Before I started reviewing Osprey's books, I had little interest in things that were pre-industrial age. However, I'm slowly starting to appreciate things that happened before then and even into antiquity. The era of Roman rule was one that started out slowly, but by warfare or treaty (generally warfare), they expanded to rule over nearly all of the Western world. One of Rome's more ardent adversaries were the Carthaginians. Their empire was most of North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Iberian peninsula.

Rome fought several wars with Carthage and won every one of them, though not exactly by being better. There are times in warfare when it is better to be lucky than good and as has been shown in most major conflicts since, lucky often turns the tide. This was very much the case in the Second Punic war against Hannibal, who was a brilliant tactician and by all rights should have been the victor against Rome, having defeated their legions at every battle.  But a turn of events that neither side anticipated resulted in Rome remaining the major power, while Carthage basically withered on the vine, hamstrung with huge tributes that it really could never pay.

Nic Fields takes a look at how Rome's fighting men of the time were organized as well as the various leaders. He then goes into the way the populace looked upon and supported military service, the way Rome's legions were controlled and how Roman doctrine was enforced. There is also a section on Roman engineering as their roads allowed their legions to move quickly from place to place.

The meat of the book is a look at Hannibal in the Second Punic war, including the events leading up to it, the many successes of Hannibal and the lesson learned as a result of the war. As there was nearly no first hand account of these events, the book looks at the various historians whose works were used to provide insight into how events unfolded. This is also enhanced by a superb selection of maps and charts as well as a look at surviving artifacts that help piece together one of the most crucial series of events in the Western world.

It all makes for a book that is quite interesting and informative. Like all of Osprey's titles, it is one that you can buy with confidence in knowing you are getting the best.

May 2007

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