Hannibal :: essays papers

HannibalTwenty-two centuries ago there lived a man named Hannibal, the son ofHamilcar Barca a Carthaginian. Hamilcar was a general in the Carthaginianmilitary in the first Punic War. After the defeat of Carthage in the firstPunic War, Hamilcar made Hannibal swear perennial enmity to Rome.In 228 b.c. Hasdrubal, Hannibals brother-in-law, succeeded Hamilcar andbecame commandant. This meant that not only was the leader of the militarybut also the political leader as well. In 221 b.c. Hasdrubal was assassinatedand Hannibal became commander in Spain. Hannibal was only 25 years oldwhen he was put in command of the Carthaginian armies and the Carthaginiangovernment in Spain. Even at a young age he knew his responsibilities,so he kept his fathers plan of military conquest and his brother-in-lawspolicy of strengthening Carthaginian magnate by democracy. He married a Spanishprincess and took hostages from the surrounding tribes to ensure theirloyalty to him. As a result of this he expanded t he Carthaginian superpowertoward the Ebro river, which was the written northern boundary of Carthageby the Rome treaty of 226. Rome attacked Saguntum, a city close to butcl earliest on the Carthaginian office of the border. This provoked Hannibalto take back Saguntum. The romans considered this an act of war. So in218 b.c. Rome declared war on Carthage. This begins the second Punic War.After hearing the answer of war Hannibal immediately starts off towardsRome. The problem was he had to go by land because Rome controlled theseas. Hannibal takes an regular army of thirty-five to forty thousand men, someon foot and others on horse, along with fifty war elephants across thePyrenees and the Alps in August of 218. Bad luck falls into Hannibalslap as early snows and landslides kill many of his men and almost all ofhis war elephants. While traveling through the Alps he fights battles atArausio and Genua, easily defeating the Roman warriors, although his militaryare in horrible shape. He enters Italy with only twenty-six thousand menand five or six war elephants in September 218. Hannibal and his troopsspent the winter in Po Valley. In the spring of 217 b.c. Hannibal was joinedby the Gauls, northern Italians who were subdued into fighting the Romans.Now Hannibal had a sufficient army of infantry and cavalry. The hardenedCarthaginian troops easily crushed the Roman armies in their way, but withoutsiege equipment the Carthaginians could not destroy the Roman cities. So kind of of trying to siege the city they simple killed the Roman soldiersand moved on.