Legend has it that when Hannibal was a young boy, his father, ruler of Carthage, held his son over a fire and made him swear eternal enmity toward Rome. It was not necessary: the fire already burned in Hannibalís breast. In time that flame would destroy the flower of the Roman legions. In an almost unbelievable feat of courage and endurance, Hannibal led his army over the Pyrenees and Alps to challenge Romeís hegemony. And he succeeded against astonishing odds. They clashed at last. In the Battle of Cannae, Hannibalís foot soldiers, cavalry and war elephants enveloped and massacred an army twice the size of his own contingent. In one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in all history, between 50,000 and 70,000 of Rome's troops were massacred or captured. Is it any wonder that Hannibal has been compared in military prowess to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and that Napoleon himself admired and studied Hannibalís strategies? In Hannibal, Ernle Bradford brings this great general to life and recreates his battles as dramatically as he did the war for Malta in his bestselling history The Great Siege.