Over the next decades, Rome took over control of both Corsica and Sardinia as well, but Carthage was able to establish a new base of influence in Spain beginning in B. Two years later, he marched his army across the Ebro River into Saguntum, an Iberian city under Roman protection, effectively declaring war on Rome.
The Second Punic War saw Hannibal and his troops—including as many as 90, infantry, 12, cavalry and a number of elephants—march from Spain across the Alps and into Italy, where they scored a string of victories over Roman troops at Ticinus, Trebia and Trasimene. After this disastrous defeat, however, the Romans managed to rebound, and the Carthaginians lost hold in Italy as Rome won victories in Spain and North Africa under the rising young general Publius Cornelius Scipio later known as Scipio Africanus.
Carthage was also forced to give up its fleet and pay a large indemnity to Rome in silver. Carthage withstood the Roman siege for two years before a change of Roman command put the young general Scipio Aemilianus later known as Scipio the Younger in charge of the North Africa campaign in B. After tightening the Roman positions around Carthage, Aemilianus launched a forceful attack on its harbor side in the spring of B. After seven days of horrific bloodshed, the Carthaginians surrendered, obliterating an ancient city that had survived for some years.
The surviving 50, citizens of Carthage were sold into slavery. Also in B. Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. He then marched his massive army across the Pyrenees and Alps into central Italy in what would be remembered as one of the most The story of the Trojan War—the Bronze Age conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece—straddles the history and mythology of ancient Greece and inspired the greatest writers of antiquity, from Homer, Herodotus and Sophocles to Virgil.
Since the 19th-century The two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, went to war with each other from to B. The young commander consolidates the Carthaginian presence in Spain until, in , Rome decides to pick a diplomatic quarrel over his siege of Sagunto, a town well south of the Ebro. The speed with which the crisis escalates into war suggests that both sides regard another conflict as inevitable.
Hannibal forces the pace, taking the bold decision that his best chance of victory is to carry the war into Italy - where the ability to sustain a long campaign on Roman soil has been proved, in recent history, by Pyrrhus. In May of Hannibal marches north from Cartagena with an army of perhaps 32, infantry, cavalry and thirty-seven elephants. His ferrying of the elephants across the Rhone on rafts, then getting them through the icy passes of the Alps, in both cases in the face of hostile tribesmen, has provided the basis of popular tales ever since.
By October Hannibal's army is in north Italy. Battles with Celtic tribesmen and the hazards of the journey have taken a heavy toll. The army now numbers only 20, infantry and cavalry the ancient historians fail to report how many of the thirty-seven elephants have survived.
Yet by December, two months later, after the defeat or tactical withdrawal of various Roman forces, the Carthaginian army has swelled again to 28, infantry and 10, cavalry. The reason is a significant one in the development of this war. With each indication of Roman weakness, large numbers of Gauls or Celts abandon their allegiance to Rome and join Hannibal.
Hannibal is banking on this being the pattern throughout Italy. After wintering in Bologna, Hannibal moves south in the spring of In May he lures a Roman army into a trap.
On a misty morning the Romans move into a narrow plain beside Lake Trasimene. Unknown to them the surrounding hills are occupied by the Carthaginian army. When they swoop down, the Romans are unprepared and defenceless.
Many are driven into the lake. As many as 15, are killed. Even with this psychological advantage, Hannibal decides against marching on Rome. Instead he moves to the south of the peninsula, hoping that his success will persuade many of the often discontented Italian allies to join him.
The year brings Hannibal his greatest victory, in one of the famous battles of history. The armies meet near the east coast, at Cannae, on an open plain which Hannibal has chosen as good ground for his cavalry - a section in which he outnumbers the Romans by perhaps 10, to , whereas his infantrymen are fewer than theirs 35, to at least 48, Hannibal's tactics are a classic case of enveloping an enemy.
The centre of his line yields slowly to the Roman assault, thus forming a crescent - which becomes a complete circle when his cavalry gallop round from the wings. The Romans, constricted in space, are fighting in all directions. Only about 10, escape from this disaster. After this victory many of Rome's allies in southern and central Italy desert to Hannibal's cause.
But a majority stand firm in their allegiance. To that extent his strategy has failed. He commands the most powerful army in the Italian peninsula but even so is not strong enough to besiege Rome into submission. Rome, in her turn, now has a devastating strategy, pioneered by Fabius. The success of his policy wins him the title Cunctator, the 'delayer'.
His technique is for Roman armies to pester Hannibal continuously, denying him supplies or easy passage but wherever possible avoiding direct engagement. Gradually, over twelve years, this strategy succeeds. Hannibal becomes like a bull in the ring, tormented by lesser beings while his strength slowly ebbs away.
The extraordinary fact is how long he remains within Italy as an alien force, almost totally isolated reinforcements sometimes come from Carthage, but few and infrequently. Having arrived through the Alps in BC, he does not finally depart until The eventual reason is the need to defend Carthage, which is now threatened by a Roman army. Hannibal meets it in at Zama, an unidentified site in northern Tunisia.
For the first time in his life he is decisively defeated. Rome is at last in a position to impose terms. The treaty after the second Punic war is even more damaging to Carthage than its predecessor. She must surrender Spain and all her remaining islands in the Mediterranean. Carthage was ordered to surrender its navy, pay Rome a war debt of talents of gold every year for 50 years, and was forbidden from waging war with anyone without Roman approval.
Carthage paid its war debt to Rome over 50 years, until BC. Then, deeming the treaty to be complete, the city went to war against Numidia, in what is now Algeria. Not only did they lose the war, but Carthage incurred the wrath of Rome, who again deemed its old foe a threat.
This time, Carthage was to be put down permanently. That same year, a Roman embassy was sent to Carthage to demand that the city be dismantled and moved inland away from the coast. When the Carthaginians refused, the Third Punic War broke out.
Roman forces besieged Carthage for three years, until it finally fell in BC. The city was sacked and burned to the ground where it lay in ruin for more than a century, with its inhabitants sold into slavery.
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