Official language: German, French, Italian

Land area: 15,940 sq mi/41,284 sq km

Population:  7,748,000

Dominant religion: Christianity

Capital: Bern

Switzerland is a small, mountainous country in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Germany to the north, Austria to the east, Italy to the south and France to the west. The Alps and the Jura mountains cover more than half the country’s landscape.

 The people of Switzerland are divided by the country’s four national languages – French, German, Italian and Romansh. The German-speaking group comprises roughly 70 percent of the population and live in the northern, eastern and central parts of the country. French is spoken by about 20 percent of the population. Most of the French-speakers live in the western part. About 7 percent of the population speaks Italian. Most of the these people reside in the south. Romansh is spoken mostly by people living in the mountain valleys in the southeastern part of the country.

 Switzerland is very industrialized and its citizens enjoy one of the world’s highest standards of living. It is one of the world’s major banking and financial hubs. Many of the world’s wealthy open bank accounts with Swiss banks and enjoy high returns. Many Swiss products, especially its watches and automobiles, are world-renown. Switzerland is also major tourist destination. The Alps draws thousands of skiers every winter. Many international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have their headquarters in Switzerland.

 Switzerland had been part of the Holy Roman Empire but in the 1200’s the Hapsburg Empire took possession of nearly the entire country. The Swiss drove the Hapsburgs out but would continue to fight frequent wars with the empire until the 1500’s. During the French Revolution, the French gained control of the country. After Napoleon was defeated in 1815 Switzerland adopted neutrality and has not fought another war since. Even during World War I and World War II it was an oasis of peace while the rest of Europe was engulfed in war. After World War II it was even reluctant to join the United Nations for fear that it would be expected to provide troops in military situations. Nevertheless the country has provided troops in some UN peacekeeping missions.

Oetz quickly became a sensation, not only because he has proven he has more than 5,000 years, but because his remains were so well preserved that paleontologists have discovered new details about the stone age in Europe.

On 19 September 1991, Helmut and Erika Simon from Nuremberg were hiking at an altitude of 3210 meters in the Italian Alps, in Tyrol, according to data published by the local Archaeological Museum.

Towards the end of a hot summers, a lot of ice and snow melting on the mountain. In a piece of ice, face down on a rock, tourists have noticed something that resembled a human body.

The two were believed to have discovered the remains of a hiker, probably killed by an avalanche, a few years ago. But Oetz proved to be what paleontologists call a “wet mummy”.

Until the discovery of Oetz, “such a man so well preserved after several thousand years, many dressed and personal property, was not found anywhere in the world”, says the site Tyrol Museum of South.

“Ice Man” was a natural mummy, that his body was not modified by funeral rituals practiced by some people, like the ancient Egyptians. After the body was extracted and analyzed, experts have determined that Oetz was 1.6 meters tall and weighed 50 pounds and, most important, died more than 5,000 years ago.

“Ice-Man has provided new data about prehistoric times, natural sciences”, informs Italian museum.

Research has found that he could die due to a shoulder injury, possibly after a bleeding caused by an arrow, which touched a blood vessel. Copper ax, very well preserved and found nearby, indicating that he was a warrior and was part of a ruling class.

He’d spent most of our journeys pointing out the make-up of the Alps. It was surprising really – he was a French teacher, not a geographer. I certainly found the scenery breath-taking, but the sixteen-year-olds with us had other things on their mind: what they were going to wear for the trip to the pub game evening, which music they should ask the coach-driver to play and whether there would be any of the yucky cheese for dinner tonight or if there’d be chips.

It’s funny, as well, how children don’t like sprouts or courgettes, or cooked cheese or fish, and yet when they’re adults they eat them with gusto – as long as their parents have persisted in offering these delights from time to time.  

I also used to be a language teacher. My own children were brought up with lots of foreign visitors coming to the house. When we went abroad, we’d often pop by and see some of our friends. Though neither of them studied languages seriously, and would never admit to trying hard – well you just don’t, do you, if your mum’s a teacher – they both ended up studying two languages at school and getting A*s at GCSE. They had a high personal minimum level.

 The same happens with fairy stories. They’re just simple stories with happy endings, or gentle tragedies in the sanitized Grimm ones, when we’re children. It’s only when we’re adults that the story of Cinderella gives us hope that we can all experience transformation.

What the caring adults around us imprint on us when we’re small becomes part of our experience forever. We must be grateful that most of the time what they offer is good.

But what of my boss’ strata?

I recently met one of the students who had been on the trip. She is married now, with two young children and is a successful career woman working for an international firm.

“We went on holiday to the Alps last year,” she said, as we had coffee. “I’ll never forget you two telling us about how the mountains were formed. I could really see it this time.”

“There you are, then,” I said.

“I couldn’t get the kids to appreciate it, though,” she said. “And they turned their noses up at that gorgeous cheese. I don’t know. What can we do with them?”

Stick with it and wait, I thought.             

