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The
Carthaginian general Hannibal (247-182 BCE) was one of the greatest
military leaders in history. His most famous campaign took place during
the so-called Second Punic War (218-202), when he caught the Romans
off-guard by crossing the Alps.
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Youth (247-219)
When
Hannibal was born in 247 BCE, his birthplace Carthage (the capital of
what is now Tunisia) was a humiliated city: it had been the
Mediterranean's most prosperous seaport and it had possessed wealthy
provinces, but it had recently been defeated by the Romans, who had
stripped Carthage of most its overseas territories - Sicily, Sardinia
and Corsica.
Hannibal
was the oldest son of the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who took
him to Spain in 237, where he was trying to conquer Andalusia, thus
compensating for the loss of Carthage's provinces. When Hamilcar died
(229), Hannibal's brother-in-law Hasdrubal took over command. The new
governor secured the Carthaginian position by diplomatic means, among
which was intermarriage between Carthaginians and Iberians. Hannibal
married a native princess.
In
221, Hasdrubal was murdered and Hannibal was elected commander by the
Carthaginian army in Spain. He returned to his father's military
politics and attacked the natives again: in 220 he took Salamanca. The
next year, he besieged Saguntum, a Roman ally. Since Rome was occupied
with the Second Illyrian War and was consequently unable to support the
town, Saguntum fell after a blockade of eight months.
Already
in antiquity, the question whether the capture of Saguntum was a
violation of a treaty between Hasdrubal and the Roman Republic was
discussed. It is impossible to solve this problem. The fact is,
however, that the Romans felt offended, and demanded Hannibal to be
handed over by the Carthaginian government.
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From Saguntum to Cannae (218-216)
While
these negotiations were still going on, Hannibal tried to extent
Carthage's territory: he appointed his brother Hasdrubal (not to be
confused with Hannibal's brother-in-law) as commander in Spain, and in
May 218 he crossed the river Ebro in order to complete the conquest of
the Iberian peninsula. On hearing the news, Rome declared the Second
Punic War and sent reinforcements to Sicily, where they expected a
Carthaginian attack.
Hannibal
interrupted his campaigns in Catalonia, and decided to win the war by a
bold invasion of Italy before the Romans were prepared. In a lightning
campaign, he crossed the Pyrenees and the river Rhone. Thence, by a
heroic effort, made difficult by autumn snow, he crossed the Alps. In
October 218, twenty thousand soldiers, six thousand knights and thirty
seven elephants had reached the plains along the river Po in the
vicinity of the Italian town Turin.
The
Po-plains were inhabited by Gauls, who were subjected to the Romans,
and only too willing to welcome Hannibal an throw off the Roman yoke.
The Romans were aware of the danger that Hannibal might entice the
Gauls into rebellion, and had sent an army to prevent this. However, in
a cavalry engagement at the river Ticinus, the Carthaginians defeated
their opponents. Now, some 14,000 Gauls volunteered to serve under
Hannibal. Thanks to their help, Hannibal won a second victory at the
river Trebia, defeating a Roman army that had been supplemented with
the Roman troops that had been sent to Sicily earlier that year.
In
March 217, Hannibal left Bologna, traversed the Apennines and ravaged
Etruria (modern Tuscany). During a minor engagement, he lost an eye.
The Romans counterattacked, but their consul Flaminius was defeated and
killed in an ambush between the hills and lake of Trasimene. Two Roman
legions were annihilated. Hannibal expected that Rome's allies would
leave their master and come over to Carthago. This, however, did not
happen, and Hannibal crossed the Apennines a second time, in order to
establish a new base in the "heel" of Italy.
While
he tried to win over Rome's allies by diplomatic means, the Romans got
out of Hannibal's way: they appointed Quintus Fabius Cunctator as a
dictator, and this man tailed the invader, but evaded battle. During
the winter, Hannibal was unable to receive reinforcements, and most of
Rome's allies remained loyal.
Therefore,
in 216 the Roman senate decided that time had come to solve the problem
by one great, decisive battle. Taking no risks, the two consuls raised
an army of no less than 80,000 men, whereas Hannibal's army counted
only 26,000 Carthaginians, 12,000 Gauls and 7,000 Italians. In July,
the Romans pinned down the Carthaginian army in the neighborhood of
Cannae, and battle was engaged on the second of August. Hannibal's
convex, crescent-shaped lines slowly became concave under pressure of
the Roman elite troops in the center, which, being thus encircled and
finally surrounded by the Carthaginian cavalry in the rear, failed to
break through and were destroyed. After this event, most Roman allies
switched sides. Sardinia revolted; Capua became Hannibal's capital in
Italy.
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From Cannae to Zama (216-202)
However,
the Roman senate refused to come to terms and Rome's allies in Central
Italy remained loyal: therefore, Hannibal endorsed a larger strategy in
order to make the Romans dissipate their strength. In the winter, he
started a diplomatic offensive, and in 215 he secured an alliance with
Macedonia; Syracuse became a Carthaginian ally in 214.
