Early Life Hannibal Barca (Hannibal) was born in Carthage(present-day Tunisia) 247 B.C.. Ever since he was a young boy, Hannibal hated Rome with a fiery passion. At a young age his father (Hamilcar Barca) took Hannibal to Spain and made him swear eternal hatred toward Rome and its empire. Hannibal even asked his father to let him go on campaign with him in Spain. As an officer in Spain he won his first Laurels, at the time he was under the command of Hasdrubal. At age 26 he was given control of an army and was sent to maintain Carthaginian control over Iberia. He won the favor of all of his men by being: similar to his father, brave, simple in life, and willing to share the hardships of his men. The things that have been said of him being cruel and treacherous have been dismissed as false, anti-Carthaginian war propaganda.
Hannibal’s March Across The Alps
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They went through the Pyrenees, southern Gaul(France) and up the Rhone river valley. As they passed through the Alps Hannibal’s army was frozen by cold and attacked by local tribes all along the route. Often times the tribes would roll heavy stones across the Carthaginians path. They finally exited the Alps after two weeks and with only 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, but most of the elephants. An army commanded by Scipio was sent to Spain where they were supposed to battle Hannibal. However Scipio missed the elusive Carthaginians, but Scipio’s scouts followed them to the foothills of the Alps. Assuming Hannibal was headed to Italy Scipio sent his army to Spain but, he sailed to Rome to warn of the attack and get another army to fight Hannibal with. Hannibal got to the Ticinus river where Scipio and his forces were waiting for them. Even though they lost lots of men in the Alps the Carthaginians still won, Scipio was injured and forced to flee before he was
In the story “Killing Caesar” by Jon Herman, “blood ejected from his gums” “His jaw was sagging possibly broken, and fresh bruises would soon litter his body”. Caesar was a hero; he should not have been killed the way he was. Caesar was the greatest ruler Rome had ever had, he had strong, high plans for Rome’s Future. Almost everybody in Rome loved Caesar; In Rome Caesar was treated like a god. Caesar was a great man and died a hero to Rome.
A change in the Carthaginian senate in 203 greatly influenced Hannibal’s campaign in Italy. Hannibal’s popularity had declined and his faction no longer held the power in Carthage that it previously held by 203 B.C. A treaty enacted by the Romans and Carthaginians for peace could only come into force once Hannibal and his brother Mago left Italy. Clearly, Hannibal realized the Carthaginians had named him the scapegoat for the War. Livy states that no sooner had Hannibal realized this when he immediately blamed Hanno for this disgrace. Within a year, Hannibal returned to Africa, only to lose one of the decisive battles of the war.
His troops and horses arrived tired after the long march which in battle is not something you want to be. Furthermore he was known as rash and went
This conflict began in 218 B.C. when Saguntum, a Roman ally, was attacked by Hannibal, a Carthaginian military general (Lazenby, 265). When the Carthaginian senate rejected the Roman demand to hand over Hannibal, the states went to war once more. Although the Carthaginians and Hannibal would capture much of the Italian peninsula within the first few years of fighting, the Romans and their massive military would prevail. Specifically, in 212 and 211 B.C., the Roman armed force peaked at twenty-five legions, amounting to more than 100,000 Romans and Italians under arms, with possibly an additional 50,000 serving at sea (Lazenby, 271). This allowed for the Romans to maintain control of central Italy and the city of Rome while reestablishing dominance in Spain and, later, across Greece and Sicily.