Prior to the war Italy had been in alliance with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a signatory of the Triple Alliance. Upon the outbreak of hostilities in July, 1914, it wisely decided to remain neutral claiming that the Alliance was designed for defence only and that the Austrian’s had acted as the aggressor in its ultimatum to and attack upon Serbia. Italy, however, was open to offers.

Despite their being little enthusiasm for war in the country as a whole there was a loud and vocal minority of ultra-nationalists such as the poet Gabrielle D’Annunzio, the artist and leading light of the Futurist Movement which revered technology, violence, and the martial spirit of youth, Giuseppe Mazzini, and by October, 1914, the Editor of the Socialist journal Avanti!, Benito Mussolini who demanded that Italy should be involved as a point of national honour, ” do you want to be spectators in a great drama, or its fighters? he asked. The Socialists responded by removing him from his post as editor. The push for war also had considerable support from the Liberal Party within the Italian Parliament though it was opposed by the Socialists and many Conservatives. The Prime Minister Allesandro Salandro, however, was keen for war, as was indeed the King, Victor Emmanuele III. With such powerful backers majority opinion counted for little.

For many months Italy had been courted by the powers of the Entente Cordiale, France and Britain, to open a second front in southern Europe. After long and often torturous negotiations on 26 April, 1915, Italy signed the London Pact. It had been promised considerable territorial gains in Istria, Trieste, the Tyrol and Dalmatia if it mobilised its army in support of the Allies. Just under a month later on 23 May, to both rapture and trepidation, Italy declared war on Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy, however, was ill-prepared for war, especially war on an industrial scale. It could put a lot of men in the field. Even in 1915, it could boast 36 Divisions and 875, 000 troops but it only had 120 modern artillery pieces for the entire army. Also, having only been a unified nation since 1871, many Italian’s felt greater loyalty to their home town or region than they did to the sovereign State. The Authorities had also given little thought to how they would supply such a vast force but the rush to get into combat was now on.

Fortunately for the Italians their opponents were to be the Austro-Hungarian army which had more than enough problems of its own. Facing a Russian army 3,000,000 strong in the east it could only ever field a limited force on its border with Italy and was often outnumbered more than 2 to 1. The army was also made up of many different nationalities, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Ruthenes, Bosnians, and Croats as well as Hungarians and Austrians, and many of them were of doubtful loyalty. Even worse, the Austrian dominated Officer Corps had been decimated in the opening months of the war losing more than 40% of its total strength. These were men who could not easily be replaced and over time they were to become increasingly reliant upon their German allies for leadership and support. 

The Austro-Hungarian army, despite taking Belgrade, had also been repelled in its initial assault on Serbia. Though it had been successful in its second attempt. In June, 1916, it had to endure the humiliation of the Russian Brusilov Offensive which almost brought the Empire to its knees. The army, which suffered 1.5 million casualties including more 400,000 men taken prisoner was close to collapse and was only saved by the swift intervention of its German allies. Indeed, it had even been made to withdraw troops from its already depleted forces on the Italian front.

Despite its myriad problems however, the Austro-Hungarian probably performed as well as could have been expected, even if one German Officer referred being allied to them as similar to being tethered to a corpse.

General Luigi Cadorna 

The Italian army was to be led by the 64 year old General Luigi Cadorna, a brutal martinet of limited imagination who believed that in the age of the machine gun that the full-frontal assault was still the sure-fire way to achieve victory. If this strategy failed it was no fault of his own but lay instead with his troops who were lacking in fighting spirit. If this were so then those troops would be punished. One in seventeen Italian soldiers would at one time or another find themselves facing a disciplinary charge. He reintroduced the old Roman practice of decimation, or the killing of every tenth man in any unit that had been deemed to have under-performed in combat, and he arbitrarily ordered the execution of any officer whose command had retreated contrary to orders. In total more than 750 Italian soldiers were shot by their own side more than any other combatant in World War One.

The main area for the Italian campaign would be the Soca Valley and the Isonzo River that runs through it from the Trenta Valley in modern day Slovenia to the Adriatic Sea at the north-eastern Italian town of Manfalcone. There would also be heavy fighting in the Alps and the Dolomite Mountains in the region around Trentino and the town of Bolzano.  

Though the Isonzo River flowed mostly through Austro-Hungarian territory it effectively formed the border between the two countries. Mountains formed the western and eastern sides of the borderline but a narrow corridor ran through the Vipara Valley. This Cadorna pinpointed as the key that would unlock the door to victory. As a proponent of the frontal assault he dreamed of penetrating the Austrian defences in overwhelming force, taking Ljubljana and sweeping onto Vienna. But there was little room to manoeuvre and the restricted space allowed the Austrians to concentrate their forces and build formidable lines of defence. It was also not uncommon for the River Isonzo to flood. Not that this deterred Cadorna from pursuing his strategy with a blind almost obsessive determination.

