Hannibal is for many people the only thing of Carthage that people are familiar with, for most the great city state of Carthage is completely unknown, it is forgotten, lost in the mists of time. By the time of Hannibal's birth, Carthage had fallen on hard times. They had been defeated in the First Punic War against the Roman Republic. The loss devastated the Carthaginians who before the war had being the dominant force in the Western Mediterranean. The Romans imposed harsh terms upon Carthage, including seizing the provinces of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca was the Carthaginian general who was charged with the task of restoring prestige by invading the Iberian peninsula in 237 BCE. Hannibal, at the tender age of eleven accompanied him and began learning the trade of war. In 221 BCE. Hannibal assumed command of the Carthage armies in Hispania, made ground and rose the old enemy, Rome, thus beginning the Second Punic War in 218 BCE. Hannibal was in no mood to sit around waiting for the onslaught, he brought the war to Rome, fighting his way through the Pyrenees, subduing the local tribes there.
Boldly, he pressed on into Gaul (modern day France) and famously crossed the Alps with his elephants and invaded Italy. The Romans were shocked at his audacity, they had planned to fight the war on foreign soil, now it was here on their doorstep. Indeed, the Roman general Scipio had sailed to Gaul to halt Hannibal's advance, he was forced to sail back to Italy to meet the Carthaginian forces. The two sides first met in a minor engagement at Ticinus, Hannibal coming out the better, encouraging the Gauls and Ligurians to ally with him. The first major battle of the war occurred at Trebia, Hannibal displaying his tactical genius, decimated the Roman forces. The victory secured Hannibal's position in northern Italy, he barracked himself at Bologna for the remaining winter, re-emerging in the spring of 217 BCE. With the coming of spring, Hannibal re-emerged, marching south, Rome sent Flaminius to meet him. Hannibal, performing the first turning movement in military history, marched around the Romans left flank and cut them off from Rome. Flaminius enraged, marched out to meet Hannibal in battle; the result was one of the largest ambushes ever conducted. The Romans were taken by surprise on three sides, forcing them to fight hand to hand in complete disarray, within four hours of combat they were annihilated.
The Romans were in rag order, panicking they elected to allow Fabius Maximus assume dictatorial powers. Fabius tailed the invader, harassing the fringes but refusing to engage in battle. This Fabian strategy as it became known, did not go down well within Rome who viewed it as opposed to their tradition, and frankly an act of cowardice. This assessment is however a little unfair, Fabius had no experienced troops at his disposal and the policy was in some ways quite successful. It bought time for Rome to raise a new army numbering almost 80,000 men, which once assembled, marched to meet Hannibal at Cannae which he had recently seized. Hannibal vastly outnumbered at almost two to one, displayed utter brilliance, operating an envelopment tactic which eliminated the Roman numerical superiority by shrinking the surface area where the combat could occur. He annihilated the Romans, killing or capturing over two-thirds of their massive army, inflicting one of the most catastrophic defeats in the history of Rome. It could have been very easily the end of Rome altogether but Carthage dithered refusing to sanction Hannibal to attack and stalling on providing him with reinforcements and siege equipment. As for Rome, they once again adopted the previously much maligned Fabian strategy of attrition and a bitter stalemate ensued with Hannibal embarking on a scorched earth policy, only engaging the Romans in protracted and ineffectual battles.
For years this impasse dragged on, and although he won some more decisive battles, it was becoming more and more apparent that Hannibal was not going to conquer Rome. Whether Carthage was overstretched or whether they were becoming wary of Hannibal's growing power remains unclear. If they had of backed him, history would most likely have been transformed completely. Hannibal was in the ascendant, he was just thirty, in every encounter with Roman forces he had come out on top, Rome was at his feet. On the battle scarred fields of Cannae, Hannibal had his soldiers slice off the ring bearing fingers of all the fallen Roman officers, he dispatched his brother Mago to Carthage, where he presented thousands of them to the Senate, pouring them out onto the marble floors. Carthage, however was not to be swayed, Hannibal was forced to seek other options, he secured an alliance with King Phillip V of Macedonia. The alliance though was not the most fruitful, Hannibal was obliged to draw his reinforcements from less experienced Italian and Gaul mercenaries. The tide began to turn against Hannibal, the Romans began notching up victories, re-gaining Syracuse and defeating a major Carthaginian army in Sicily. Hannibal's last throw of the dice was a desperate, half-hearted attack on Rome; inevitably it failed and his fortunes dwindled.
His brother Hasdrubal attempted to bring reinforcements into Italy taken from his Iberian armies. But the Romans were wise to that old trick, Hasdrubal's army was destroyed along the banks of the Metaurus, he having his head chopped off, later to be unceremoniously chucked into Hannibal's camp. The message had been delivered and it was clear, Hannibal's time in Italy was numbered, it was Rome that was to prevail. Metaurus can easily be viewed as the most decisive battle of the Punic wars, if Hasdrubal had won and managed to link up with Hannibal, Rome would have been in the most perilous of situations. But he didn't and instead it signalled the end for Carthage. Hannibal lingered in Italy for a number of years, but his threat was removed, he was more pest now than major threat. The Romans meanwhile, took Iberia and marched to Carthage, Hannibal still unconquered was recalled for the defence of his homeland.
He faced the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio, aged and exhausted but with his famous war elephants replenished, Hannibal attempted to re-run his old ruse of enveloping the enemy, it failed, Hannibal was beaten. But he was far from dead and buried, he proved that his talents extended beyond being a great general, he proved himself to be an equally fine statesman. Initially elected to what was perceived as an insignificant position, he consolidated the role and began working on alleviating the punitive measures that Rome had placed upon Carthage. He was so successful in his endeavours that he once again managed to alarm Rome, who demanded his resignation. Hannibal, perhaps too long in the tooth went into voluntary exile. He found sanctuary in Antioch, the then capital of the Seleucid Empire. In his final years, he became something of an itinerant military advisor, constantly pursued by Rome, eventually facing extradition, he poisoned himself. After Hannibal, the Roman Empire was not seriously threatened for the following six centuries, Hannibal became a bogeyman that Roman mothers warned their children about at night. He developed into a symbol of threat and calamity within the Roman culture, indeed it was Roman writers like Livy and Juvenal that made him immortal.
