Hannibal Barca

By John Lu and Andrew Ly

Hannibal Barca
Hannibal Barca was born in Carthage in the year 248 BC. When Hannibal was born, his country was half-way to losing the war. Hannibal was born to the Carthaginian war leader Hamilcar Barca. His brother was Hasdrubal Barca. Hannibal was involved with the war a lot because his father was a general. Soon after his father died, his brother ruled the army. Hannibals brother became the leader of the Carthaginians. Hasdrubal was assassinated so Hannibal took his place instead. His first act as the general was to march the army in the Alps, along with a few more war elephants. He reached the Po Valley. There he beat the Romans in the battle of Trebia. By doing this he gained the help of some Roman soldiers. Hannibal helped the war and created a struggle for the Romans. If Hannibal never lived, the Carthaginians would have easily won the war. Hannibal helped defeat some of the Romans best soldiers and generals. He granted more freedom for his people, even if he did lose in the end. Hannibal was a good tactic general because he created many battle strategies that helped him win. He used tactics such as fooling armies of where to go. He also made the battle field smaller by burning some areas to lead the Romans into places. With his tactics, he defeated an army of 100,000 men. Hannibal had less soldiers but his mind lacked up for his army power. Along the way, Hannibal got married to a Spanish princess named Imilce. She helped the Carthaginian army by providing it with bases and camps. She probably gave some soldiers to help during the war too. Hannibal was often at war, so Imilce is not as talked about as Hannibal. Hannibal beat another little war at the Battle of Trasimene. Again, he first used a trick to deceive the Romans to go one direction. Then, he surprised at them. Hannibal destroyed the enemy army as they were pursuing him and his army. At Lake Trasimene, the whole enemy army was destroyed. This was a big accomplishment in military history. By winning the war, Hannibal was allowed to progress in his march. Another battle was the battle of Cannae. There, it was caused because Hannibal was going to siege a supply depot. His brilliant tactics help him win again. This time the Roman army decided to raise their strength by numbers. They increased their army sizes to about 60,000 to 80,000. At this war, Hannibal and his army both combined captured or killed about 80,000 men. The turning point in the war was when Scipio Africanus decided to lead an attack on Carthage, Hannibals home town. Hannibal was sent back to Carthage to fight against Scipio. This battle

was called the battle of Zama. At the battle of Zama, Scipio defeated Hannibal. Rome won the war in the very end. After the war, Carthage was in an economy crisis. However, Hannibal brought that economy back up. Rome wanted his capture. Hannibal went into exile for a period of time. At one part when he was surrounded, Hannibal drank a vile of poison. This caused him to die. Hannibal dies in the year 183 BC. He is rumored to be buried in modern day Turkey, on a small hill beneath some
trees. He died the same year as Scipio Africanus.