The First Battle of the Isonzo began on 23 June, 1915, with the Italian’s attacking mostly uphill making limited gains and almost taking the town of Gorizia before finally being repulsed. It cost the Italian’s 14,947 casualties but the veneer of success only encouraged Cadorna to try again just over a week later. The Italian soldiers still fired by the patriotic fervour that invariably follows in the wake of any declaration of war fought like furies. Much of the fighting involved vicious hand-to-hand combat where bayonets, knives, clubs, and any available debris were used as weapons. But at the end there was little to show for the 43,000 casualties. The Austrians suffered even more killed and wounded which is unusual for an army defending an entrenched position but is an indication of the ferociousness of the fighting. This had been the Second Battle of the Isonzo, over the next three years there were to be ten more and the enthusiasm for the fight displayed in the opening months of the war was soon to wane as it quickly became apparent that Cadorna had no alternative plan to sacrificing his men in ever greater numbers trying to capture the same old objectives. For all their efforts and the deaths of more than 300,000 soldiers they were never to advance more than 10 miles into Austrian territory.

Life at the front was miserable. The weather in the mountains was harsh and the troops were not only cold but many suffered from frost-bite and some 40,000 died. They were also often hungry due to problems of supply and there were frequent shortages of ammunition. There was also the constant danger of avalanches and 60,000 were to be killed by the so-called “white death” including 10,000 over a 2 day period in December, 1916. The rocky terrain also meant that the detonation of artillery shells would invariably break off shards of rock that acted as a particularly deadly form of shrapnel. The harsh discipline imposed on the army by Cadorna also did much to undermine morale and no one was buoyed by the blame culture that seemed to follow every failed assault. 

By the time of the 11th Battle of the Isonzo on 18 August, 1917, both sides were exhausted. Even so, the Italians attacked yet again. The fighting was fierce as usual and casualties high with 148,000 Italian and 105,000 Austrian, but there were few gains to be had by either side. The Austrians, however, unknown to Cadorna, were close to breaking point, and one more assault may well have achieved the breakthrough that he had so long sought. But by this time the Italian army had overstretched itself and the centre of its line was dangerously weak and strung out.

The Austrians in the meantime had reluctantly been forced to approach their German allies for assistance. Quickly realising the danger the Austrian army was in of imploding and having to abandon their positions they reinforced the army with German Divisions and effectively took over command of operations. They decided, for the first time, that defence alone was no answer and that the fight should be taken to the Italians.

The 12th and final Battle of the Isonzo (better known as Caporetto) began on 24 October, 1917. It was to be the one and only major advance of the Austrian army on the Italian front, and it very nearly turned out to be the decisive one. Following a short but well-targeted artillery barrage and extensive use of poison gas, especially trained German infiltration units attacked armed with flame-throwers and hand-grenades. They soon tore holes in the Italian line which were quickly exploited by the mass-ranks of the Austrian army following close behind. Despite either flank of the Italian line holding its ground the centre collapsed completely and General von Below’s German troops advanced an astonishing 16 miles in a single day. Despite repeated requests to do so by the Generals on the ground Cadorna refused to order a formal retreat, and it wasn’t until 30 October that he finally relented and did so by which time his army had been effectively routed. It now became apparent that he had made no provision for just such an emergency and there were no reserves with which to plug the gaps. The Italian army was in danger of meltdown.

During the three week Caporetto campaign the German and Austrian armies advanced over 63 miles and were within 20 miles of Venice. The Italians had lost only 11,000 killed but more than 265,000 had surrendered. Many had willingly laid down there arms without firing and shot and had greeted their captors as liberators even singing the Austrian national anthem. Tens of thousands simply fled the front and deserted and some have put Italian losses as high as 400,000. Along with the mass-surrender were lost 3,000 artillery pieces, 3,000 machine guns, and 2,000 mortars. The Italians had simply had enough.

Italian troops capitulate at Caporetto.

Panic swept through the country and Cadorna was replaced by the more pragmatic and understanding General Armando Diaz who with some difficulty was able to stabilise the line along the River Piave. Despite a desperate attempt by the Germans and Austrians to break through the Italians were able to hold out.

The Battle of Caporetto had been a national humiliation for Italy, but it also served as a rallying cry. The Italian people who had come so close to defeat and losing their only recently won independence at last got behind the war effort, and now reinforced by British and French troops they would no longer be expected to fight on their own.

The war at sea at least went better for the Italians. Though there were no major naval engagements between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets (they effectively kept each other bottled up in the Adriatic) great daring and imagination were on display. On 10 June, 1918, the Austrian Dreadnought Szent Istvan was sent to the bottom following an attack by Italian motor torpedoe boats. Five months later on 1 November in Pola Harbour two Italian frogmen, Rafaelle Rossetti and Rafaelle Paolucci attached mines to the Battleship Viribus Unitus and the Coastal Defence Vessel Wien, sinking both. Such courage and daring, however, was to be of little strategic value and served only as a distraction from meat-grinder war in the north. Though it read well in the papers.

Under General Diaz the attacks along the Isonzo front ceased and the harsh code of discipline imposed under Cadorna was relaxed. Italian losses were considerably reduced and over time morale amongst the troops was restored. With the rapid advance of the Allied forces on the Western Front it was decided to again take the iniative and plans were laid to assault the main concentration of Austrian forces at Vittorio Veneto.

