Review of John Prevas' Hannibal Crosses the Alps

We have to accept that we don't know what happened to Hannibal Barca in his famous crossing of the Alps, but given our ignorance, Prevas has done an admirable job interpreting events and trying to show why his recreated routes through the Alps work best.

Hannibal Crosses the Alps is engagingly written, with background provided, and "plot" threads running throughout -- like the family, and indeed, Dido's hatred of Rome. Hannibal Barca's father so wanted revenge against Rome that he set up a branch of the empire in Spain to finance future ventures, and exacted an oath from his son to get back at Rome.

In addition to thoughtful explanatory detail, Prevas makes it possible not to read sections that don't appeal to the reader. In order to make it possible to skip chapters (for later reading, if so desired), he includes some repetition of detail. So, if you're not interested in the ancient sources on Hannibal, and how removed they were from the actual events, you can simply trust that Prevas has done his homework, and skip that chapter without ill effect.

I particularly appreciated Prevas' description of how the Carthaginians handled adversity. To continue their trek, elephants had to be induced to go through the Rhone, but they were frantic and wildly resisting the water. Eventually, most of the elephants went through on rafts, but some of the hysterical ones wound up in the water, which was, as they discovered, shallow enough to walk through. Later, a huge stone blocked the only path through the Alps, but some farmer-bred ingenuity coupled with a supply of soured wine cleared the path.

Battles are discussed, as events combining luck, strategy, retreats, casualties, and prisoners. Blood and guts are left for another author.

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