Hard-Earned Lessons from History for Leaders Caught in Worst-Case Scenarios

Often when asked about what we can learn from history, our minds turn towards ideas of how history can stop us from making the same mistakes again. But – as the saying goes – “the only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.” So if we are not very good at ensuring we don’t make the same mistakes again, perhaps we are better at intentionally copying some of the great names and deeds of the past? This is another fun historical game, with endless examples of those who style themselves in the image of a successful historical figure in order to cloak themselves in something of that person’s reputation.

Here I offer not ways in which you can make yourself great but instead a few handy hints from history that would look good in one of those Worst Case Scenario Survival handbooks. I (health and safety and legal waiver!) hope you don’t ever have to face any of the situations below. But if you do have to, forewarned is forearmed!

Stylish Assassinations and their avoidance

Lots of rulers were assassinated in the ancient world – and many times the methods were not that subtle. But just occasionally you see an assassination attempt with real class that sits alongside any of the crazy plans you read about concocted by secret intelligence services in recent decades. Like those attempted against the First Emperor of Qin – Qin Shi Huangdi – who ruled in the late 3rd century BCE and was the first Chinese warlord to unify the whole of China under his rule. As a result, as you can imagine, the number of his defeated enemies who sought revenge, and the number of those who resented the crushing weight with which he enforced uniformity on a hitherto disparate Chinese landscape, was large. The first attempt on his life was with the humdrum dagger. But the second was with a lute – a musical instrument – reinforced with lead to ensure it caused traumatic damage when it struck. This too however failed, and the third was even more audacious: with a wrecking ball. All attempts on Qin Shi Huangdi’s life – while at the very least innovative – failed, not least because he increasingly preferred to rule from the shadows, moving around in a vast underground network of tunnels.

Across the ancient world in the Mediterranean, the Carthaginian leader Hannibal – who took on the might of Rome – was also having to keep a constant vigil against assassination by Roman spies. He did not have a set of tunnels to hand, so he resorted it is said to wearing a number of different wigs when out and about in the military camp to ensure no one recognized him. It worked well – to this day there is not an authoritative portrait of Hannibal: what he really looked like remains a mystery to us.

Dealing with your enemies

So the saying goes, “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” But in the ancient world, a show of strength was much preferred when it came to enemies. Especially those who had tried to remove you from power or have you killed. When Antiochus III – ruler of the great Seleucid empire stretching from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean to the depths of central Asia in modern-day Afghanistan – finally got his hands on a rival – his nephew - who had claimed the throne for himself, he spared the man no mercy. Achaeus, the rebel, was executed, his hands and legs chopped off, the remaining trunk of his body crucified, and in the ultimate display of mastery, Antiochus ordered Achaeus’ head be chopped off and sewn onto the skin of an ass (a donkey).

But even that does not beat the efforts of the Empress Dowager Lü back in China in the early 2nd century BCE. The Empress – to protect her own power base – felt she had to deal with the former concubine of her dead husband (the previous ruler) and the issue of their union. The child she is said to have poisoned; the concubine she first treated like a convict – ordering her head shaved, forcing her into hard labor. Eventually she decreed the poor woman’s limbs be severed, her eyes gouged out and her ears sliced off, after which she was dumped in a latrine. When the son of the Dowager Lü was brought to witness what his mother called a “human pig,” he is said to have fallen ill for a year. He told his mother he was incapable of such cruelty, handed over power to her completely henceforth and devoted his life to sex and drink.

Ways to manage a difficult conversation

We all have to have difficult conversations now and then – be it with family, friends or colleagues (or the boss!). But few conversations could have been more prickly than that between Hannibal – commander of the Carthaginian forces in the late 3rd century BCE – and Scipio Africanus – the Roman general who had been fighting Hannibal for well over a decade. The conversation took place in north Africa, on the battlefield of Zama in modern day Tunisia, in 202 BC. It was at the very end of the long campaign by Hannibal to take on the might of Rome.

Having held the upper hand for many years and having come perilously close to toppling Rome, Hannibal was now on the back foot, forced back to Africa to defend his homeland. Scipio on the other hand – who had seen his father defeated by Hannibal, had faced Hannibal himself in battle several times, and had masterminded Rome’s comeback – now saw victory within his grasp. And in sands of Zama, before the battle, Hannibal asked for a private conversation with Scipio. Just the two generals and their interpreters – all their staff and retinue were left behind.

Just what to say at such a moment? Both men acknowledged their mutual respect for one another’s abilities and Hannibal asked for an advantageous peace accord – one Scipio refused to give, as now putting Carthage down had become a matter of Roman prestige. What more to say? Hannibal’s last throw of the dice was to point to Fate itself. Carful, he warned Scipio, because Fate, while now in his favor, could easily turn the other way. It had after all happened to Hannibal. Scipio is said to have been sanguine at the perilous nature of Fate, and said effectively that he would take his chances. There was nothing left for each of them to say, so they turned their backs and went back to their army lines, waiting to see what fate would decide for them both that day.

Scipio won at Zama, and was the first Roman general in history to be given an epithet linked to the location of his greatest success: henceforth he was Scipio Africanus. And perhaps the conversation had in some ways worked for Hannibal’s advantage. Despite their rivalry, the two men, had a grudging respect for one another and Scipio even defended Hannibal from further personal retaliations by Rome after Carthage had capitulated. After all – there was no telling what Fate had next in store.