The attack on Victorio Veneto followed an earlier attempt in June of that year by the Austrians to break through once and for all. They had brought all the force of their arms on the Italian Front to bear in a desperate last-ditch attempt to win the war, and it failed miserably. They suffered over 100,000 casualties and morale was close to collapse. The Austrians, it was believed, were there for the taking.

The Battle of Vittorio Veneto began on 24 October, 1918. For four days the fighting was as tough as ever and the going hard but the Austro-Hungarian Empire was itself beginning to disintegrate. On 28 October, the Czechs declared their independence, the following day the south Slavs did the same. On 30 October, Hungary abandoned its union with Austria. At the same time as the Empire itself was falling apart the Battle of Vittorio Veneto continued to be fought. Finally, the Austrian army surrendered. In the last frantic days of fighting they had suffered 35,000 killed and wounded and more than 300,000 were taken prisoner. The Italians lost 5,500 killed. The humiliation of Caporetto had been avenged. By the time the battle ended on 3 November the Austro-Hungarian Empire had ceased to exist.

The price Italy paid for its involvement in World War One was high. More than 620,000 of its young men had been killed and 947,000 wounded of whom 250,000 were maimed for life. Civilian casualties had also been high and the economy had been brought to its knees. The rewards it was to reap for its sacrifice were to be minimal. The Austro-Hungarian army lost 400,000 dead on the Italian Front and had ceased to exist.

At the Versailles Peace Conference Italy received nothing like it believed it had been promised. Much of the territory it thought would be theirs was absorbed into the newly formed State of Yugoslavia. The Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando was largely ignored and was perceived by many Italians as having been humiliated by the leaders of the other great powers. He left the Conference early and it seemed as if Italy had sacrificed its young men for nothing. What became known as the “mutilated peace” would become a propaganda tool for the far-right in its own ultimately successful war to discredit liberal democracy in the country and pave the way for the takeover of Mussolini’s blackshirts.

Born sometime in 248 BC, Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian. The city of Carthage, near modern day Tunis, was a Phoenician trading empire. Unlike its great rival Rome it was not militaristic in outlook, and never looked upon conquest as an end in itself. It’s raison d’etre was commerce. Therefore, it had little in the way of a standing army. Instead it would recruit mercenaries to do its fighting commanded by Carthaginian officers. One of these officers was Hannibal’s father, Hamilcar Barca. He was a General who had fought in the First Punic War 264-241 BC against Rome that had resulted in the defeat of Carthage and its acceptance of a humiliating peace. He was a military man who despised the aristocrats that had meekly lain Carthage prostrate before its greatest rival. Their only interest it seemed to him was in securing the trade routes and by doing so maintain their own prosperity.

Carthage was a society that made human sacrifices to the Goddess Elissa whom it was believed had founded the city in 814 BC. It was to one of these chambers of human sacrifice that Hamilcar took his son Hannibal, aged just 6. Having tasted the bitterness of defeat and aware that he may never have the opportunity to avenge himself on his most hated enemy he made his son swear an oath. In this most sacred of places Hannibal was made to repeat, ” I swear as soon as age will permit, that I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome.” Three years later he was taken, at his own insistence, on his father’s military campaign in Spain. He was not to see Carthage again for 40 years.

When Hannibal’s father Hamilcar was killed in battle, his brother-in-law Hasdrubal took command of the army.  Under his command Hannibal proved himself an exceptional cavalry officer. When Hasdrubal was in turn assassinated in 221 BC, the ever-popular Hannibal was his natural successor. The Roman historian Livy, describes the source of his popularity, ” the old soldiers fancied they saw Hamilcar in his youth; the same bright look, the same fire in his eye, the same trick of countenance and features. Never was one and the same spirit more skillful to meet opposition, to obey, or to command.”

Hannibal’s reputation soon grew as he set about consolidating Carthaginian power on the Iberian peninsular. He was well known to the Romans and they were aware of his barely disguised antipathy towards them. Even so, they underestimated him. They had made an alliance with the city of Saguntum to act as an impediment to Hannibal in Spain, and had vowed to protect it. Hannibal saw this as a casus belli, a cause for war, the war he so desperately sought. For 8 months he laid siege to the city. When it at last fell he sacked it and set his soldiers about massacring its inhabitants. He too could be ruthless and he meant to show that Roman promises of protection meant nothing. The outraged Romans demanded that the Carthaginians recall Hannibal and avail him to Roman justice. They refused. Relations between the two States broke down, and early 218 BC saw the outbreak of the Second Punic War. Hannibal had the war he so desired and now he would take it to the very gates of Rome itself.

