Rating: 
Summary: Detailed, quaint, charming, fascinating century old book!
Review: I read the back of the dust-jacket and was hooked: "It was an excellent idea to reintroduce Americans to this 104-year-old book, which has never been bettered."
This is the sort of thing I have been looking for but just didn't know it. I have always been curious to learn the day-to-day details of life in the Roman legions. Colonel Dodge satisfied my wish-- providing just the sort of matter of fact, down-to-earth information I hungered for. How did the Legionaires stand in battle? What did their sandals look like? How much were they paid? What were their formations and signals? All accompanied by the author's own illustrations.
The author, a decorated veteran of the American Civil War, was the first scholar to actually go and visit all of the battlefields of Hannibal. And of course, any book about Hannibal must equally be about his Roman adversaries.
Although the text is over one hundred years old, it is still easy to read. I enjoyed the author's style-- very easy going, with occasional quaint lapses of grammar: For instance, when speaking of the Romans, he writes "Their tactics was simple."
At first I thought it was a typo, then I realized he was making a point-- the Legions has only ONE tactic: to always attack. Coming as it does at the end of a well-researched and charmingly presented chapter, I found it to be a delightful and unorthodox conclusion to a convincing argument. I'll leave it to you to discover other such gems on your own!
It's like having one of those old nineteenth century school professors come to life and then discover he is really funny and not at all boring and actually a pretty nice guy. Go ahead and buy this book-- for under twenty dollars it is a real bargain.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed, quaint, charming, fascinating century old book!
Review: I read the back of the dust-jacket and was hooked: "It was an excellent idea to reintroduce Americans to this 104-year-old book, which has never been bettered."
This is the sort of thing I have been looking for but just didn't know it. I have always been curious to learn the day-to-day details of life in the Roman legions. Colonel Dodge satisfied my wish-- providing just the sort of matter of fact, down-to-earth information I hungered for. How did the Legionaires stand in battle? What did their sandals look like? How much were they paid? What were their formations and signals? All accompanied by the author's own illustrations.
The author, a decorated veteran of the American Civil War, was the first scholar to actually go and visit all of the battlefields of Hannibal. And of course, any book about Hannibal must equally be about his Roman adversaries.
Although the text is over one hundred years old, it is still easy to read. I enjoyed the author's style-- very easy going, with occasional quaint lapses of grammar: For instance, when speaking of the Romans, he writes "Their tactics was simple."
At first I thought it was a typo, then I realized he was making a point-- the Legions has only ONE tactic: to always attack. Coming as it does at the end of a well-researched and charmingly presented chapter, I found it to be a delightful and unorthodox conclusion to a convincing argument. I'll leave it to you to discover other such gems on your own!
It's like having one of those old nineteenth century school professors come to life and then discover he is really funny and not at all boring and actually a pretty nice guy. Go ahead and buy this book-- for under twenty dollars it is a real bargain.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book on Hannibal by a Civil War Cavalry man
Review: I really enjoyed this book. He traveled there to see for himself the sights and explore the possible Alp routes. Some of the illustrations off Adrian's column are anachronistic but he cautions his readers on this. He has a cavalry soldier's insights into some situations, he shows how Hannibal's genius still shined long after Cannae. He is a good guide on how to read between the lines of Livy (the Nola battles for example). The narrative flows easily and is very well researched.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Work On The Great General;Perhaps The Best.
Review: In this work,perhaps Dodge's finest,the author compellingly & convincingly narrates the personality & campaigns of the great Carthaginian,a man of such martial skills that the world has yet to come up with a man of this ability & legacy.I would not go into detail on why this book is so worthy of reading & study;let it suffice to say that all the reviews that preceded mine & most likely those that would follow have all filled with glowing praise the subject & no less lauded the efforts of the author who convinced them so.
