“I will either find a way or make one” This quote is the embodiment of the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca, the main figure in the second Punic war. Hannibal was famous for invading the Italian peninsula from the North using war elephants*. For those of you who know your geography, Carthage, which is located in modern day Tunisia in Africa, is undoubtedly south of Rome. So what would prompt a general to make such a roundabout trip?
After losing the First Punic War, the now bankrupt Carthage had trouble paying the mercenaries who were promised payments for their services in the fight against Rome. The revolting mercenaries soon received the backing of some local towns, and once again, Carthage was at war. During these wars, two things very important to the relationship between Rome and Carthage happened. First, Rome took advantage of Carthage’s weakness and seized the island provinces Corsica and Sardinia. This aroused the anger of the Carthaginian people, but they were too preoccupied with the survival of their city to be able to defend their provinces. Secondly, Hamilcar Barca, a general from Sicily, was given supreme command of the forces of the city. The fact that Hamilcar Barca came into power is not as important as the fact that Hamilcar was the father of Hannibal Barca, the aforementioned leader of the Punic armies. The Barcids took personally these attacks by Rome on a weakened Carthage were soon able to fight back against the Roman people.
What is interesting about the Second Punic War is that it is initially an inversion of the first. During the First Punic War, the sea-faring Cartheginians were defeated in a series of naval battles by the much weaker Roman fleet. This time, however, Hannibal was able to best Rome in its chosen element. Two weeks ago, I wrote about the confidence of Caesar and how it helped him accomplish great things. Hannibal too knew about the Roman confidence and used it to his advantage during his three landslide victories against the Roman people.
In the Battle of Trebia, Hannibal enticed the Roman Army to attempt the crossing of a river (in December) before fighting Hannibal’s warm, well rested men. Despite the excessive numerical advantages of the Romans, their cavalry was scared off by the war elephants and Hannibal was able to flank the nearly frostbitten Roman legions. The Roman attacking style was extremely efficient but only worked effectively when fighting head on. In many instances, as was the case at Trebia, a flanked legion would be crushed as it could not maintain an attack from both the front and the sides. Hannibal was able to dispatch with the many legions of Romans very quickly.
At the Battles of Lake Trasimine and Cannae (217 and 216 BC), Hannibal once again used his smaller forces to defeat the Romans. Both times, Hannibal used the geography to bottleneck the Roman troops and hid extra deployments on the flanks which were able to attack the Romans on their vulnerable sides. The worst part about the Battle of Cannae was that the Romans did not even need to fight at Cannae, as Hannibal and his men (the elephants died shortly after Trebia because they could withstand the cold) were running low on supplies. The battle was fought because the part of the Italian countryside in which the Carthaginians were subsisting was the location of many of the estates of Rome’s most prominent politicians, who were wary to see their property destroyed. Their confidence that another Roman attack would effectively eradicate Hannibal led to Rome’s third crushing defeat in three years.
Overconfidence nearly cost the Romans the war with the Carthaginians. Luckily for those Italians, their attacks on Hannibal’s supply lines in Carthage-controlled Spain and later counter attack of launched by Publius Cornelius Scipio went better. Let the Romans’ near defeat serve as a lesson that even in the best of empires, overconfidence be costly. But, while the Second Punic War was completed in 202 BC at the Battle of Zama, the true rivalry between these two states would only end when one was burned to the ground… (to be continued)
*Hannibal was not the first Roman opponent to use war elephants; he is so because he brought them through the Alps to invade Rome. Pyrrhus of Epirus used war elephants in his “Pyrrhic Victory” against the Romans in 280 BC more than half a century before Hannibal’s endeavors. Actually, it was the actions by the Carthaginians and the Romans during their struggle in Sicily against Phyrrus that caused the political climate that led to the First Punic War.
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