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southern Spain into a sort of empire where new Carthage or Carthagena was founded. In 228 B.C. he fell in battle and was succeeded b hasdrubal his son-in- law who, in his turn was murdered seven ears later in 221 B.C.

The Ri e of Hannibal
The arm thereupon unanimousl chose Hannibal to be their general in spite of his outh, "because of the shrewdness and courage which he had shown in their service."

Hannibal was then 26 ears old. This strange man, whose name means "Jo of Baal", had accompanied his father on his campaign in Spain, at the tender age of nine. Hamilcar Barca had agreed to take him on his campaign on one condition, that before the sacrifice, which he was then making to the gods, Hannibal should swear eternal enmit to Rome. No man ever kept a promise more faithfull . Hannibal's first militar success was in Saguntum, which precipitated the Second Punic War. It is quite clear that Hannibal carried out a carefull prepared plan, which he had inherited from his father. His object was nothing less than the destruction of the power of Rome before Rome destro ed Carthage, and Rome's most vulnerable spot was in Ital itself where the Roman federation of states was still loose and the Celtic tribes of Gauls in the North were in revolt. But since Carthage had lost command of the sea to Rome, how was Hannibal to get to Ital with his troops?
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The Romans never imagined for one moment that he could or would make the journey of 1500 miles overland from Spain, across the Pyrenees, the south of France, and the Alps; but that was exactly what Hannibal had decided to do. Having decided on his strategy and selected his theatre of operations? Hannibal followed two principles, which have grown no less important since his day: the seizure of the initiative, and the maintenance of the element of surprise. 218 B. C. may seem a long time ago. But, the manner in which Hannibal set about his task is identical with that which a competent commander would follow today. Hannibal first secured his bases at Carthage and Carthaginian. Next he collected detailed information about the countries and peoples through which he proposed to pass. For this purpose he sent for messengers (liaison officers) from the Gaulish tribes and asked for detailed accounts of the terrain and the fertility of the country at the foot of the Alps, in the midst of the Alps, and in the plain of the river Po. Today, this aspect of Hannibal's planning would come under the heading of logistics. He also wanted to know the number of the inhabitants of the various populations, their capacity for war, and particularly whether their enmity against the Romans was maintained. This would be called political intelligence. He was particularly anxious to win over the Gauls on both sides of the Alps, as he would only be able to operate in Italy against the Romans if the Gaul s co-operated with him. He therefore planned a campaign of psychological warfare, to raise and maintain the morale of his supporters and to undermine the enemy's will and power to resist. The operations began in great secrecy in the spring of 218 B.C. after Hannibal delivered a morale boosting speech to his troops. Moved by the emotions of indignation and lust for conquest, his men then leapt to their feet and shouted their readiness to follow Hannibal. He praised them for their valor and fixed the date of D- day, which was about the end of May. In this episode Hannibal's actions were paralleled two thousand years later by another young general of about his age, like him about to cross the Alps, and again like Hannibal, to make his initial reputation thereby: Napoleon Bonaparte. From Carthaginian Hannibal marched his army to Ebro and then to Ampurias, through the Pyrenees and along the shore of the Mediterranean through the South of France, fighting much of the way. As far as the Rhone, there is little doubt about the route which Hannibal's army followed: but from the Rhone over the Alps into Italy, Hannibal's route has been a bone of contention for two thousand years.

C o

ing of he Alp

Hannibal left Spain for Italy in the spring of 218 B.C. with about 35,000 seasoned troops. His force included a squadron of Elephants. The Romans planned to intercept him near Massilia (Marseille) and, after dealing with him, to invade Spain. Publius Cornelius Scipio was in charge of this operation, while Tiberius Sempronius led another army in Sicily, destined for Africa. However, Scipio had to send his legions to deal with a Gallic revolt, and by the time he reached Massilia by sea, he learned that he had missed Hannibal by only a few days. Thereupon, Scipio returned to northern Italy and awaited Hannibal's arrival. In the meantime, Scipio had sent his brother Gnaue to Spain with an army to cut Hannibal off from his brother Hasdrubal. It appears that Hannibal crossed the Alps somewhere between the Little St Bernard and Montgenevre passes. He did not begin to cross until early fall, which meant that he encountered winter like conditions in the Alpine region. His force suffered greatly from the elements and the hostility of local tribesmen. He lost most of his elephants, and by the time he reached northern Italy, his army was
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reduced to about 26,000 men, 6,000 of whom were Cavalry. However, the number was quickly raised to about 40,000 by the addition of Gaul s.

