance. Carthage had considerable problems in maintaining their control over about a third of Sicily fighting a large number of wars with the Greek city of Syracuse.

Rome in addition to being able to raise large numbers of men had developed a superior military unit. The predominant military unit prior to the rise of Rome was an infantry formation called he phalanx. This was a Greek invention. Heavily armored men would stand shoulder to shoulder and advance in a mass. The phalanx was effective in crushing the more lightly armed Persian troops during the time of Alexander. The Romans developed he legion. Its troops were armed with a short stabbing sword rather than a spear. Each soldier stood further apart than the phalanx. The formation was more flexible and the more spread out nature of the Roman formation allowed them to outflank the more compact Greek formations.

The twin advantages of a large population meant that Rome would over the next 400 years win wars even when poor generals led it. It had a military organization that was would work even with generals of limited talents and if something went wrong the Roman state could put army after army into the field. The decline of the Roman empire occurred when the military organization of the state changed and peasant levies gave rise to mercenary armies.

It would seem that Hannibal's father Hamilicar was an extremely competent military commander. He fought a guerrilla campaign against the Romans during the first war. After the peace he put down a mercenary revolt in Africa with numerically inferior forces. He then went on to conquer Spain. The reason for conquering Spain was to provide an economic base for the conquest of Rome. His son Hannibal fought in Spain to consolidate his fathers conquests.

Hannibal's war with Rome is remarkable in many respects but the one which Dodge explains is that it was a private war. The Carthaginian State did not really have the resources to finance a war with Rome. The enterprise was based on revenue from Spanish mines as were most of the infantry. Spain was in effect the personal property of Hannibal. He made a decision to attack Rome and Carthage agreed this decision to as it did not mean that they had to contribute much to the war effort.

Hannibal realized that to defeat Rome he would have to break up the Roman confederation. His strategy was to invade Italy and by winning military victories to prize away Romes allies.

In the end the scheme failed. Rome lost army after army but she was always able to raise more. In the end the Romans held Hannibal at bay while conquering Spain and cutting off the chance of fresh troops. Hannibal had to retreat to Africa were he was at last beaten at the battle of Zama. Rome triumphed and went on to rule most of what is now Europe for 800 years.

Dodge rates Hannibal as one of antiquities greatest figures. Although in the end his career was a failure the challenges he had to face were immense. Alexander the Great inherited an army and faced enemies of much less caliber and steel than Hannibal did. Caesar was born into the Roman empire and was given command of armies which Hannibal could only dream of. Hannibal's achievement's were immense. He fashioned with his father a private state sufficiently rich to enable him to raise a private army. That army he trained and honed into one of the finest of its age. He won spectacular victories over what was to be the strongest power in Europe for hundreds of years. His campaigns were far sighted and he had enormous talents in keeping together for over ten years a mercenary army made up of many different peoples. In Italy he was one of the first to create an intelligence network to monitor the movement of Roman armies and to anticipate cities which might be willing to change allegiance to his side. Despite these many talents there is a limit to what an individual can do when faced by a nation.

Dodges book is readable and in its own way fascinating. His own war experience gives him a much richer understanding of the campaigns and the maneuvers between the battles. The histories which still survive are those written by Polybius, Livy and Plutarch. Dodge is of the view that Polybius had a grasp of military matters which Livy and Plutarch lacked. He has to reconstruct the movements of the various armies to get a real picture of what was happening.

All in all a fascinating book which conveys the nuts and bolts reality of warfare in the ancient world.

I enjoy and trust the historians of the past more than the current(last 50 years). This is one of those times. Dodge does an outstanding job weaving the story of one of the greatest generals of history. He makes a credible case for Hannibal being THE BEST miltary genious of recorded history. I learned more about the Romans and Carthaginians in this book than all the previous books I've read combined. The book was first published in the 1890's and you can tell by the beautiful and intelligent writing. Dodge doesn't feel the need to "dumb down" to the reader like contemporary historians tend to do. My only complaint is that, due to this publish date, the maps and pictures are hand drawn and rudimentary. I will be ordering more books from T.Dodge in the future.

Hannibal, by Theodore Ayrault Dodge is an excellent book if one wants to read about ancient warfare. Dodge focuses his attention mostly on the Second Punic War (219-202 B.C.) but he also gives a broad overview of the early war of both Carthage and Rome. Dodge goes in depth into how each city formed its armies, and what the tactics were right up to the Second Punic War. As a former soldier who fought in the American Civil War Dodge brings a soldiers eye for terrain, and he had the added benefit of actually going to the sites of Hannibal's famous battles. The biggest plus for Hannibal; besides the author actually visiting the battle fields; is that Dodge is an excellent writter. The narrative woven is a wonderful tale of a man on a quest to save his beloved Carthage from Rome. At the same time Dodge presents the Roman perspective of Hannibals march which adds balance to the book. Probably, the biggest plus of the book is that before each chapter there is a paragraph that explains what the chapter is about. Such a style is great for the beginning reader who may want to skip certain sections, as well as, the experienced historian who can use the summaries as a quick reference point. Finally, in Hannibal Dodge does not end with the death of Hannibal; instead he goes on to discuss events after Hannibals death, and he discusses the attributes of both Hannibal and Scipio Africanus. The book ends with the "classic" battles of legion verses phalanx thereby coming full cirlce in his tale of Carthage and Rome, and the struggle of the old Greek ways against the emergence of the Roman warmachine.

