Book excerpt: Hannibal's invasion of Italia in 218 BC was one of the boldest mountain military operations of the Second Punic War, if not the entire ancient world. A master of warfare, he remains an enigmatic figure known mainly from descriptions written by his adversaries. In this unique work of fiction, Hannibal, a Carthaginian, member of a North African banking family and the son of a famous general, is accurately depicted as a strong leader who spent his entire life fighting the Romans. His restless, investigative mind, along with a deep love and appreciation of Greek culture, was nurtured into the Carthaginian war machine by his father and brother-in-law. Hannibal was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Carthaginian Army by the troops in 221. In late spring 218, his army of 65,000 men and 37 elephants left Cartagena in Spain, subdued tribes on the fringes of the Pyrénées Mountains, crossed southern Gaul into the Rhône Basin, and marched across the Alps into Italia. The Warmaker: Hannibal's Invasion of Italia and the Aftermath provides a fictional account of the war master, and what could likely have happened, following his military success in Italia, had he decided to conquer Rome.