The invasion of Ital

In the first engagement with Roman troops, Hannibal's cavalry won a minor victory over Scipio's forces near the Ticinus River. This was followed by a decisive victory at the Trebia River in December 218 B.C. over Roman legions led by Scipio and Sempronius, who was recalled from Sicily when Hannibal invaded Italy. Hannibal's superior numbers in cavalry and his skill in the combined use of cavalry and infantry were key factors in his success at Trebia, as in later victories. Hannibal had a decided advantage in northern Italy, where the Gauls were friendly to his cause and where his cavalry could operate in the broad plains. The Romans therefore decided to withdraw to central Italy and await Hannibal who began to cross the Apennines in the spring of 217. The mountains again proved costly both to his army and personally to Hannibal, who lost the sight of one eye from an infection. The Roman consuls for 217, Gaius Flaminius and Servilius Geminus, had stationed themselves at Arretium and Ariminum to guard both possible routs, west and east, by which Hannibal might cross the Apennines. Hannibal selected Flaminius' western rout, but the consul refused to give battle alone. Allowing Hannibal to pass, Flaminius followed, harassing the Carthaginian army and hoping to meet Geminus farther south, where they would jointly give battle. However, Hannibal ambushed Flaminius in a narrow pass near Lake Trasimene and destroyed almost his entire army of 25.000. At Rome, Quintius Fabius Maximus was elected dictator by the centuriate assembly. Rather than join battle with Hannibal, who had marched south into Apulia, he decided on a policy of caution and harassment that would keep Hannibal moving and gradually wear him down. Hannibal moved from Apulia into Campania, followed and watched by Fabius, who finally bottled him up in an area unfavorable to cavalry and decided to give battle. At night, however, Hannibal sent oxen toward Fabius' army with burning sticks tied to their horns; while the Romans investigated what they considered an attack; he escaped with his army to ADulia, where he wintered.

The Battle of Cannae

When Fabuis' tenure as dictator expired, the consuls for 216, Lueius Paullus and Gaius Varro, took charge of the war against Hannibal. On learning that Hannibal had captured the Roman depot at Cannae, in Apulia, the consuls decided to give battle, and Hannibal now faced two formidable armies. However, at Cannae he again selected ground favorable to his tactics and strong cavalry. While the Romans relied on their superior numbers, and their fighting skill. Hannibal's plan called for his cavalry, positioned on the flanks of a crescent shaped line, to defeat the Roman horsemen quickly and to attack the Roman infantry from the rear, as it pressed upon a weakened center of Spaniards and Gauls: his superior African troops, at the crucial moment, Were to press from the flanks and complete the encirclement. The plan succeeded and the Romans suffered 25,000 dead and l0,000 captured.

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dispatched b the time the embass arrived, and the gave the Senate a virtual blank check to avert conflict. The Senate demanded that their arm should be allowed to do an thing it wished, all territor and possessions of Carthage to become Roman-controlled, and 300 hostages surrendered. The ambassadors agreed to this total surrender, a deditio in fidem. In return for their surrender, Rome guaranteed the Carthaginians freedom, their own laws, nominal control over all their territor , and possession of personal and public propert . Unfortunatel , the arrival of the arm brought even more difficult conditions. The Roman commander Manius Mani-lius obliged the cit to surrender all its weapons of war; the did. Reportedl armor and weapons for 200,000 men were turned over to the Romans, as well as 2,000 catapults. One final condition was unacceptable: the demand that the cit of Carthage be destro ed and all the inhabitants removed inland. "Whenever ou look on the sea, ou remember the great fleets ou once had, the spoils ou captured, the harbours into which ou brought them, to fill our dock ards and arsenals" (Appian, quoted in Dore and Dudle , Rome against Carthage, p. 161). Carthage responded b declaring war on Rome.