If one is looking for a good history book that weaves an interesting tale as well as explain the tactics and weapons then Hannibal is a great book to pick up and read.

I am a high school student that has taken an interest into history and I had heard great things about this book so I decided to pick it up. When I started to read it I was amazed. This book has a detailed account of the Second Punic War to the most smallest detail. It starts with just a quick overview of the Roman, Carthaginian armies in how the camps, armor, troops were like. It tells about the first Punic War and then Hamilcar Barca's expedition to Spain to raise an army against Rome and taking his son Hannibal with him. The entire book is just a great read because of the details that are given and Dodge does not leave anything out. If you want to get a book on Hannibal that gives a great account of his campaign then this is for you and you will also get more because of the explaination of the developing Roman tactics because of Hannibal. All in all this is one of my favorite books.

Dodge's history of the Second Punic War is a marvelous narrative of perhaps the greatest military campaign ever conceived or executed. The only flaws were Hannibal's dependence on his native Carthagonians for reinforcements and material support and his underestimation of the political cohesiveness of the Roman Empire.

When one considers that Hannibal survived, and even flourished militarily, for more than fifteen years in the hostile territory of Roman Italy, only then can the accomplishments of Hannibal be understood. Dodge artfully describes these accomplishments and puts them in their proper perspective. His description of his abandonment by the Carthagonians, out of fear of his political strength, is compelling.

The book is well written and flows. The author describes not only the military campaigns from a tactical perspective but also does a fine job explaining the strategic and political imperatives. Dodge describes Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and his campaign in Italy as primarily a political war whose intent was to divide the states that made up the Roman Empire. As such, Dodge shows a deep understanding of the nature of the War and what led to the ultimate Roman victory.

For anyone wishing to understand the rise of the Roman Empire or the accomplishments of Hannibal this is a must read.

Theodore Dodge is one of those historians whose undying patience produces works of incredible depth. In this work Dodge recounts in great detail the successes and frustrations of one of the greatest military minds the world has ever known. Hannibal is the essence of the cool reserved commander, calculating every move and ready for every contingency. The sheer size of Hannibal's undertaking is unbelievable. To the modern mind the logistical aspects alone are enough to dismiss the idea immediately. Yet for Hannibal it was a real and attainable goal. Such a confidence and vision is very rare indeed.

In this book Dodge provides a detailed account of Hannibal's exploits throughout the second punic war. Some background information on both the Romans and Carthaginians is provided to place the war into context. As in all of Dodge's work countless illustrations are provided. What really makes this book unique is that Dodge personally visited the regions in question, interviewing locals and studying the probable landscape of the great battles. The wealth of information gleaned from such an excursion provides the book with added details that enhance the realism of the account.

However, I do disagree with one point repeatedly made by Dodge which requires me giving only four stars. In the book Scipio Africanus is decidedly demeaned. Dodge seems to go out of his way to discount the exploits of this great Roman general and repeatedly states that "good fortune" is the only reason Scipio accomplished what he did. For me this tarnished the work considerably. Hannibal's reputation is safe from harm without Dodge going out of his way to belittle the man who defeated him at Zama. Hannibal needs no such protection because his exploits speak for themselves. Dodge is usually fairly objective with any opinions presented based on fairly logical conclusions. In this instance the bias was a little to thick to swallow. I recommend reading B.H. Liddell Hart's "Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon" for a view contrary to that presented by Dodge.

Overall I found this book to be excellent. Dodge's work reads surprisingly well for being a hundred years old. He provides a very insightful view of Hannibal and what he accomplished and struggled with in this book and it would be a good addition to any library.

I don't want to repeat the comments below - I'll just say its one of the better history books I've read in the last few years.

I read the back of the dust-jacket and was hooked: "It was an excellent idea to reintroduce Americans to this 104-year-old book, which has never been bettered."

This is the sort of thing I have been looking for but just didn't know it. I have always been curious to learn the day-to-day details of life in the Roman legions. Colonel Dodge satisfied my wish-- providing just the sort of matter of fact, down-to-earth information I hungered for. How did the Legionaires stand in battle? What did their sandals look like? How much were they paid? What were their formations and signals? All accompanied by the author's own illustrations.

The author, a decorated veteran of the American Civil War, was the first scholar to actually go and visit all of the battlefields of Hannibal. And of course, any book about Hannibal must equally be about his Roman adversaries.

Although the text is over one hundred years old, it is still easy to read. I enjoyed the author's style-- very easy going, with occasional quaint lapses of grammar: For instance, when speaking of the Romans, he writes "Their tactics was simple."

At first I thought it was a typo, then I realized he was making a point-- the Legions has only ONE tactic: to always attack. Coming as it does at the end of a well-researched and charmingly presented chapter, I found it to be a delightful and unorthodox conclusion to a convincing argument. I'll leave it to you to discover other such gems on your own!

It's like having one of those old nineteenth century school professors come to life and then discover he is really funny and not at all boring and actually a pretty nice guy. Go ahead and buy this book-- for under twenty dollars it is a real bargain.

First of all, beeing a spaniard (sorry for my english) I was quite suprised to find this huge book in the darkest corner of the word (a little, very old, bookshop in Istambul, Turkey) But that surprise was nothing compared with what I (a wargamer that really loves ancient history) discovered beetwen the pages of this book. The real better author in military history i've ever found.

My only concern is that I paid almost twice the price of this book to the old turk bookseller who cheat in the worst way.

(¡anyway, the book deserves what I paid for it!)