Scipio Africanus

The world often misunderstands its greatest men while neglecting others entirely. Scipio Africanus, surely the greatest general that Rome produced, suffered both these fates. Today scholars celebrate the importance of Hannibal, even though Scipio defeated the legendary general in the Second Punic War and was the central military figure of his time. In this scholarly and heretofore unmatched military biography of the distinguished Roman soldier, Richard A. Gabriel establishes Scipio's rightful place in military history as the greater of the two generals. Before Scipio, few Romans would have dreamed of empire, and Scipio himself would have regarded such an ambition as a danger to his beloved republic. And yet, paradoxically, Scipio's victories in Spain and Africa enabled Rome to consolidate its hold over Italy and become the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, virtually ensuring a later confrontation with the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms to the east as well as the empire's expansion into North Africa and the Levant. The Roman imperium was being born, and it was Scipio who had sired it. Gabriel draws upon ancient texts, including those from Livy, Polybius, Diodorus, Silius Italicus, and others, as primary sources and examines all additional material available to the modern scholar in French, German, English, and Italian. His book offers a complete bibliography of all extant sources regarding Scipio's life. The result is a rich, detailed, and contextual treatment of the life and career of Scipio Africanus, one of Rome's greatest generals, if not the greatest of them all.

2022 Reprint of the 1926 Edition. Originally published with the title: A Greater than Napoleon, Scipio Africanus. Full Facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Scipio Africanus (236-183 B.C.) was one of the most exciting and dynamic military leaders of the classical world. He never lost a battle whilst commanding Roman troops. Yet it is his adversary, Hannibal, who has lived on in the public memory, due mostly to his daring march through the Alps with his elephants. At the Battle of the Ticinus, Hannibal's initial encounter with Roman arms, young Scipio first tasted warfare, rescuing his dangerously wounded, encircled father, who was also the Roman commander. By nineteen Scipio was the equivalent of a staff colonel and in 210 B.C. he was placed in supreme command. In three years, he destroyed Carthaginian power in Spain and, after being made consul, took his forces to Africa, where he conquered Carthage's great ally, Syphax. Two years later he clashed with Hannibal himself, annihilating his army in the decisive Battle of Zama. For this triumph and his other exploits in the Punic Wars, Scipio was awarded the title Africanus. In his fascinating portrait of this extraordinary commander, B. H. Liddell Hart writes, "The age of generalship does not age, and it is because Scipio's battles are richer in stratagems and ruses -- many still feasible today -- than those of any other commander in history that they are an unfailing object lesson." Not only military enthusiasts and historians but all those interested in outstanding men will find this magnificent study absorbing and gripping. Chapters: Introduction -- Half light -- Dawn -- The storm of Cartagena -- The Battle of Bæcula -- The Battle of Ilipa -- The subjugation of Spain -- The true objective -- A political hitch -- Africa -- A violated peace -- Zama -- After Zama -- Siesta -- The last lap -- Dusk -- Rome's zenith.

Scipio Africanus was one of the greatest generals and statesmen of the Ancient World. When he was 18, he saved his father's life in battle during the Second Punic War and later survived the horrific Roman defeat at Cannae. At the age of 26, he was named Commander-in-Chief of the Roman army in Spain and in 4 years, by daringly storming the city of Cartagena and crushing two Carthaginian armies in battle, conquered almost the entire peninsula for Rome. After returning to Rome, he leveraged popular support to gain command of an army to invade Carthage. Lacking logistical and material support, he welded, trained and armed a battle-hardened army. Landing in Africa, he delivered a stunning defeat to the Carthaginians with a surprise attack by night and fire. After the famed Hannibal Barca returned to defend his homeland, Scipio and his army utterly defeated the Punic general at the Battle of Zama. This book, based on exhaustive research of both ancient and modern sources, describes Scipio's life and career in detail, analyzes his military and political strategies and decisions, and illustrates the timelessness of his leadership skills and far-seeing diplomacy.