What Hannibal did next took the Romans completely by surprise. Leaving a garrison behind in New Carthage (modern day Spain) to maintain order, he took his army, some 50,000 strong, and advanced on Italy. It was a fraught and dangerous journey. He first had to fight his way over the Pyrenees, quelling the local tribesmen, before eluding a Roman army that had been sent to intercept him in Gaul. Earlier 11,000 of his Spanish troops had to be left behind when they had refused to fight outside of their own country. He then achieved the remarkable feat of crossing the Alps in Winter taking with him 37 war elephants. But the journey had taken its toll. His soldiers had suffered terribly. They had been lost to avalanches, fallen to their deaths, or died of frostbite and starvation. By the time he emerged upon the Lombardy Plain his troop strength had been reduced to 20,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. He barely had an army with which to fight. Still the Romans were astonished at his appearance. Even so, they remained largely unconcerned. They preferred to fight their wars on foreign soil but believed they could defeat Hannibal’s rag tag little army whenever they chose.

Hannibal in the meantime set about co-opting the local Gallic tribes into his campaign. They had recently been conquered by the Romans in a vicious and prolonged struggle and were seething with the desire for revenge. They were fierce fighters and would go onto form the shock troops of Hannibal’s army. A minor victory over the Romans at Ticinus convinced many of the local tribes to join Hannibal. In very quick time he had doubled the size of his forces, but it was a mercenary army made up of Gauls, Libyans, Spaniards and Numidians, who still had to learn to fight as a unit.

Following the defeat at Ticinus, the Roman Senate had recalled the Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus and his legions from Sicily to deal with Hannibal. His orders were to link up with the army of Publius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio the Elder) and crush Hannibal with overwhelming force. By December, 218 BC, the two Roman armies were encamped on opposite banks of the Trebia River in the province of Placentia (Piacenza). Sempronius was eager to engage Hannibal in battle as soon as possible. Scipio, however, chastened by his experience at Ticinus, and still incapacitated by the wounds he had suffered, was more cautious. On the eve of battle he and Sempronius had a furious row. Sempronius wanted to launch an all out attack on Hannibals position. Scipio advised him to, ” let matters remain as they were,” until reinforcements arrived. Sempronius demanded to know where this third army was to come from. He accused Scipio of, ” cowering within his camp in the heart of Italy. What good is there “, he shouted, ” in further delay.” They parted acrimoniously.

In the meantime, Hannibal had been busy. He had despatched his brother Mago with 2,000 cavalry to conceal themselves amongst the riverbeds. He then sent his Numidians to attack the Roman camp knowing full-well that this would further enrage the already volatile Sempronius. Furious and still eager to lead his army against the impertinent little barbarian he advanced them straight into the trap Hannibal had set for them. Having to cross the semi-frozen Trebia on a bitterly cold day with the snow and rain sleeting down, and visibility poor, the soldiers soon became confused and disorganised. The Roman light infantry, fast and mobile, had detached themselves from the main force and were badly mauled by the heavily armed, and physically much stronger Gauls of Hannibal’s army. The fleeing infantry crashed into the main Roman army just as the Numidians were routing the inferior Roman cavalry on either flank. As the Romans tried to withdraw Hannibal sprang his trap. Mago with his 2,000 strong force of cavalry and foot soldiers attacked the Romans from the rear. The Roman army broke apart and a massacre ensued. More than 20,000 were killed, and many drowned as in panic they tried to re-cross the Trebia River and find the safety of Scipio’s camp. The same Scipio who had earlier rowed with Sempronius, watched events unfold from afar, but did nothing to support his co-commander.

Following the disaster of the Trebia River the Romans were forced to effectively abandon northern Italy to Carthaginian control, but it wasn’t their intention to do so for long. They were aware that for all his endeavours and increasingly desperate attempts at diplomacy, Hannibal had been unable to persuade Romes allies in Italy to abandon them. Shorn of local support the Carthaginians would remain little more than an occupying army, short on supplies, close to starvation, and constantly harassed.

The Roman Senate, therefore, remained unperturbed. Publius Cornelius Scipio was heavily criticised for his inaction at Trebbia and removed from command, but his army remained largely intact. He was replaced by Gaeus Servilius Geminus. The remains of Sempronius’s army were reinforced by two fresh legions and placed under the command of Gaius Flaminius. 

Gaius Flaminius was yet another ambitious young Roman aristocrat on the make and desperate for a triumph. He had been ordered to secure the countryside around Rome and ensure that the city itself remained safe. His duties, therefore, were essentially defensive. But he wanted to fight. Hannibal knew this and set about ravaging the countryside Flaminius had been given the responsibility to protect. Even so, the reputedly hot-headed and impetuous Flaminius refused to emerge from his encampment. Hannibal was desperate to lure him into battle before he was able to combine forces with the army of Geminus. Finally, Hannibal was forced to perform the first recorded turning movement in military history and placed his army between Flaminius and Rome. Humiliated by this act of bravado on the part of Hannibal, and despite being repeatedly counseled not to do so, Flaminius set off in hot pursuit. 

Hannibal’s tactics had worked. He withdrew before the advancing Romans whist he sought a battleground of his own choosing. The decisive encounter would occur on the shores of Lake Trasimene. 