In the spring, both forces started moving northwards towards Gaul, Gaul being the homeland of Crixus. The Roman Senate shocked at the size and successes of the once thought to be crimewave, now revolt, decided to send two consular legions under the command of Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Coldianus in yet another attempt to end this problem once and for all. This effort to end the revolt had initially been successful, as Crixus and his army had actually been defeated and killed by Gellius in a battle near Mount Garganus, with at least two thirds of
According to Machievelli Scipio “was limited in the range of actions he could take… because it could damage his reputation which was seen as spotless among his soldiers” (Eudaimonia). One of the only things that backfired on Hannibal was that with the respect from soldiers, and fear from Romans “the Carthaginian Senate repeatedly refused Hanibal’s requests for aid and supplies'' which may have been from their own selfishness, or because they feared Hannibal would become too powerful and take over Carthage (Mark). Instilling fear into the Romans which caused his men, and later even the Romans, to respect him was a good thing since fear always stays with people, while love is hard to maintain. As Machiavelli says,“ love is held by a bond of obligation which, since men are shabby, is broken for their own utility upon every occasion;but timorousness is secured by fear of punishment which never lets you go” (Machiavelli). Even after eventually losing the war, and after his passing, Hannibal was still respected, and the Romans even built a statue of him to show their ability to beat such a great nemesis which just proves how influential
Although the beginning of the second Punic war, Hannibal seemed to be leading victorious throughout Italy after crossing the Alps into Roman territory, the outcome of the Punic war led to the downfall of Carthage. During the second Punic war, Hannibal fought the Romans in the battle of Cannae, where “Poylbius estimates Hannibal had close to 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry versus the Roman force of 80,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry” (History Extra, 2009). It was one of the most famous battles in military history and is said to be taught in modern military colleges because of it's significance. Hannibal was outnumbered but used his cunning tactics to close his troops around the charging Roman soldiers to slaughter them in this battle.
(Potter, pg.68) Finally, Rome was able to defeat the last Carthaginian fleet which left Carthage unable to supply their troops stationed in Italy. (Potter, pg.69) A treaty was drawn which included the ability of Carthage to keep all of their territories except for Sicily and a rather small amount of money that they must pay
I think that he became villainous after his first couple of voyages. He was arrested by the Spanish government. For the mistreatment of Spanish colonist in Hispaniola. Including the flogging (beat someone with a whip or stick as punishment or torture) and the executions without trial.
And the greatness of Rome was revealed in the dark hours of disaster and trial (Chapter 14, para. 5).
The fuel of resentment motivated Hannibal to do this at a time when Rome was waging the Second Illyrian War. The Army was unable to send reinforcements so the city fell with little resistance. This unsporting and dishonourable campaign of Hannibal shocked the Romans, they and demanded Hannibal to be extradited by the Carthaginian government. However we can see that this led the senate of Rome to realise that they were not dealing with just another pundit, but rather a smart thinking and hard planning tactician. Whilst Livy pays much respect to him for this, in his writings, at the early stage, we can see that it is not just Hannibal who gets lauded and acclaimed.
One is also left with the impression that the Romans made every attempt to maintain past treaties with Carthage but that the Carthaginians and Hannibal in particular were set on war. This is exactly what Livy intended when writing on the Second Punic War. The problem is that Livy seems to be writing propaganda more than history. His purpose is to thrust the blame for the war solely on Carthage and Hannibal and leave Rome blameless in the eyes of potential readers. Whether or not this was what Livy actually believed is impossible to know for
Augustus Octavian Augustus Octavian was the emperor that transformed Rome. With the powers of his influence, Augustus managed to hold ultimate control of every aspect of Rome. Augustus came into a bare and dry Republic, but through his influence, he left a clothed and a prosperous Empire. Augustus rise to power was influenced by his relationship with Julius Caesar; he was Caesar’s grand-nephew, and Caesar treated him like his own son (Richardson, 2012, p. 7).
The Comparable power it is showed during the second Punic war and shaken the power of Romans. At the end declines from the war and finally lost seriously, and the war ended forever by Roman declaration. The Second Punic War finally placed in an end to Carthage’s empire in the western Mediterranean, give a chance to Rome in control of Spain and letting Carthage hold and keep only its territory in North Africa. The Carthage also required this time to give up its belief and pay the plentiful fine to the Romans in silver (Morey, 1901).The bottom line is the war over with the Roman
The Romans didn’t have much command over the province, but they did have some connections to the further side of the border. Caesar speedily took benefit of these connections to extend the boundaries of Rome beyond the borders of Gaul. Caesar decided to invade Britain, whose tribes seemed to have close relations with Gaul. These expeditions were well-celebrated by the Romans as for the first time Rome had expanded so far. However, Vercingetorix, a noble tribesman of Gaul, with his men, surprisingly rose against Caesar, threatening his power in Gaul.