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

The late Field Marshall Sir Nigel Bagnall has done something in this book that is unique in my reading experience. First, this book is a history of the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. It is a military history, written from the standpoint of a senior military officer who is able to see and understand what the military of both sides were doing. Second, this book goes beyond the military history of the two countries to explain the internal workings, the culture, the commercial activities of the two countries. He is then able to relate these points to the overall battle. Third, the reason to study history is to be able to relate what happened to what is happening now. And he is able to relate these wars from so long ago to the conflict between the Soviet Union and the West. Fourth, at the beginning of wars, the finding of competant generals has been a problem. This was true in the Punic wars. This was certainly true in the American Civil War (witness the number of generals Lincoln put in charge of the Army of the Potomac). And it was true at the start of World War II on the part of both the British and the Americans. In the short wars of the future, this cannot be allowed to happen. Splendid history with direct applicability to modern times.

Bagnall, a retired Field Marshal of the British Army, turns his considerable talents to a narrative and analysis of those three international conflicts that came to be known as the Punic Wars. For over a century, Rome and Carthage, the two emerging rival powers of the Western Meditteranean, were locked in a struggle to the death. The conflict, a true "world war" by the standards of the day, covered Spain, Gaul, Sicily, North Africa and the entire Italian Peninsula. It reached its climax during the Second Punic War, with Hannibal's trek across the Alps and his twenty-year campaign against Rome across the length and breadth of Italy. How did Rome start the First Punic War without any naval credentials and end with the most powerful fleet in the region? Why didn't Hannibal storm Rome straight after his legendary victory at Cannae? What possessed Carthage to agree to disarm after the Third Punic War, thus laying the city open to the massacre that followed? All these questions and more. Bring your own war-elephant.

One of the few enjoiable books that approach historical events under a technical perspective, in this case, analyzing the military strategies and tactics. Contrary of what one's could expect from this kind of approach, this book shows all the aspect of the society of Rome and Cartage at that time. The author in fact, takes in consideration and describes all the social factors that influences the military thinking of the great generals and the moral of the soldiers in the battlefields, which go from political to religious and superstitions. We have a feeling of what everyday life could have been at that time, which I think is one of the highest achievements an historical book could reach. The political events, the negotiations between the two opponents, and the various strategies are described and analyzed with a modern mind, which also helps to take off from those pages all the scholastic and academic feeling that we are used to deal with, when we explore our history. A wonderful book, enjoyable in the reading, yet detailed and sharp.

I had the pleasure of finishing this book sitting on the edge of a statue, overlooking the Circus Maximus in Rome last August, and the location only enhanced the experience of the book. Nigel Bagnall's excellent history of the Punic Wars gives, not only an insight into the growth of the Roman Empire, but also the transition of the land-based, city power of the Romans into the military power that would dominated the Meditteranean, Northern Europe and the Near East directly for five hundred years, but with echoes that continue today. The Punic Wars were where it all started. We are shown where the failings were in the tri-partite 'constitution' (only a theoretical idea, there was no formal constitution) in the governing of an Empire and, although we don't reach him, the shadow of Marius, and the reforms he will introduce that lead (almost) directly to the fall of the Republic, is felt as we approach the destruction of Carthage. The individual power of the Scipios is a forewarning of what may happen when there are no 'Cato the Censor's (his ancestor who faced Caesar was a mere shadow of the man who 'defeated' Scipio Africanus).Overall, a thoroughly recommended book.

This book by Nigel Bagnall, a Field Marshal in the British Army, is one of the best books I have ever read covering Ancient military history. This book introduced me to the lifes and times of such great leaders as Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal and Scipio Africanus to name a few. The author presents a well researched account of the military struggle between Rome and Carthage and does it so well that the book is a joy to read. The book covers the First Punic War, 264-242 BC, the period between the wars (241 - 218 BC), the Second Punic War, 218 - 201 BC and the third and final Punic War between 149 - 148 BC which saw the destruction of Carthage as a power and as a city! A great book!!!!