|
History of Hannibal
Hannibal was born (c247 BC) of a powerful Carthagian
family. His father "Hamucar" was a general who subdued the tribes
of Spain. When Hannibal was still a young man (about 21 years old),
his father called for Hannibal to join him in his campaign in Spain.
Hannibal proved to be a bold soldier and although rich he lived with
the troops and became very popular. In 221 BC, Hamucar was killed
and the young Hannibal was raised to the command of the army. This
sudden elevation caused a great deal of debate in Carthage and he
had many enemies. After the first punic war, Spain had been devided
between Carthage's control and Roman control with everything east
of the river Iberus belonging to Rome. The exception was the city
of Sanguntum which was on the west side of the river and was to be
neutral. Hannibal began to harass and threaten the city and took all
the surrounding territories. The citizens requested help from Rome,
but the Romans did not want a war. The Carthagians had grown rich
and powerful since the first punic war and the exploits of Hannibal's
cunning military capability was well known in Rome. The Romans made
two attempts, by sending delegations to Carthage, to get Hannibal
to stop his tauting of Sanguntum. In the meantime, Hannibal took the
city in 218 BC and crossed the Iberus river into Roman territory.
Rome organized two armies one to meet Hannibal in Gaul and the other
to cross Sicily and make war on Carthage itself. Hannibal avoided
conflict with the Romans in Gaul and made his famous crossing of the
Alps. The Roman army sailed back to Italy to meet Hannibal after he
crossed the Alps. Hannibal lost about 40,000 men (1/3 of his army)
crossing the Alps. The Roman general "Scipio" (not Africanus) made
a quick fight with Hannibal expecting his troops to be totally exhausted
from the crossing, which indeed they were, however Scipio failed to
take into account that Hannibal's men were trapped and as such were
forced to fight to the death and with this desparation they defeated
the Roman army. The second Roman army was immediately called back
from Sicily to meet Hannibal. The two Roman armies joined now under
two generals who disagreed on the next move. The new arrival was "Sempronius"
who was impetuous and ready to attack. Knowing this, Hannibal in the
early morning sent a small force to attack the camp. Quickly defeated
the small force of Carthagians fled across a cold river with Sempronius
in pursuit. Sempronius' soldiers were cold, wet, tired from the pursuit
and hungry (no time for breakfast). When the Romans reached the opposite
river bank, they were ambushed by Hannibal's main force fresh and
ready for battle - the Romans were defeated. Hannibal moved towards
Rome. The citizens of Rome quickly assembled another army under "Flaminius",
but Hannibal quickly defeated this third army by trapping them in
a narrow pass. Rome was in a panic, they chose "Fabius" as dictator
during this emergency. Another army was drafted, but the two weak
armies just followed each other in the field with minor battles. Hannibal's
army was down to about 40,000 men about 1/3 of his original forces
and he was reluctant to attack the formidable defenses of the city
of Rome. About 215 BC, Hannibal settled in Capua building strong defenses
and sent word of his victories back to Carthage with request for further
support. Neither the Romans nor Hannibal wanted to attack the others
defenses, however the Romans were able to keep reinforcements away
from Hannibal. In the meantime, the Romans began attacking the Carthagians
throughout their trading empire. Eventually the Roman general "Scipio
Africanus" challenged Africa and the city of Carthage itself (205
BC). A false peace treaty was made by Carthage, to give time for Hannibal
to organize a new army. In 201 BC, Hannibal returned with a newly
organized ragtag army. Hannibal as head of this newly assembled army
tried to get a better peace treaty without success. The battle took
place and the Carthagians were easily defeated. The second set of
surrender terms made in 200 BC were extremely harsh and the entire
Carthagian fleet (about 500 ships) was surrended to Rome and burned.
Hannibal remained as a political leader in Carthage, but he had enemies
who charged him with treason. He fled the city in 192 BC, to the city
of Tyre where he was welcomed as a hero. He then met with Antiochus
III (the Great). Antiochus was at war with Hannibal's old foe "Rome"
and Hannibal wanted revenge. He requested a fleet of about 100 ships
and 10,000 to 12,000 men, with which he would return to Carthage collect
a larger force and bring the war back to Italian shores. Antiochus
could see that much of this request was for Hannibal to regain power
in Carthage. He never told Hannibal "no" but he also never supplied
the force. Hannibal did participant against Rome in the battle of
Magnesia (190 BC) where Antiochus III was defeated. In 182 BC, Hannibal
was living as a refugee in Bithynia, however he got word that the
king had decided to turn him over to the Romans. Hannibal killed himself
with poison rather than being a prisoner of Rome - he was an old man
and glad to die.
|
