| Hannibal Magnus: The Find is a historical novel about | | | | military genius and are defeated, not once but three |
| the Punic Wars between Carthage, more specifically | | | | times. |
| about the military genius of Hannibal in waging war | | | | The Roman Senate is so worried about these |
| against Rome's military machine. The story is told | | | | repeated defeats that they agree the best solution |
| through the eyes and ears of a military aide to | | | | might be to elect Fabius as dictator, which they do. |
| Hannibal, and so in that sense the novel is an | | | | Fabius has a novel strategy to overcome Hannibal - |
| eye-witness account. | | | | avoid the enemy and let them tire of the game and |
| Hannibal becomes a skilled warrior because he is the | | | | then strike. "If we don't fight we don't lose," says |
| son of a mighty Carthage general. The storyteller | | | | Fabius, ".... Right now what concerns me is not losing." |
| makes note of that heritage when he states: "As one | | | | The strategy works because as we know from |
| may be accustomed to the sound of pots clanking in | | | | history Carthage, faced with a single defeat, |
| the kitchen or children playing in a yard, Hannibal grew | | | | surrenders to the Roman troops and heads back |
| up to the sounds of bugle calls to reveille and taps and | | | | home defeated. |
| the sounds of metal clanking on metal, the shouts of | | | | There are many reasons why the Roman Empire fell |
| command in the melee of battle. Night noises for | | | | but, from my reading of Hannibal Magnus suggests |
| Hannibal were the sounds of an army camp bedding | | | | that one factor is that the empire's enemies did not |
| down for the evening's rest." | | | | have the patience, courage and endurance to succeed |
| The over-confidant Roman army is undone by the | | | | against a disciplined military machine. I wonder if that |
| skilled military tactics of General Hannibal who takes | | | | explains why America did not fare well against the |
| great glee in luring his enemy into a trap - much like the | | | | North Vietnamese military. We always can learn from |
| ambushes of America's Wild West. The zealous, | | | | history - even ancient history. |
| always onward Roman legions are easy prey for the | | | | |