Cannae: the Experience of Battle in the Second Punic War.

Carroll, Kevin K.

Cannae: The Experience of Battle in the Second Punic War, by Gregory Daly. London and New York, Routledge, 2002. xviii, 253 pp. $31.95 US (cloth).

Gregory Daly begins with an opening chapter giving a brief summary of the political and military background of the Romans and the Carthaginians. It is a clear discussion setting the situation at the beginning of the Second Punic War. While there is nothing really new here, this chapter is a good summary of the important points and will be useful for those who are not acquainted with the subject. This chapter is somewhat marred because within it and later in the book, some of the points are repeated, sometimes word for word.

Most of the book is devoted to the question of the battle fought at Cannae. Daly was inspired to write this book by the ideas presented in John Keegan's, The Face of Battle (p. x). He states, "This book tries to examine the 'reality of Cannae' as experienced by the individual soldiers who took part in the battle, without losing sight of the 'big picture,' the battle as a whole" (p. xi). That is a noble objective. Knowledge of the reactions of individual soldiers or even the soldiers as a group to their experience would be useful. But unfortunately, it is a goal that cannot be achieved for a particular battle in the ancient world. Daly faces the problem that frequently occurs when one tries to look at ordinary people in the ancient world. The problem is the lack of evidence. We have little on the common soldier during battles, and what we do have does not lend itself to answering the question Daly is posing. Daly is quite aware of the constraints that the existing evidence, or rather the lack of it, places on this study. He gives a good discussion of the sources of information (pp. 17-25) and is always careful to warn the reader of the limitations that the evidence imposes on interpretations and conclusions. His handling of the evidence is very good. He shows proper caution, notes the difficulties when there are differences in the sources, etcetera. I emphasize his cautious use of the data because he almost, but never quite, points out that he cannot accomplish his objective. The data we have is simply too general to actually explain how an individual soldier experienced a battle except in very vague terms.

His comment on the evidence for commanders at Cannae exemplifies the problem he faces: "Any attempt to understand the commanders' experience and behaviour at Cannae must therefore rely quite heavily upon accounts of the actions of commanders in other ancient battles, and upon ancient manuals on generalship. This is the only practical approach to this issue, but it is a highly problematic one ..." (p. 145). A similar problem occurs when discussing the experience of the ordinary soldier during this battle. Since he has to use what is known from other battles, Daly ends up giving a generic picture of how battles were experienced by the soldiers, not a picture specific to Cannae. And the view he provides is very similar to that already given by others, for example, Victor Davis Hanson. What Daly gives is mainly the same as is already generally accepted. He does not really add to the discussion of what an ancient battle was like for the ordinary soldier. I would qualify that by mentioning that he does relate some of the general ideas to the particular conditions at Cannae, especially in regard to weather and the terrain.

Daly, perhaps, should not have emphasized that he was trying to do what Keegan has done for more recent battles. In spite of not achieving the objective he set for himself, Daly has still written a book that readers will find of interest as a study of the battle of Cannae. Daly discusses all the major issues: topography, numbers, tactics, etcetera. As already mentioned, he deals with all the ancient evidence in a clear and judicious manner. In trying to solve problems, he is very careful to indicate where the evidence is strong and where he has to extrapolate from it or stretch it a bit to present a reasonable picture. His bibliography is excellent and he handles the opinions of modern scholars well. His conclusions in regard to the actual site of the battle and the tactics used are given well and are worth reading. His diagrams (pp. 40-41) clearly show how he believes the battle was fought.

As a study of the battle itself, this book will be of interest. Daly's discussion of the evidence and the works of modern scholars helps to set forth some of the major problems in understanding the battle, and his discussion of those problems is always clear and lucid.

Kevin K. Carroll

Arizona State University