Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1892-03-24
GREAT GENERALS.
IN THE WORLDS HISTORY,
AND WHY THEY WE'RE
GREAT. HANNIBAL, THE MASTER OF
STRATEGY IN wAR-A
BRAVE AND RELIABLE
CHARACTER.
I. HANNIBAL.

wars, STATE CndC I1dnnlDal- WAS
cruel, perfdious, impious, avari-
cious, and that he was,a barbarian.
But, remember, they were writing
of a man who had humbled their
country into the very dust.
Hannibal was not cruel, except
as war is cruel. Two centuries
later, when Rome was highly
civilized, Caesar without pity
destroyed 100000 defenceless men,
women, and children in one day.
Hannibal leyerdid such an act.
Yet history does not denounce
Caesar as cruel.
The Romans ceRed Hannibal
perfdious because he was a master
of stratagenes in war, aid would
craftily lead them into a bad posi-
tion before he attacked them.
This is lust what every general
tries to do to-day, and he has
learned how todo it largely from
Hannibal.
After while, the Romans
learned the trick themselves.
Hannibal did not believe in the
Roman gods. Hence the Romans
called him impious. But Hanni-
bal observed his own religious
duties faithfully. Both Romans
and Carthaginians were heathens
according to our view.
Hannibal was ayaricious, but
every gold piece he could save
he spent for weapons to fight the
Romans, or to feed his army. We
should not call a man avaricious
who accumulated a great fortune
and then gave it to his country
during a war.
As to Hannibal being a barba-
rian, he had been given the best of
Greek educations, was q man of
learning and cultivation, and an
author of note. The Roman
generals had, none of them, any
part of HannlbaPs knowledge and
culture. Rome was not then a city
ofzletters; lit was only the capital
ofsarugged, common-sen people,
whose good inst titut ions deserved
! TO, and; did, enable it to- finally
conquer the world.
HannibaPs brave and reliable
character was known to his army.
Under him the soldiers could dare
and accomplish anything His
body could not be tired; his ardor
could not be damped. He did not
seek to shelter himself. He slept
beside his men, wrapped in his
cloak. He had no weaknesses,
vices, cared nothing for display
except in horses and weapons.
Hannibal always had to
fight armies larger and better
drilled than his own, under
generals of good ability. Yet
the great Carthaginian for
half generation kept Rome on
the brink of ruin. For sixteen
years he could not be driven out |
of Italy. Only by sending an
army into Africa Ito attack his
native city, 80 that he would be
called home, could they drive him
from their soil.
The remembrance Of how Alex
ander accomplished his great deeds
had almost died out. No one lived
except Hannibal capable of under
standing his method. But the
Carthaginian general had studied
the tactics of that great conquerer.
His own methods were equally
bold, secret, crafty.
The Romans had been in the
habit of marching out to battle,
meeting the enemy on an open
plain, and defeating him by hard
knocks alone. When Hannibal
reached. Italy, he had but 10000
men, while the Romans could raise
100000: He was not afraid of hard
knocks, but he saw he must deliver
his blows as Alexander would.
Mark what he did.
At the Trebia, he SO managed as
tolure the Romans to ford the river
on a cold, bleak, snowy day, before
they had breakfasted, and met
them with has men, we'll fed and
dry. He had, moreover, hidden a
chosen force in ambush to fall on
their flank and rear.
At Lake Trasimene, he lured the
Romans into a defile, around which
he had posted his men SO as to fall
on them suddenly and on all sides.
while they were on the march.
At Canine, where they. had twice
his strength, he SO planned as to
crowd the Romans into a space
where they could not use their
weapons; then he attacked thera in
the flank with his foot and in the
rear with his horse.
In each battle he absolutely de-
stroyed the entire Roman army.
There was no end to his inyen-
tive spirit In dealing with his
enemy, and finally the Romans
made up their minds that they
must not fight him, but try to cut
off his food supply, harass him
on the march, and by small attacks.
This proved the better plan. They
never after came to battle unless
they believed they had decided
advantage. And we know how they
got him out of Italy at last.
There is one simple way to dis