A stirring account of the most influential battle in history: For millennia, Carthage’s triumph over Rome at Cannae in 216 BCE has inspired reverent awe. It was the battle that countless armies tried to imitate, most notably in World Wars I  and  II, the battle that obsessed military minds. Yet no general ever matched Hannibal’s unexpected, innovative  and  brutal military victory–the costliest day of combat for any army in history. Robert L. O’Connell, an admired military historian, now tells the whole story of Cannae, giving a stirring account of this apocalyptic battle of the 2nd Punic War, its causes  and  consequences. O’Connell shows how a restive Rome amassed a giant army to punish Carthage’s commander, who’d dealt them deadly blows at Trebia  and  Lake Trasimene,  and  how Hannibal outwitted enemies that outnumbered him. He describes Hannibal’s strategy of blinding his opponents with sun  and  dust, enveloping them in a deadly embrace  and  sealing their escape, before launching a massive knife fight that would kill 48,000 men in close contact. The Ghosts of Cannae then conveys how this disastrous pivot point in Rome’s history ultimately led to the republic’s resurgence  and  the creation of its empire. Piecing together decayed shreds of ancient reportage, the author paints powerful portraits of the leading players: Hannibal, resolutely sane  and  uncannily strategic; Varro, Rome’s co-consul scapegoated for the loss;  and  Scipio Africanus, the surviving, self-promoting Roman military tribune who would one day pay back Hannibal at Zama in N. Africa. Finally, O’Connell reveals how Cannae’s legend has inspired  and  haunted military leaders ever since,  and  the lessons it teaches. Superbly researched, written with erudite wit, The Ghosts of Cannae is the definitive account of a battle whose history still resonates.

The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic PDF

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