Punic Wars 264–146 BC

Nigel Bagnall was born in India in 1927, the son and grandson of Army Officers. He was educated at Wellington College and joined the army in January 1946. Commissioned a year later he saw service in Palestine, Malaya, the Canal Zone, Cyprus, Borneo, Singapore and Germany. He was Commander in Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and ended his career as Chief of the General Staff. He was a Defence Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and then an Honorary Fellow. Nigel Bagnall died in 2002.

• IntroductionChronologyBackground to warWarring sidesThe fightingPortrait of a soldierThe world around warPortrait of a civilianHow the war endedConclusion and consequencesFurther reading