A Greater Than Napoleon, Scipio Africanus

In A Greater Than Napoleon: Scipio Africanus, the renowned military historian Basil Henry Liddell Hart resurrects one of antiquity's greatest commanders - the Roman general who defeated Hannibal and reshaped the art of war. With penetrating insight and masterful clarity, Liddell Hart traces the meteoric rise of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the man whose brilliance at Zama ended the Second Punic War and secured Rome's ascendancy over the Mediterranean world.This is far more than a biography; it is a study in leadership, strategy, and genius. Liddell Hart dissects Scipio's campaigns with the trained eye of a modern strategist, revealing how his innovations in mobility, intelligence, and morale anticipated the principles of twentieth-century warfare. He argues - with daring conviction - that Scipio was the first truly scientific general, whose humane discipline and understanding of psychology made him "greater than Napoleon." Through vivid storytelling and meticulous analysis, the author draws enduring lessons from the battlefields of Carthage and Iberia, showing how the mind of one Roman shaped the doctrines of armies two thousand years later.Written in Liddell Hart's signature lucid prose, A Greater Than Napoleon stands as both military history and moral meditation - a portrait of a commander who balanced audacity with restraint, intellect with mercy. It remains a cornerstone work for historians, soldiers, and readers fascinated by the timeless interplay between character and command.