Scipio Africanus

Hannibal is the better remembered figure of the Second Punic War, but B. H. Liddell Hart makes the case for his Roman opponent, Scipio, who as a commander never lost a battle. The book follows Scipio from his first taste of war at the Ticinus, where he rescued his wounded father, to supreme command in 210 B.C., the destruction of Carthaginian power in Spain, the campaign in Africa against Syphax and the defeat of Hannibal at Zama, feats that earned him the title Africanus. Liddell Hart argues that Scipio's battles hold more stratagems and ruses than any other commander's, and that he joined military, economic and political strategy while serving a republic rather than ruling as a despot like Napoleon.

James Mattis included it on the list of favorite books in an appendix to Call Sign Chaos.