As night descended on 23 June, 217 BC, Hannibal had fires lit some distance from where his army was actually positioned to confuse the Romans as to the exact location of his camp. Believing that Hannibal was too far away to pose a threat they were encouraged the following morning to set off along a narrow defile close to the shore of Lake Trasimene known as Malpasso (bad step) unaware that Hannibal’s army lay hidden in the woods to either side of them. It was a hot, sultry morning, a low mist lay upon the ground, and for much of the time the Romans were forced to march in close order and in single file. As they advanced Hannibal cut off their line of retreat. He then launched a feint attack to detach the Roman vanguard. Upon completion of this manouevre the trumpets sounded and the Carthaginian infantry and cavalry swept down from the hills to engulf the Roman army. Taken by complete surprise and with no room or time to form in battle order the Romans were forced to fight in the open. After three hours of fierce hand-to-hand fighting it was all over. More than 15,000 Romans were killed and 6,000 captured. These were later sold off into slavery. An army 4,000 strong sent to reinforce Flaminius was also destroyed. Flaminius himself was cut down by a Gaul who bore a personal grudge against him. Lake Trasimene was yet another complete victory for Hannibal achieved at little cost. He lost only 2,500 men. It also has a unique place in history as the only battle to have occurred in the midst of a massive earthquake.

Following the disaster at Trasimene Rome at last woke up to the threat posed by Hannibal. A panicky Senate now elected Quintus Fabius Maximus as Dictator for the coming year. His policy was to adopt a scorched earth policy, harass Hannibal’s forces, but avoid a pitched battle at all costs. It was an effective strategy but it lacked honour. The Romans thirsted to avenge their humiliations. Fabius Maximus’s dictatorship was not renewed and two Generals, Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro, were elected Consuls, and ordered to destroy Hannibal once and for all.  

Although they were frustrated by the tactics of Fabius Maximus the Roman Senate at least had to admit that he had bought them time, and they had used this time well to amass the largest army they had ever put into the field. Paullus and Varro would have a combined force of nearly 90,000 men with which to oppose Hannibal’s army of just 56,000. Despite having to face an army almost twice the size of his own Hannibal remained unconcerned. Whenever his junior officers mentioned the fact he merely scoffed. He knew that the coming conflict could be decisive and hastened to bring it on.

In the early Summer of 216 BC, Hannibal captured the Romans main supply depot at Cannae, and then proceeded to ravage the countryside surrounding it. As the Roman army advanced to oppose him, Hannibal did not try to outmanoeuvre them. Instead he harassed them at every turn. Those Romans who were ordered to bring water into the camp found themselves under constant attack, and at one point the Carthaginian cavalry even rode up to the edge of the Roman encampment and hurled insults at those within, vilifying them for being cowards and for refusing to fight. The Romans, it appeared, had suddenly lost the desire to engage and despite the taunts remained in their encampment for a number of weeks. There was it seemed a dispute between the two Consuls, who swapped command of the army on a daily basis, over strategy. Paullus wanted to engage Hannibal in one great battle, Varro was more cautious. According to Hannibal, it was Paullus who opposed him at Cannae.

On the swelteringly hot day of 2 August, 216 BC, the two armies formed up before one another on the open plain at Cannae. Hannibal had positioned his forces in front of the Aufidius River. This seemingly disastrous disposition was in fact an integral part of his strategy. He knew that the Romans would look to fight a traditional battle and seek to destroy the Carthaginian centre. So here he placed his best infantry, 8,000 Gauls and 8,000 Iberians. Despite being vastly outnumbered these men would have to absorb the main Roman assault. They would be supported by 6,000 Libyan and 5,500 Gaetulian light infantry on their flanks. The river to their rear would serve as their anchor. As the Romans pressed in, Hannibal’s cavalry would disperse their weaker Roman opponents and envelop the Roman infantry attacking them from the rear. It was a desperate, hard fought battle, the outcome of which for much of the time seemed in the balance, but Hannibal’s tactics worked like a dream. 

As Roman pressure began to tell the relatively weak Carthaginian centre was forced further and further back and a deep wedge was formed. Hannibal, fighting with his troops in the centre, ensured that the withdrawal remained orderly. He had also been cleverly dispersing his troops onto the flanks as his formation began to take on a crescent shape. Even so, a Roman victory seemed imminent. Hannibal knew, however, that with the river to their backs his men could not flee the field. They would have to fight or die. At last, his cavalry began to attack the Roman rear. As they did so, Hannibal ordered his troops on the flanks to close in. The deep wedge that the Romans had cut into the Carthaginian centre now worked against them as they were squeezed into a smaller and smaller space until they were hardly able to wield their weapons. They were surrounded.

The historian Polybius describes how the Romans were killed where they stood, many were crushed to death, and that the slaughter continued until nightfall. Some even tried to tunnel their way out of the melee. By the end of the day more than 50,000 Romans lay dead on the field at Cannae. Hannibal had lost 8,000 killed mostly from amongst his Gallic and Iberian infantry. 

