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A Memorable History of Deception and Spy Capers

Khalid Elhassan June 7, 2020 34 min

Operation Mincemeat - World War II — Items recovered from Major Martin and his briefcase. BBC

31. Baiting the Romans

Hannibal’s campaigns in Italy, 218-216 BC. John D Clare

Hannibal followed Flaminius, as the Roman consul headed to Rome. Marching faster, the Carthaginian commander overtook and passed Flaminius, and got his own army between that of the Romans and their home city. It was one of history’s earliest examples of a successful strategic turning movement, getting between a defender and his base.

Taking advantage of that, and to draw out Flaminius and goad him into giving battle, Hannibal began devastating and burning the countryside as he marched south. Flaminius was forced to hurry his army to catch up with Hannibal before the Carthaginian reached Rome.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.