The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean - Hardcover

Bagnall, Nigel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312342144 ISBN 13: 9780312342142

Verlag: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005

Inhaltsangabe

The Punic Wars triggered an era of astonishing human misfortune. Resulting from a mighty power struggle between the military confederation of Rome and the trading empire of Carthage between 264--241 B.C., 218--201 B.C., and 149--146 b.c., the wars were fought over a period of 118 years. Massive man-made devastation on both sides left RB.C.ome’s population radically depleted and Carthage razed and erased from the map.
Sir Nigel Bagnall brings his military experience and a modern professional eye to bear in analyzing the Punic Wars here. He marshals classic military strategists such as Livy, Polybius, and Diodorus to plot the wars’ campaigns in Spain, Africa, Sicily, and the Peloponnese, and follows Hannibal’s daring but unsuccessful strike into the heart of Italy.

But Bagnall goes beyond military strategy to discuss the force, structures, and politics of Rome and Carthage at their heights. And he contrasts their conduct of battle at strategic, operational, and tactical levels to show how they were governed by the same military principles used by nations today. His thought-provoking final chapter relates these wars’ lessons to modern times in an impressive argument for adapting the experience of the past to the needs of the future. While the history of the Punic Wars dates back over 2000 years, Bagnall’s comprehensive account demonstrates that this ancient conflict is remarkable both for its scope and its contemporary relevance.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sir Nigel Bagnall was born in India in 1927. He joined the British Army in 1945 and served in Palestine, Malaya, Borneo, the Canal Zone, Cyprus, Singapore, and Germany. He ended his distinguished military career as Chief of the General Staff in London and went on to become an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He died in 2000.

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British Praise:

A serious and well-informed book on the wars between Rome and Carthage. Gives much food for reflection. ---Spectator

A fine piece of military and political history...a clear and convincing account of what happened. He avoids clutter and can concentrate on the essentials of any study of warfare strategy and tactics. His book is to be commended. ---The Economist

Rezensionen

The late Bagnall was a British soldier who saw combat in 1950s Malaya and rose to the top of the military profession, retiring in 1988. His expertise finds fruitful application in his examination of the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. There were three between 264 and 146 B.C.E., ending with the fulfillment of Cato's pitiless epigram delenda est Carthago ("Carthage must be destroyed"). Bagnall forthrightly applies a military perspective while being mindful of political influences on the origins and conduct of the wars. In particular, Bagnall appraises the grasp of strategy, operations, and tactics exhibited by the campaigns' generals. Two of the most famous, Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, favorably impress Bagnall, while generals who blundered do not earn the author's criticism so much as his commiseration over what went wrong, devastatingly so in the case of the Romans at the 216 B.C.E. Battle of Cannae. Ancient-history buffs acquainted with Adrian Goldsworthy's Punic Wars (2001) will be eager for Bagnall's concise and elegant insights. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The Punic Wars, which lasted from 264 to 146 B.C., transformed Rome from a small, loosely aligned federation into a Mediterranean superpower. It's a story worth retelling, but because the wars unfolded often simultaneously and across such a vast region-from the Balkans to North Africa, from Spain to the Peloponnese-it is also a story difficult to tell. By treating each campaign separately, rather than in strict chronological order, the book offers a clear and well-organized military history. Bagnall, a former British Army Chief of the General Staff, is an expert on Rome's military innovations, such as their changes to the Greek phalanx and the introduction of the corvus (a naval boarding bridge). He excels in analyzing the spectacular military victories of Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, but the book fails to rise to the epic grandeur of its subject. Hannibal's crossing of the Alps is conveyed swiftly in workmanlike prose, and the battle scenes lack the vivid details necessary to give a visceral feel for the events described. Scant attention is paid to the leading personalities of the story, which is unfortunate because they include some of the most fascinating of ancients, including Xanthippus, the Spartan general whose ragtag army repulsed a Roman invasion of North Africa, and Archimedes, the great mathematician who died designing Syracuse's defense system. Only Cato, the venomous Roman Senator who demanded Carthage's annihilation, is accorded more than a passing description. Military history buffs may overlook these shortcomings and find this work of great value, but readers in search of a full narrative history should look elsewhere. Seven maps.
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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Thomas Dunne Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2005
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0312342144
• ISBN 13: 9780312342142
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 368
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar