|
Hannibal Barca was born in 247 BC, oldest son to
the great Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca. His birthplace, the
republic of Carthage, was at that time losing a major war with the
neighboring republic of Rome. The first Punic War, as it was known,
ended in 241 when Hannibal was 6 years old. Carthage lost much from
the war, including all of it's territory outside of Africa. A dislike
of Rome was common among the Carthaginians, and it is rumored that
Hannibal was made to swear eternal hatred for the republic to the east.
After the losses of it's island territories to Rome at the end of the
war, Carthage had chosen to expand into Spain instead. Hannibal was
brought to the ongoing territorial wars there by his father in 237
BC. Hannibal was 10 years old at the time, and was already being
raised into a life of war. On the other side of the Mediterranean Sea
another great general of the times was born. Publius Cornelius Scipio
"Africanus" was born in Rome in 236 BC, son to a popular
Roman general of the same name. The Scipio family had been very
successful in Rome, and much was expected of young Publius Africanus.
When Hamilcar Barca died in 229 BC in battle near the Jucar river,
command of the Spanish wars was given to Hannibal's brother-in-law,
Hasdrubal. Hasdrubal continued the Carthaginian efforts in Spain,
encouraging diplomatic relations with the tribes of the region. As
part of these diplomacies Hannibal was married to a local princess.
When Hasdrubal was assassinated in 221 BC, the Carthaginian army in
Spain elected Hannibal as the new commander. Hannibal returned to the
tactics of his father, favoring military action over diplomacy.
During Hasdrubal's command, a treaty was made
with the Romans, who had become wary of Carthage's new expansions.
According to the treaty, everything south of the Ebro river was
considered territory of Carthage. However, the city of Saguntum, deep
within Carthage's Iberian territory, had been independently seeking
friendship with Rome. Hannibal had given the city a wide berth in
fear of Roman aggression, but when Saguntum started to become a
contender in the politics of Spain he was left with little choice. He
seiged and captured the city in 219 BC. Rome was enraged and demanded
the immediate surrender of Hannibal, but Carthage refused. The Second
Punic War was started as a result. By 218 BC Publius Cornelius,
Scipio Africanus' father, was ordered to the war in Spain.
After landing in Massalia and realizing that Hannibal was already
moving his army into Italy, Publius sent his brother onward to Spain
while he and Scipio Africanus, by now 18 years of age, sailed back to
defend Italy. They gathered their forces in the Po Valley and waited
for Hannibal's arrival.
Hannibal had shocked the Romans by deciding to march his army into
Italy by way of crossing the Alps. Hannibal left Spain under command
of his brother Hasdrubal Gisco (Not to be confused with his dead
brother in law, Hasdrubal), and marched his army across the Ebro and
into southern Gaul. There he recruited many of the Roman-hating
Celtic barbarians. Friendly Gallic tribes guided Hannibal and his
army through the Alps, a task Hannibal's army completed in just 16
days, even under numerous attacks and hardships. Having lost over
half of his army along the hard march from Spain, Hannibal replaced
most of his losses from Gallic tribes near the Po river.
The first battle of the war was soon to take place between Hannibal
and Publius Cornelius near the river Ticinus. Hannibal's Numidian
cavalry won him the battle, and would have cost the wounded
Publius his life if not for a daring rescue attempt led by his son
Scipio Africanus. The Romans withdrew and waited for reinforcement at
the river Trebbia. When Titus Sempronius arrived with two legions,
another battle was soon under way. Sempronius' desire for a fight led
to the ambush of the Roman army, and another victory for Hannibal.
Hannibal marched his army onward, across the
Apennine mountains. After evading the Romans' attempt to defend
against the crossing, Hannibal set up an ambush for his pursuing
enemies. The Romans stumbled into the trap at Lake Trasimeno, and
nearly the entire army was killed as they were surrounded and forced
into the waters. After this stunning defeat, the Roman people elected
Fabius Maximus as dictator of Rome. He adopted an unpopular strategy
of never engaging in open battles with Hannibal, but instead
following him and wearing him down with small skirmishes. Rome's
allies remained loyal, and Hannibal received no reinforcements.
The Romans soon grew tired of Fabius' tactics however, and by 216 had
instead raised an army of 80,000 men. The two consuls, Varro and
Paullus, gave battle to Hannibal's army at Cannae. Hannibal's
elephants had all died by that time, leaving his superior cavalry as
his only advantage over the larger forces of the two consuls.
However, as the forces advanced on each other, Hannibal's cavalry was
able to route the Roman equivalents, allowing Hannibal to box in the
remaining roman infantry. The infantry was slaughtered, and Hannibal
had once again shocked Rome.
Scipio had escaped from the battle, and led other survivors in an
escape from their doomed camp. With both previous leaders dead, the
remnants of the army appointed Scipio as a commander. At merely 20
years old, Scipio had already become known for his ability. The
defeat at Cannae has stifled the Romans, but had in no way defeated
them. A new army was raised in Rome even as the south of Italy fell
to Hannibal.
