The Ancient Elephant Battle Generals Still Love to Copy
TALES FROM THE TRENCHES
Cannae for Hannibal was the definition of winning the battle but losing the war. However, his brilliant execution of a double envelopment would obsess tacticians for a millennia.
Alamy
I went to the most famous battlefield in Western History, and had a surprise. Not a good one.
It is a stomp, well off the path, to get to Cannae.
The main train lines in Italy run up and down the coasts. Going inland, particularly in southeast Italy, is somewhat more episodic. My train had two cars. At the fourth stop, “Battle”, I got off.