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Taleb mentions the brilliance of Hannibal but fails to mention the stubborness of the Romans, who never offered terms, even after many defeats. In the end, Rom
by squozzer 10y ago
Taleb mentions the brilliance of Hannibal but fails to mention the stubborness of the Romans, who never offered terms, even after many defeats.
In the end, Rome destroyed Carthage.
- Mickydtron 10y agoI actually am struggling to see the real relevance of the military examples there at the end. It seems to be there to show that stubbornness and/or courage results in winning (to rather grossly simplify). But it should be obvious that neither stubbornness or courage are enough for military victory, and it's not too hard to find examples where the opposite was what brought victory. In fact, we don't even need to leave the Punic wars. Hannibal's winning move at Cannae was in fact to have the center of his battle formation not be stubborn, and fall back, drawing the Romans into an encircling trap. Fabian's strategy was seen as cowardly, but as squozzer notes, Hannibal didn't destroy Rome, while Rome did eventually destroy Carthage.