The number of men Rome needed to engage Hannibal
was considerable, leaving them little power to halt his actions
throughout Italy. He attempted to move south and capture port towns,
that reinforcements from Carthage might be more easily received. He
was moderately successful, as many Samnite cities came under his
influence. He finally received reinforcement from Carthage in 215,
although not as strong a force as he would have hoped. His victories
had been only mild in the south, not the grand victories that would
be needed to cripple Rome for good. He had failed in his attempt to
take Naples, but the wealthy city of Capua offered itself to him. He
then attempted to take the city of Nola, but the city officials had
gotten word to Rome of the impending attack and an army was sent
under Marcus Marcellus to save the city. Hannibal sieged the city,
but the battles continued to be only bloody draws. Hannibal soon
called off the attack on the city, deprived once again of a grand victory.
While Hannibal was trying to incite Rome's allies in revolt, Scipio
was busy with his own legacy in Rome. As a favor for his cousin,
Scipio had involved himself in the elections for curule aedile, a
high position of administration for public works. Being
unprecedentedly young for such a race, Scipio and his cousin's
victory in 214 BC came as a shock to the older statesman. At 22, such
an accomplishment was unheard of. All was not well in Rome however,
as the Sicilian kingdom of Syracuse defected to Hannibal after the
death of king Hiero II in 215 BC.
The battles waged on, Rome staging a number of brutal assaults in
southern Italy and Sicily, taking back much of what had been lost to
Hannibal. Fabius' tactics of wearing down Hannibal were employed
further, and Hannibal's continued losses and the lack of
reinforcements proved to be heavily taxing. In 212 Hannibal was
finally able to take the port town of Tarentum, a long sought after
dock for reinforcements. However, Marcellus was pressuring Hannibal
by recapturing a number of towns and beginning a siege and blockade
of Syracuse.
By 211 Syracuse had fallen to the Romans, and
Capua was under heavy siege. Hannibal attempted to lift the siege by
feigning a direct attack on Rome, but his gambit failed and Capua was
recaptured. The Romans were also prone to disaster that year, as
Hannibal's brothers attempted to march across war-torn Spain and
repeat the crossing of the Alps to reinforce him. Scipio's father and
uncle gave battle to the brothers in the Baetis River valley, and
were both defeated and killed. The remnants of the Spanish armies
were rallied together and put up another valiant defense at the river
Ebro, holding back the two Carthaginian commanders.
When no one in Rome wanted to lead new armies to the Spanish front,
Scipio readily volunteered, and was unanimously selected in 210 BC.
Although he was only 26, and two of his closest family members had
already died in Spain, he was the most willing and qualified man at
the time. Arriving with his army in Spain in 209 BC, Scipio's
interests fell to Carthage Nova (New Carthage) in the most southern
portion of Spain, the treasury and major port of all of Spain.
Scipio moved most of his army to Nova Carthage
and attacked the lightly manned fortress that year, having
constructed his own defenses against any reinforcing armies from the
north. He outwitted the town's defenders with a number of fake
attacks, and then took the town in a simultaneous land and sea
assault. In one swoop the uncapturable Carthaginian gateway to Spain
had been taken, leaving Scipio to focus on diplomacies with the
people and tribes of Spain. Meanwhile in Italy, Fabius had been
successful in recapturing Hannibal's port of Tarentum, leaving little
likelihood of Hannibal receiving further reinforcements.
Hasdrubal Barca, Hannibal's brother, was raising men for an army to
reinforce the Carthaginian armies of Spain. Scipio, aware of
Hasdrubal's plans, marched his armies north to attempt a quick strike
while Hasdrubal was vulnerable and before either of the two other
Carthaginian armies in Spain could react. The battle took place at
Baecula in 208 BC. Scipio drew out Hasdrubal's men with a light
initial assault, and then flanked and crushed the smaller army with
the rest of his force. Hasdrubal survived and retreated with the
remains of his army unopposed, Scipio having decided that to follow
would have been far to risky. Hasdrubal met up with Mago, another of
Hannibal's brothers, and took command of his army, which he marched
through the Pyrenees and into Gaul in preparation for an attack on Italy.
Mago was left in Spain to enlist more soldiers, and was soon joined
by a fresh new army from Carthage. Scipio sent a small task force
that was successful in crippling the combined Carthaginian armies,
delaying any possible attacks from his enemies. Although Hannibal had
lost many of his southern Italian cities, he was successful in
killing the two consuls sent to defeat him in 208 BC, including the
previously successful Marcellus. Meanwhile, Hasdrubal Barca met
defeat in Italy at the river Metaurus by the new Roman consuls, and
was killed.
Scipio faced a dilemma in 206 BC, as the
combined Carthaginian armies had been successful in raising an army
numerically superior to his. Although Scipio had increased his own
forces as well, most of his army was now made up of the same Spanish
natives that had failed his father 6 years previous. Disregarding his
weak position, Scipio marched west to meet Carthage's army. The two
forces met at Ilipia, and a long process of feigns began. Each
evening both armies would march out in the same formation, neither
attacking, but both offering to battle. After three days of this
however, Scipio instead prepared his army and marched on the
Carthaginian forces before dawn. In their rush to defend themselves,
the Carthaginians hadn't noticed Scipio's change of formation from
the previous days, and they were soon flanked by the wings of the
rotating Roman line. The Carthaginians were defeated and the
survivors were hunted down after the battle, leaving Spain entirely
to the Romans.