Rating:
Summary: Carthage lives on
Review: One of the best books I ever read. Captivating from the beginning, Mr.Dodge provides an excellent account of one of the world's greatest generals. By visiting the actual sites and being a former officer himself, the author has exceptional insight in laying out the battle fields while remaining unbiased. Mr. Dodge also sways away from the Roman viewpoint, which is quite refreshing, because many great cultures that were conquered did not get their fair shake in the history books.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: One of the best two or three books on the Second Punic War.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read! Dodge is a talented writer
Review: The book is great. Hannibal had the ability to conquer all of the Roman Empire if he had been properly supported by his homeland. You got to read about this historical leader who was the first to bring a large army through the Alps and then lay seige to the Roman Empire for over ten years. Also, he left a wife and son behind during this time, imagine being away from home, family, and kingdom for a decade. Also, check out Dodge's book on Alexander. These two books are fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent story of a brilliant general
Review: Theodore Ayrault Dodge was an officer in the Union army during the civil war. He saw action at Gettysburg, among other places. As a soldier, Dodge gives a unique, in-the-trenches perspective to military history that can be lost amongst history professors who sometimes tend to view their discipline from the ivory towers of academia. Although this is the only book I have read on the life of Hannibal, I cannot fathom anyone writing a more thorough biography of this singularly extraordinary individual. Dodge does a great job of providing background information such as the critical error of the Greek general Pyrrhus (why Hannibal refrained from attempting to siege Rome after Cannae), as well as a first hand account of the most likely route that Hannibal chose to march his army thru the Alps (Dodge personally visited & inspected the various passages himself). He also furnishes us with detailed information on Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal & his ultimate defeat by Nero. At heart, however, this book is about the Second Punic War (also known as the war against Hannibal). Dodge gives us an exhilerating picture of how this man led a basically rag-tag army of mercenaries against the greatest fighting machine the world had ever known.....and somehow managed to win, anyway. From his infamous triumph over Varro at Cannae to his eventual defeat at Zama in 202 BC, Dodge chronicles the successes and tribulations of this important historical figure. It is no wonder that Virgil intentionally wrote allusions to him in The AEneid. For those who enjoy this book, I would HIGHLY recommend the biography that B.H. Liddell Hart wrote on the life of Scipio Africanus for a glimpse of the "other side" of this struggle.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever Hannibal
Review: Theodore Dodge is one of those historians whose undying patience produces works of incredible depth. In this work Dodge recounts in great detail the successes and frustrations of one of the greatest military minds the world has ever known. Hannibal is the essence of the cool reserved commander, calculating every move and ready for every contingency. The sheer size of Hannibal's undertaking is unbelievable. To the modern mind the logistical aspects alone are enough to dismiss the idea immediately. Yet for Hannibal it was a real and attainable goal. Such a confidence and vision is very rare indeed. In this book Dodge provides a detailed account of Hannibal's exploits throughout the second punic war. Some background information on both the Romans and Carthaginians is provided to place the war into context. As in all of Dodge's work countless illustrations are provided. What really makes this book unique is that Dodge personally visited the regions in question, interviewing locals and studying the probable landscape of the great battles. The wealth of information gleaned from such an excursion provides the book with added details that enhance the realism of the account. However, I do disagree with one point repeatedly made by Dodge which requires me giving only four stars. In the book Scipio Africanus is decidedly demeaned. Dodge seems to go out of his way to discount the exploits of this great Roman general and repeatedly states that "good fortune" is the only reason Scipio accomplished what he did. For me this tarnished the work considerably. Hannibal's reputation is safe from harm without Dodge going out of his way to belittle the man who defeated him at Zama. Hannibal needs no such protection because his exploits speak for themselves. Dodge is usually fairly objective with any opinions presented based on fairly logical conclusions. In this instance the bias was a little to thick to swallow. I recommend reading B.H. Liddell Hart's "Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon" for a view contrary to that presented by Dodge. Overall I found this book to be excellent. Dodge's work reads surprisingly well for being a hundred years old. He provides a very insightful view of Hannibal and what he accomplished and struggled with in this book and it would be a good addition to any library.
Rating:
Summary: campaigns descriptions
Review: This and the Caesar and Alexander books in the series provide very detailed descriptions of the battles. Unlike for the Alexander book, the author was able to visit the battlegrounds covered in this book to confirm the feasibility of claims made by prior historians. That in itself is useful (though others have also done so and published pictures of the Alpian pass since the writing of this book---in the 19th century). What is lacking is any kind of analysis of events and battle tactics and, more importantly, there's no synthesis whatsoever that addresses the Origin and Growth of the Art of War, the theme of the series. For that, the first volume of Delbruck's series is more insightful and the four books by Connolly, Hanson, Goldsworthy, and Warry on greek and roman warfare have more illustrative maps. As the author admitted in the preface to the fourth volume of this series, on Gustavus Adolphus, "the origin and growth of the art of war is in reality only the story of the campaigns of those leaders whose deeds have created the art."
| 