The world often misunderstands its greatest men while neglecting others entirely. Scipio Africanus, surely the greatest general that Rome produced, suffered both these fates. Today scholars celebrate the importance of Hannibal, even though Scipio defeated the legendary general in the Second Punic War and was the central military figure of his time. In this scholarly and heretofore unmatched military biography of the distinguished Roman soldier, Richard A. Gabriel establishes Scipio's rightful place in military history as the greater of the two generals. Before Scipio, few Romans would have dreamed of empire, and Scipio himself would have regarded such an ambition as a danger to his beloved republic. And yet, paradoxically, Scipio's victories in Spain and Africa enabled Rome to consolidate its hold over Italy and become the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, virtually ensuring a later confrontation with the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms to the east as well as the empire's expansion into North Africa and the Levant. The Roman imperium was being born, and it was Scipio who had sired it. Gabriel draws upon ancient texts, including those from Livy, Polybius, Diodorus, Silius Italicus, and others, as primary sources and examines all additional material available to the modern scholar in French, German, English, and Italian. His book offers a complete bibliography of all extant sources regarding Scipio's life. The result is a rich, detailed, and contextual treatment of the life and career of Scipio Africanus, one of Rome's greatest generals, if not the greatest of them all.

Scipio Africanus was one of the greatest generals and statesmen of the Ancient World. When he was 18, he saved his father's life in battle during the Second Punic War and later survived the horrific Roman defeat at Cannae. At the age of 26, he was named Commander-in-Chief of the Roman army in Spain and in 4 years, by daringly storming the city of Cartagena and crushing two Carthaginian armies in battle, conquered almost the entire peninsula for Rome. After returning to Rome, he leveraged popular support to gain command of an army to invade Carthage. Lacking logistical and material support, he welded, trained and armed a battle-hardened army. Landing in Africa, he delivered a stunning defeat to the Carthaginians with a surprise attack by night and fire. After the famed Hannibal Barca returned to defend his homeland, Scipio and his army utterly defeated the Punic general at the Battle of Zama. This book, based on exhaustive research of both ancient and modern sources, describes Scipio's life and career in detail, analyzes his military and political strategies and decisions, and illustrates the timelessness of his leadership skills and far-seeing diplomacy.

In this key civil rights and social justice book for young readers, Scipio Africanus Jones—a self-taught attorney who was born enslaved—leads a momentous series of court cases to save twelve Black men who'd been unjustly sentenced to death. In October 1919, a group of Black sharecroppers met at a church in an Arkansas village to organize a union. Bullets rained down on the meeting from outside. Many were killed by a white mob, and others were rounded up and arrested. Twelve of the sharecroppers were hastily tried and sentenced to death. Up stepped Scipio Africanus Jones, a self-taught lawyer who'd been born enslaved. Could he save the men's lives and set them free? Through their in-depth research and consultation with legal experts, award-winning nonfiction authors Sandra and Rich Wallace examine the complex proceedings and an unsung African American early civil rights hero.

The Romans' destruction of Carthage after the Third Punic War erased any Carthaginian historical record of Hannibal's life. What we know of him comes exclusively from Roman historians who had every interest in minimizing his success, exaggerating his failures, and disparaging his character. The charges leveled against Hannibal include greed, cruelty and atrocity, sexual indulgence, and even cannibalism. But even these sources were forced to grudgingly admit to Hannibal's military genius, if only to make their eventual victory over him appear greater. Yet there is no doubt that Hannibal was the greatest Carthaginian general of the Second Punic War. When he did not defeat them outright, he fought to a standstill the best generals Rome produced, and he sustained his army in the field for sixteen long years without mutiny or desertion. Hannibal was a first-rate tactician, only a somewhat lesser strategist, and the greatest enemy Rome ever faced. When he at last met defeat at the hands of the Roman general Scipio, it was against an experienced officer who had to strengthen and reconfigure the Roman legion and invent mobile tactics in order to succeed. Even so, Scipio's victory at Zama was against an army that was a shadow of its former self. The battle could easily have gone the other way. If it had, the history of the West would have been changed in ways that can only be imagined. Richard A. Gabriel's brilliant new biography shows how Hannibal's genius nearly unseated the Roman Empire.