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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Hannibal Biography HANNIBAL or Annibel, Carthaginian general, son of Hamilcar Barca, born in 247 B. C.; died in Nicomedia, Bithynia, in 183. When only nine years of age he was taken by his father before an altar to swear eternal enmity against Rome and immediately accompanied the army on the great campaigns led against Spain. After remaining nine years under the training of his father, he returned for a short time to Carthage, but rejoined the army in Spain at the age of twenty-two, and served under his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal. At the death of the latter, in 221 B. C., Hannibal was elected to the chief command by acclamation, and at once prepared to pursue the course of his father in fighting against the Romans within their own territory. With an army of 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and forty elephants he started upon his famous march across the Pyrenees, the Rhone, and the Alps for the purpose of conquering Italy. It is thought that he crossed the Alps by the Little St. Bernard pass. His force was greatly diminished by hardships during the passage, particularly after crossing the Pyrenees, where he was met near the Rhone by a powerful army of Gauls, but these he defeated. Upon reaching the southern side of the Alps, his army consisted of only 30,000 men, a force much inferior to the powerful body of trained soldiers at the disposal of Rome. Near the Ticino River he was met by a Publius Scipio, who commanded a large Roman army, but with his superior Numidian cavalry he succeeded in defeating them in 218 B. C., driving the forces across the Po, and again winning a victory at Trebia. The next year Hannibal moved southward and defeated the Roman general Flaminius near Lake Trasimene, taking 15,000 prisoners. Soon after he invaded Apulia, where he spread terror, and by continued successes hastened the appointment of Fabius Maximus as Roman dictator. Fabius at once adopted the policy of harassing the enemy by cutting off its supplies, but skillfully avoiding a pitched battle. This course of warfare, though at first discouraging to his countrymen, was effective in causing the Carthaginian army to waste away by inactivity and disappointment. In the spring of 216 Hannibal posted his army, now largely increased, in the vicinity of Cannae and was attacked by the Roman army under Terantius Varro and Emilius Paulis. The Carthaginian army was drawn up in the shape of a half moon with the convex side toward the enemy, and at the horns of the crescent was his Numidian cavalry. As the legions of Rome advanced upon the center it skillfully retreated, but: when they pressed forward in eager pursuit, the Carthaginian horsemen fell upon the Romans from every side, rendering them unable to either fight or flee. About 60,000 Romans were slain in the fearful massacre, among them twenty-one tribunes and eighty senators. Hannibal sent a bushel of gold rings to Carthage after the battle, these having been the ornaments of Roman knights. Within eighteen months fully one-fifth of the citizens able to bear arms had fallen and all southern Italy and Capua were compelled to join Hannibal. The campaigns of the succeeding three years were unimportant, though in 212 Hannibal seized Tarentum, but two armies were sent from Rome against Capua. As a measure of relief to Capua Hannibal conducted a powerful army to attack Rome in 211, but that city was retaken, and the Carthaginians fell back to Bruttium, where they were constantly confronted by superior numbers until 203, when Scipio invaded Carthage and Hannibal was recalled to defend his own country. After expelling the Carthaginians from Spain, Scipio invaded Africa and defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 thus ending the Second Punic War. Carthage was reduced and compelled to submit to the most humiliating conditions of peace, being prohibited from going to war without the permission of Rome. Subsequently Hannibal began the improvement of his capital and native country, reforming the administration and finance, and encouraging commercial intercourse. This caused much jealousy among the Romans, and Hannibal was compelled to flee to the court of Antiochus of Syria, where he engaged to assist in a war against Rome, but his expedition dispatched to attack the Rhodians with a Syrian fleet met disaster. He next fled to Bithynia, where he took refuge with King Prusias and gained several victories for that sovereign in battles against Roman allies. Later the Roman senate demanded the surrender of Hannibal, and, since Prusias was not able to protect him, he took poison to end his life. Viewed in the light of achievements under difficulties, Hannibal stands as the greatest military genius of the world. The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopædia, Vol. II. (Kansas City: Bufton Book Co., 1909) 794. |