Meanwhile,
the Romans regained self-confidence and ground: Hannibal's attempts to
capture towns like Cumae and Puteoli failed, and Hannibal decided that
he had to abandon this offensive in Central Italy. He had been in Italy
for almost four years, and his army needed reinforcements. Therefore,
he turned his attention to the south of Italy, and captured ports like
Tarentum (213), facilitating the supply of new soldiers from Macedonia
and Carthago. Rome countered this by an alliance with the Greek towns
in Aetolia, who started a war against Macedonia.
In
212, Rome took the initiative again and started to cut off Hannibal's
lines of contact: first, it sent armies to recapture Syracuse and
Capua. Syracuse was betrayed and re-entered the Roman alliance. The
siege of Capua lasted for a long time, but Hannibal knew that his now
exhausted troops were unable to hold it. He tried to make the Romans
lift their siege by a sudden attack on Rome itself, but in vain: in
211, Capua was taken by the Romans.
Slowly,
the Romans pushed Hannibal to the south. In 209, they recaptured
Tarentum. Hannibal's situation became difficult and the Carthaginian
government was unwilling to risk troops in order to give him support
over his hazardous lines of contact. Therefore, Hannibal decided to ask
help from his brother Hasdrubal, who was still in Spain. This time, the
Romans were not surprised by a Carthaginian invasion across the Alps:
Hasdrubal was defeated at the river Metaurus before he could contact
his brother (207). Hannibal's hope of reinforcement was sadly
diminished.
The
Romans hunted him down in southern Italy, but Hannibal was able to
continue a kind of guerilla war in the "toe" of Italy. Meanwhile, the
Rome conquered Spain (206), which had been given up by Hasdrubal. Then,
Rome's commander Publius Cornelius Scipio crossed the Mediterranean and
attacked Carthago itself. Unlike the Roman senate, which had not
panicked when Rome was under attack by Hannibal, the Carthaginian
government was disheartened and recalled Hannibal's unconquered army
from Italy (203).
The
decisive battle of the Second Punic War was therefore, thanks to Roman
stubbornness, not fought on Italian soil, but in Africa: after some
minor engagements, Scipio and Hannibal clashed in Zama (202). Hannibal
tried to repeat his Cannae tactics, but Scipio had better cavalry than
the unfortunate consuls fourteen years before. Hannibal's encircling
movement failed, and the Carthaginians were defeated. Hannibal escaped
to Carthago, and advised negotiations. In 201, peace was signed. Rome
asked an enormous prize: it demanded Carthago's fleet, its territories
in Spain, and an indemnity of no less than 10,000 talents, to be paid
in fifty annual instalments.
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The elder statesman (202-182)
Carthago's
economy was ruined and the people of Carthago choose Hannibal as
suffete (a kind of consul). In this capacity, Hannibal promoted a
modest democracy, reorganized the revenues and stimulated agriculture
and commerce. However, the constitutional reform clipped the wings of
the oligarchs, who informed the Roman senate of Hannibal's plan to ally
Carthago with Syria; they suggested that Hannibal wanted to invade
Italy a second time, if Syria would give him an army. It is unknown if
this accusation was true, but when the Romans sent a commission of
inquiry, Hannibal fled to Syria.
In
these years, Rome and Syria both tried to establish a zone of influence
in Greece and Macedonia. Rome was very successful, and the Syrians
decided to invade Greece (188). In this Syrian War, Hannibal advised
the Syrians to invade Italy. It is easy to guess who was to be the
commander of the invading army. Instead, he was given only a minor
naval command and was eventually defeated in a naval battle off Side by
Rome's maritime ally Rhodes (190).
After
the decisive defeat of the Syrians, Hannibal had to flee again: this
time, he found refuge in Bithynia, which country he supported in its
war against Pergamum. As an admiral, he celebrated his last victory,
defeating the Pergamene fleet (184). However, Rome intervened in
Pergamum's favour, and Hannibal poisoned himself to avoid extradition
(winter 183/182).
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Assessment
The
Mediterranean world of the third and second centuries was in a process
of transforming itself into some kind of unity. It had been a divided
region in the fifth and fourth centuries, but both culturally and
politically it was reorganizing itself. The creation of a Mediterranean
Empire was inevitable, and the big issue of the Second Punic War was
whether this Mediterranean Empire was to be a Roman or a Carthaginian
world.
After
Hannibal's death, Roman power was not seriously challenged for almost
six centuries. Perhaps, we should be grateful, because a victory by
Hannibal would have created a Carthaginian Empire. A book about human
rights in Carthage would not be a big volume; on the other hand, the
Romans offered the inhabitants of Italy and -later- the Mediterranean
world a civil law code that contained some elements that we still
consider to be important. (This is not to deny that Rome could be a
cruel and savage ruler.) Moreover, Rome gave its allies a share in the
benefits of the Empire: initially, it shared booty, but it was to share
its citizenship.
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Literature: the most important sources on Hannibal are Livy's books 21-39 and books 3-16 of the history by Polybius.
Quoted from:http://www.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/hannibal.html with permission
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