News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-07-12

4
struggle. Foch will undoubtedly be
ranked in history as one of the great
est war lords of all time.
Hannibal, probably, had the most
interesting and wonderful engage
ments of any of the men formerly
/ mentioned. They are interesting be-
cause of the manner in which and
the strategy by which he exercised
them; amazing because of the odds
that he had against him.
| One very striking battle was the
battle of Lake Trasimene. Hannibal
marched through Etruria, lying waste
and devastating the country even in
the vicinity of the camp of the Roman
general, Flaminius. This was an I'M
successful attempt to draw Flaminius
out; he was not to be disturbed as a
more hasty man might have been.
Seeing this, Hannibal marched
directly by the camp toward Rome.
Flaminius followed him. By this
move, Hannibal violated all the rules
of warfare and left hostile force
of six thousand men in his rear and
upon his line of communications. 1t
now remained for him to justify his
temerity by success, and as the
strictest observers of the rules of
warfare have admitted, he did it with
a vengeance.
Having reached the shores of Lake
Trasimene, he placed his men in the
surrounding hills in such a manner
as to leave narrow inlet and outlet.
Between the hills lay a plain which
+ha Nf Tho +o. IL
that followed.
In due time Flaminius and his
army entered the narrow pass into
the valley of death without a thought
of danger. A little mist overhung the
hill-tops and hid from view the base
of the adjoining hills. It must have
been with feeling of grim delight
that Hannibal and his men listened
to the tramp of 5000 Romans, whom
they could hear but could not see, as
they passed along few hundred feet
below, each step making the destruc-
ton of the other more sure.
AS soon as the rear of the Roman
army was we'll within the passage,
Hannibal gave the signal for the at
tack and from above, from below,
from all sides, his army swept down
upon the Romans. Caught in this
trap of HannibaPs strategy, Flamin-
ius' army was annihilated. About
$4,000 Romans were killed and the
remaining numbers were taken pris-
oners on the following day. The total
loss to the Carthaginian army was
1,5O0 men-the Gaulic troops whom
Hannibal could best afford to lose.
1t was an encouraging victory for
Carthage and an awful calamity for
Rome.
Cannae, Trebia and Tincinius were,
as Lake Trasimene, scenes of victory
for the great Carthaginian. In all
these mighty battles Hannibal was
greatly outnumbered and handicapped
by his scant knowledge of the coun-
try; but his genius always overcame
these obstacles, hence his glorious
victories.
Alexander the Great, at one time,
held the world spellbound by his
extraordinary feats in the game of
war and by his thrilling conquest of
the then known world. General Lee
won the respect and admiration of all
civilized people by his valiant de-
Tense of the South in the face of over
whelming odds. Marshal Foch earned
the gratitude and praise of the allied
nations by his brilliant generalship
in the recent World War. These
three men are unquestionably among
the military generals of the world
but the greatest of them all was
Hannibal. the mightiest warrior that
the world has produced, emitting
none whatsoever. Beside whom, the
commanders, who opposed him, were
mere apprentices taking lessons in
warfare from him. in their own dis
comftures and defeats. The Romans
were rude fighters until he taught
them strategic art, in which he
excelled all men. In character, also.
Hannibal appears to represent one of
the highest types of military men.
Seen onlv in portraitures drawn by
his enemies with features of barbar-
ity that are greatly exaggerated, he
shows nothing that is not massive
and strong, nothing that is not worthy
of a great man."