William “Bull” Halsey “the greatest fighting admiral” of
the conflict.
References: Potter, Elmer Belmont, Bull Halsey: A Biogra-
phy (Annapolis, Md.: United States Naval Institute Press,
1985); Merrill, James M., A Sailor’s Admiral: A Biography
of William F. Halsey (New York: Crowell, 1976); Bruce,
Anthony, and William Cogar, “Halsey, William Frederick,
Jr.” in An Encyclopedia of Naval History (New York: Check-
mark Books, 1999), 168; Watson, Bruce W., “Halsey,
William F. (‘Bull’),” in Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military
History and Biography, edited by Franklin D. Margiotta
(Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 1994), 421–424.
Hamilcar Barca (Hamilcar Barcas) (ca. 270–229
b.c.) Carthaginian general
Although Hamilcar Barca was an important military
commander, his son hannibal’s historical fame has far
surpassed his own, and his name is now forgotten, ex-
cept among military historians. Born about 270 b.c.,
Hamilcar’s early life is unknown. His first recorded
achievement occurred in 247 b.c., when he was approxi-
mately 23 years old and took command of Carthage’s
forces in Sicily, then under almost complete Roman con-
trol, during the First Punic War. His forces seized Mt.
Ercte (now Monte Pellegrino, near Palermo) and held it
against superior Roman forces for five years. When the
war ended in 241 b.c. with Carthage’s defeat, Hamilcar
was allowed to take his forces and leave Sicily with his
army intact. Upon his return to Carthage, when Hamil-
car was denied any benefits for his service, his men muti-
nied; it was only through his intervention and by dealing
severely with the mutineers that the rising (called by his-
torians “The Truceless War,” 238 b.c.), ended. He was
then hurriedly reinstated by the government.
Named as the leader of Carthage in 237 b.c.,
Hamilcar ruled alone as a virtual dictator for the next
eight years. Historian Louis P. Rawlings writes: “From
237 until his death in 229 he embarked on a conquest
of southern Spain. It appears that he was attempt-
ing to build for Carthage an empire to counter that of
Rome in Italy. He took with him his three sons, Han-
nibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, and reputedly made them
swear never to be a friend of Rome.” The editors of The
Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare
write that “[Hamilcar] was appointed to lead an army to
the aid of the Sicilian city of Himera, probably because
he was the formal guest-friend (xenos) of Terillus, tyrant
of that city.”
It was at Himera (229 b.c.) that Hamilcar met his
end. Historian George Bruce writes that the clash was
“between the Syracusans and Agrigentines, 557,000
strong under Gelon, Tyrant of Syracuse, and the Car-
thaginians, said to number 300,000, under Hamilcar.
The Carthaginians were totally routed, and Hamil-
car [was] slain. Syracuse became paramount in Sicily.”
Historian Lee Sweetapple relates that Hamilcar was
drowned at Himera. His legacy, is that he instilled tacti-
cal and strategic skills—as well as an undying hatred of
Rome—into his famous son Hannibal.References: Rawlings, Louis P., “Hamilcar Barca,” in The
Penguin Dictionary of Ancient History, edited by Graham
Speake (London: Penguin Books, 1995), 298; Delbrück,
Hans, Warfare in Antiquity: History of the Art of War, vol. I
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 305, 312;
Warmington, Brian Herbert, Carthage (Harmondsworth,
U.K.: Penguin Books, 1969); “Hamilcar” and “Himera,”
in The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval
Warfare (Oxford, U.K.: Helicon Publishing, Ltd., 1998),
137–138; Bruce, George, “Himera,” in Collins Diction-
ary of Wars (Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins Publish-
ers, 1995), 110; Sweetapple, Lee A., “Hannibal Barca,”
in Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography,
edited by Franklin D. Margiotta (Washington, D.C.:
Brassey’s, 1994), 424.Hamilton, Sir Ian Standish Monteith (1853–
1947) British general
Born on the island of Corfu, then under British con-
trol, on 16 January 1853, Ian Hamilton accompanied
his family back to England and received his education at
Wellington College and in Germany. Joining the British
army in 1872, he was commissioned into the Gordon
Highlanders. He first saw action in the first Afghan War
(1878–80) and then in the First Boer War (1881), when
he suffered a serious injury at Majuba Hill (27 Febru-
ary 1881), leaving his left arm permanently disabled.
He served on the Nile Expedition (1884–85), with the
British army in Burma (1886–87), and the North-West
Frontier of India, where he commanded a brigade in
1897.
With the outbreak of the Second Boer War (usually
known as “the Boer War,” 1899–1902), Hamilton was0 hAmilcAR bARcA