The Battle of Cannae was Hannibal’s masterpiece and his greatest triumph. But it was to mark just the beginning of his troubles. He wanted to finish Rome off and avenge the defeat of the First Punic War but he couldn’t do so with the forces at his disposal. Following Cannae, for the first time, some of Rome’s allies began to desert them including the City State of Capua. King Philip V of Macedonia declared war on the Romans, though he was later to be crushed. But more than anything what Hannibal required was the support of Carthage itself. He needed men, he needed supplies. In a dramatic gesture he had the rings of every dead Roman removed and placed in a bag. He then sent his brother Mago to Carthage to announce the victory. As he did so he emptied the bag onto the floor of the Carthaginian Senate House so that they could see for themselves the magnitude of the victory. They were suitably impressed but after much debate the support was still not forthcoming. Hannibal was on his own. 

Upon hearing this news Hannibal was urged by his subordinates to march on Rome as soon as possible. When he declined to do so the Commander of his Numidian cavalry, Maharbal exclaimed in exasperation, ” Truly the God’s have not bestowed all things upon the same person. Thou knowest indeed, Hannibal, how to conquer, but thou knowest not how to make use of your victory.” But Rome was a massive city protected by strong defensive walls and with a population well over a hundred thousand. The countryside still remained hostile to him and his army now numbered less than than 50,000. To march upon Rome and then be unable to take it would provide the Romans with a massive psychological victory, and at the same time diminish his reputation in the eyes of those in Italy he still hoped to wean off their allegiance to them. So instead of besieging the city he sent emissaries to Rome to negotiate a peace settlement. But in adversity the Romans now showed great resilience and were in no mood to parley. The entire male population of the city were mobilised and trained for war, even the more trustworthy among the slaves. The word “peace” was even banned from conversation. New legions were raised, and Fabius Maximus was again elected dictator.

Fabius Maximus quickly re-employed the tactics that had been so successful in the year prior to Cannae. The same tactics that had bought him so little credit and a great deal of opprobrium. It not being considered the Roman way. He placed small armies in Hannibal’s way so as to limit his movement, blocked passes, destroyed crops, harassed him at every turn, but stubbornly refused to commit to battle. Hannibal continued to defeat those Roman armies not directly under Maximus’s command that dared to confront him, most notably in 212 and 208 BC, but he could not engineer another Cannae, and all the time his forces were growing weaker and those of Rome of stronger. He was also handicapped by the fact that his subordinate commanders were never as effective when not under his direct influence. His brother Hasdrubal, whom he trusted was one such. He had been defeated and killed in battle. His head was cut off, placed in a bag, transported across Italy, and then tossed into Hannibal’s camp. It was a personal tragedy that effected him deeply. 

Despite all his successes in Italy the ruling Carthaginian oligarchy refused to support him. These were made up of the 100 or so richest and most prominent noble families and their overriding interest was always commerce. They viewed Hannibal’s activities as little more than a personal vendetta against the Romans. His great rival was Hanno the Great who blocked all attempts by Hannibal’s allies in Carthage to reinforce him.

In 203 BC, after almost 15 years in Italy Hannibal was recalled to Carthage to defend it against the army of Publius Cornelius Scipio, who shared the name of his disgraced father who had been defeated at Ticinus and had refused to fight at Trebia. He was later to become famous as Scipio Africanus. Scipio, who had fought many times against Hannibal was a great admirer. On the eve of battle he invited Hannibal to dinner on the pretext of negotiations for a peaceful settlement. The negotiations went nowhere, even so they spent a convivial evening during which Scipio was to discover that Hannibal was not shy of his genius.

The following morning the two armies formed on the plain of Zama. Hannibal’s army was made up of a small core of veterans and conscripts forced into service from southern Italy. His elite Numidian cavalry, seeing the way the tide was turning, had changed sides. Scipio’s army was the best that Rome could put into the field. So though Hannibal’s army was numerically superior it was of doubtful loyalty. Even so, Zama was a close fought battle only being decided late in the day when the Roman cavalry re-emerged on the battlefield to cut a swathe into the Carthaginian rear.

With the defeat of Hannibal so was Carthage defeated. It had nothing left to defend itself with but his genius. All Rome now expected Scipio to raise it to the ground, but his terms for surrender were surprisingly modest. Hannibal was even permitted to successfully run for the position of Suffete, or Chief Magistrate. He proved to be as able a politician as he was a General. He restored the power of the Magistracy, he appealed directly to the people as opposed to the nobility who had always loathed him, cleaned up the city’s politics, and put an end to corruption. Under Hannibal Carthage slowly regained its prosperity. This unnerved the Romans who had not forgotten Hannibal. The phrase, ” Hannibal, is at the gates, ” was still used whenever Rome faced a crisis, and to frighten small children into compliance. So some 12 years after his defeat at Zama, Rome demanded that Carthage surrender him to their care. Before any action could be taken against him Hannibal went into voluntary exile. He was to all intents and purposes a man on the run, a General for hire. He was honourably received wherever he went but he was feared and few offered him a position of any power. Still, he served the King of Bithynia and later commanded the Saleucid fleet. In one battle he devised a plan whereby pots full of poisonous snakes were used to bombard the enemies ships. They shattered on impact and sewed panic in the enemies crews. The plan worked. It was to be Hannibal’s last great triumph.   

