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Losing Battles, Winning Wars

“… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…”

-- Ecclesiastes

“It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong — but that’s the way to bet.”

— Hugh E. Keough (sometimes attributed to Damon Runyon)

Between 218 BC and 216 BC, Hannibal of Carthage defeated one of the greatest armies — that of the Roman Republic — in not one but three decisive battles. Battles of the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae were so shrewdly won by Hannibal against such great odds, some of the tactics employed by him are studied to this day.

But Rome didn't capitulate.

Romans decided to bide their time until their advantages of resources ultimately turned the wind of the war. Hannibal was soundly defeated 15 years later not on Roman soil but at Carthaginian battlefield.

Sometimes resilience is the difference between ruin and survival.

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