"And Carthage must be destroyed"!
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Carey presents a well-researched and very readable account of the epic military struggle between ancient Rome and Carthage known to history as the Punic Wars. The author breathes life into the ancient historical accounts of Polybius and Livy and supplements his concise narrative with great tactical maps, setting it a part from British Field Marshal Bagnall's book. As the title suggests, the strength of this book is the reconstruction of the Battle of Zama in 202, complete with an eleven map reconstruction of this important engagement. Although lean on political history, this book is a fine introduction to how the Romans and Carthaginians waged Europe's first "Great War".
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A concise history of the Punic Wars!
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I purchased this book because of a life-long love affair with the Punic Wars and the amazing personalities involved. Carey does a superb job giving his readers an overview of the First Punic War and the Carthaginian and Roman military machines involved. He then delves into reconstructing the Second Punic War, paying special attention to the strategy and tactics employed by both the Romans and Carthaginians in this conflict at land and at sea. Individual chapters are dedicated to the early campaigns of Hannibal Barca and Scipio Africanus leading up to an exhaustive treatment of the battle of Zama and its implications to Western Civilization. Carey then follows the careers of thse two commanders post Zama and ends the book with a treatment of the third and final Punic War. The tactical maps are outstanding, and the book comes with a chronology of the Punic Wars, as well as numerous glossaries on Roman and Carthaginians political and military terms. This is a short book and a fine survey of the wars that gave Rome mastery of the western Mediterranean.
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