Scipio returned to Italy in 205 BC and was elected consul to Sicily
at the age of 31, a position that gave him the authority to attack
Africa. He was given command of the army there, made up mostly of the
disgraced survivors of Cannae. Scipio set about training and
disciplining his new soldiers and volunteers, as well as recapturing
Locri and forcing Hannibal to retreat when he attempted to defend it.
After amassing food and equipment, training his troops and fleets,
Scipio set sail for Africa in 204 BC.
He was met in Africa by king Masinissa and a group of friendly
cavalry from war-torn Numidia. Scipio's army was soon pinned into his
easily defendable winter quarters by two large forces from Carthage
and Numidia. In a display of sheer brilliance, Scipio was able to
annihilate both of these stronger forces. Scipio directed Masinissa
and a small detachment of troops to set fire to the Numidian camp,
while waiting by the Carthaginian camp with most of the army himself.
The Carthaginians, thinking the fire was accidental, rushed to aid
the Numidians in firefighting. As they exited their camp, they were
set upon by Scipio's army, who proceeded to burn the Carthaginian
camp as well. Scipio had succeeded in destroying over 40,000 enemy
soldiers, as well as the only current threat to his forces.
The Carthaginians regrouped after the slaughter,
but were defeated twice more by Scipio's well trained and well
disciplined forces. Although Hannibal had been recalled from Italy to
defend Carthage, the constant loss had taxed Carthage's fighting
spirit. Carthage sued for peace, but the armistice was broken when a
group of Roman transports were caught in a storm and scattered on the
shore and the Roman envoys seeking return of the ships were attacked.
Scipio prepared his troops for war once again in the winter of 203
BC, but this time it would not be so easy. Hannibal had finally
reached Africa, landing at Hadrumentum with his veteran army, fresh
troops from Carthage, and 80 war elephants.
Hannibal reinforced his army with the Carthaginian population,
continuing to train and recruit while waiting for Scipio to make a
move. Scipio, realizing time was against him, began causing havoc in
the countryside while moving west, closer and closer to Masinissa who
had taken much of his cavalry to claim Numidia for himself. This
tactic proved successful, as not only did Scipio meet up with the
Numidian cavalry, but it also gave him a better camp for his army
before the battle, unlike Hannibal whose camp was far from any water
sources. The battle at Zama in 202 BC, quite possibly the most
important of the war, could easily have gone either way. However, the
combination of Scipio's formation in order to minimize the effect of
Hannibal's elephants, as well as Rome's superior Numidian cavalry,
brought victory for both the battle, and the war. Scipio's cavalry
routed the Carthaginian equivalents and were then able to fall upon
the rear of Hannibal's infantry. Hannibal returned to Carthage and
encouraged the acceptance of Scipio's terms of surrender.
Scipio spent the rest of the year putting
affairs in Africa into order and helping Masinissa secure the throne
of Numidia. After the war, Scipio returned back to Rome to serve as
Consul in 201 BC. At this time Hannibal had returned to Carthage, the
home he hadn't seen for 35 years. There he attempted to bring about
economic reforms, and was made a chief magistrate, as well as
retaining his military powers. He reformed the Carthaginian
government and achieved a sounder economic base, but made many
enemies among the elder wealthy citizens. These enemies spread rumors
that Hannibal was secretly inciting Antiochus III of Syria to attack
Rome. Evading a Roman inquiry, Hannibal fled to Antiochus' court in
195 BC. Scipio led a basic life as a politician while Hannibal worked
behind the scenes in the Syrian court until 191 BC. It was then
that Antiochus provoked war with Rome by invading Greece.
Scipio Africanus was chosen to act as advisor in the coming war to
his brother and the current consul, Lucius Scipio. By this time
Antiochus had grown jealous of Hannibal's fame and reputation, making
him a commander of a fleet instead of the ground forces, a position
Hannibal had difficulty adjusting to. Hannibal was defeated in a
naval battle, and the Roman ground forces defeated Antiochus in 190
BC. Knowing that the Romans were demanding that he be handed over as
part of the peace settlement, Hannibal possibly fled to Armenia,
although what he did there is still under great debate. It is known
however that he eventually ended up in the court of king Prusias I of
Bithynia. There he acted as an advisor in Bithynia's war against
Pergamum, an ally of Rome. Although the exact circumstances are
unknown, Rome was eventually in a position to demand from Prusias the
surrender of Hannibal, who took poison in 183 BC rather than
surrender to his life-long enemy.
While Hannibal was aiding Bithynia in the battle
against Pergamum, Scipio was having his own difficulties. His many
enemies in Rome were finally catching up to him, and the persecution
was frantic. He defeated his political enemies in a few short, yet
powerful speeches, and was left to spend his last years in peace at
his country estate in Liturnum. Although his opponents tried to force
him back to stand trial in Rome, such motions were defeated
unanimously by both friend and enemy tribune alike. Scipio died
peacefully in his home in 183 BC, the very same year Hannibal took
his own life. |