All the time that Hannibal lived his nomadic existence the Romans were closing in. Finally, he was tracked down to the small town of Libyssa on the shores of the Sea of Marmara. As he sat on the porch of his villa he could see the Roman troops approaching. He quickly penned a last letter, ” Let us relieve the Romans from the anxiety they have so long experienced, since they think it tries their patience too much to wait for an old man’s death.” He then took the poison he had for so many years carried with him. Hannibal, Rome’s Nemesis, and the man sworn to its destruction, was dead. It was 181 BC, he was aged 63.

Throughout its history, Rome was to face many formidable enemies; Mithradaites, Boadicea, Vercingeatorix, the quarrelsome Jews, the unconquerable Parthians, and Attila the Hun, but none was as formidable as Hannibal. He repeatedly defeated the Romans in battle on their own soil. His victories were comprehensive and total but deprived of succour and support from those in whose interests he fought his endeavours were doomed to failure. But it was a glorious failure. 

Although history takes many forms the end results are always the same, embracing the life of man, animals and plants.

The historians recalled history as they saw it in their minds eye.  At the same time it is always noted that the historian in his reflection of history at any given time will always coin such history to suit the writer and his nationality. 

The true history has been mis-represented by many historians mostly by design, in some cases by ignorance.  The fact remains all the noted historians have seemed quite able to take out of context the historical process of mankind and conveniently presented themselves, their race and the country of their origin as being the creator and the contributor to the entire well-being of man.  This misappropriation of man’s fundamental heritage was designed for the purpose of influencing generations to come that they only were responsible for all that was good and progressive in that epoch. 

The Europeans have tried to convince the world that they were the forerunners of civilised thinking, the forerunner of mechanization, and the only nations capable of advancement, hence when they speak of other continents or countries outside the ambit of Europe they speak of a dark and uncivilized land.  For example, Africa is called the Dark Continent, Asia the wild continent, Australia a continent of cannibals, America, the continent of the unknown. 

All this seems to emphasise their inherent belief in their superior wisdom, therefore conditioning the minds of man that all of mankind who did not find its roots in Europe are of an inferior infrastructure. 

This conditioning has influenced mans thinking to such an extent that even the victims sometimes become convinced of their inferiority. 

The true facts of history state the civilized and advanced thinking did not come from Europe but from the continent of Africa, Asia and America. 

These continents civilizations are roughly 10,000 years older than any of the European civilizations.  As late as 7,000 B.C. the British Isles was so remote and its people so backward they were living in caves painting themselves blue, they were known as the Blue foots.  Yet today these Blue foots tried to convince the world they are the forerunners of civilization and the upholder of all that is good and just. 

The most important question is, when Hannibal of Carthage crossed the Alps with his army of 10,000 soldiers and 5,000 elephants and marched onto the gates of Rome, had he tore the gate down instead of turning back would not history be coined in a different way,  the Europeans would be in the position of the black people today. 

Asians and Africans have been travelling throughout Europe for thousands of years, bartering their goods with Europeans.  These Asians and Africans were always friendly people.  They did not take with them any arms in their travel as it was not their intention to capture, imprison and enslave the inhabitants of Europe, they brought with them news of the outside world and trinkets made of gold, silver, copper and ivory.   Often as free gifts to their newly acquired friends in each land where they ventured.  Sometimes as a peace offering as a means to prevent confrontations from the many barbaric races and tribes they encountered.

One traveller told him about a land on the other side of the Alps, and he was entranced by his account of happy people, healthy children, high mountains, and small lakes. Nicolas decided that he wanted to see this country, and therefore he called his dark skinned servant and they loaded an ass with oranges, tangerines, sweetmeats, nuts, and toys. And they crossed the high mountain passes over the Alps to come down out of eternal snow into the land of the Switzers.

From near and from far, people gathered to admire his outlandish finery. They prepared a feast for him and his companion and there was food, drink, music, singing and dancing. And Nicolas enquired about the children and where he learned that they were good children to their parents, he gave those fruits and nuts, but where he learned they were disobedient to their parents, they received a slap to their wrists from his companion.

After the feast during the night, Nicolas went from house to house filling the shoes of children with presents and leaving gold coins in the dwellings of the poor. But at one hut he couldn’t leave his presents. The people were so poor, their little house had no windows and the door was locked. Nicolas decided to throw gold coins through the chimney where they landed in the socks hanging by the fireside for drying.

The next morning, the family found the gold and they thought that they had received a gift from God, but their neighbour told them about their presents and the holy man from Italy who had distributed them to everybody during the night. They hurried to the farm where Santa Claus had stabled his ass, but they found the stable empty.

The day Santa Claus had arrived in Switzerland had been the 6th of December. The people named him Samichlaus (Santa Claus) and the story goes that he returns every year on that day together with his companion and an ass laden with gifts.

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