The Ba le
Carthage could not hope to take the war to Rome, onl to force the Romans awa from their capital. Carthage was the best-fortified cit of its da , completel walled for its 21-mile perimeter and with access to the sea for resuppl . The cit was divided into northern and southern halves (Megara and B rsa respectivel ). In spite of the earlier surrender of weapons, the citi ens began producing new swords, spears, shields, javelins, and catapults at a prodigious rate. The women of the cit cut their hair to serve as rope for the catapults. In their desperate situation, the Carthaginian government pardoned Hasdrubal and he took command of an arm of 25,000 to 30,000 outside the cit , based in the province of B acena to the south and southwest. The main cit there, Nepheris, dominated the suppl route to the farmland be ond. Rome had 80,000 infantr and 4,000 cavalr on site, with the port cit of Utica (which had surrendered without a fight) just to the northwest to serve as a base. The had no siege engines, however, and three direct assaults against the western walls proved disastrous. A fora across the Lake of Tunis to gather wood ran into serious Carthaginian cavalr opposition, but ultimatel sufficient wood was gathered to build two rams. The Romans had some success against the southern fortifications, but the defenders rebuilt the walls, then sallied to destro the rams. As the summer of 149 grew hotter, the Roman camp between the lagoons became too unhealth , so the relocated to the southern end of the cit . Roman ships anchored there to provision the arm , but the were almost completel devastated b Carthaginian fire ships. B ear's end the Romans had made little progress. In 148 b.c. Manilius changed his strateg somewhat. He moved his camp from south of Carthage to the northern flank. Rather than press the siege he instead gathered supplies and made plans to attack Nephiris, where Hasdrubal's force was based. On Manilius' staff was the oung Scipio Aemilianus, adopted grandson of the Scipio Africanus who had won glor in the Second Punic War. He advised against the Nephiris attack but was overruled. When Manilius was on the verge of defeat at the hands of the Carthaginian cavalr commander, Himilco Phameas, Scipio's timel arrival with reinforcements covered the Roman retreat. He then pla ed a ke diplomatic role. Masinissa's offer of assistance earl in the conflict had been brusquel rebuffed; now
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Hasdrubal set the harbor buildings alight but it did not slow the Romans down. What did slow them was the sack of the temple of Apollo, whose golden dome proved too inviting to the soldiers. When reinforcements entered the fray, the slow work of reducing the Byrsa citadel proceeded. Tall houses along narrow lanes proved to be individual fortresses, and the fighting was house-to-house, room-to-room, hand-tohand for six days. Scipio finally ordered the houses burned to allow easier passage, and many noncombatants died in the conflagration. That proved the final blow to Carthaginian resistance. On the seventh day they surrendered wholesale, 50,000 men, women, and children giving themselves up to slavery. Hasdrubal and his family, along with 900 Roman deserters, were all that remained in the temple of Esmun. He did not display the valor of his earlier namesakes, but crawled to Scipio begging mercy as the deserters decided to die in the flames of the temple. Seeing his dishonor, Hasdrubal's wife called out to him: " Wretch!' she screamed, in a voice which raised itself above the universal din, is it thus you seek to save your own life while you sacrifice ours? I can not reach you in your own person, but I kill you hereby in the persons of your children.'" (Abbott, History of Hannibal, pp. 292-293). She stabbed his two sons, threw them into the flames, then dived in after them.

Sack of Car hage

Scipio rewarded his men with time to plunder the city at their leisure. That done, the remainder of the city was set ablaze and burned for ten days. Rome decreed that no house should be built nor crop planted there. But a hundred years later, the city was refounded by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C, and became the capital of the enlarged province of Africa. By the second century A.D, Carthage had become the largest city in the west after Rome. The "New" Roman Carthage became first a famous educational centre, especially for law and rhetoric, and then a focus for Christianity in the west, especially in the time of Tertullian and Cyprian (second and third centuries A.D.). Carthage fell to the Vandals in 439 A.D, and became the capital of their king Gaiseric, but after the victory of Belisarius (Byzantine general) in 533, it remained loyal to the Roman empire in the east, until the Arab conquest at the end of the seventh century, when it was destroyed a second time in 698 A.D. It is said that as the original city burned, Scipio wept. His tutor, the historian Polybius, spoke to him. " Is this not a splendid sight?' He grasped his hand and said: A splendid sight indeed, Polybius, and yet I am in fear-I know not why-that some day the same order will be given to destroy my own country'" (Appian, quoted in Dorey and Dudley, Rome against Carthage, p. 174). Control of the North African farmland provided the storehouse of grain for Rome for the next several centuries. Not until the Vandals conquered the region in the fifth century A.D. did it cease being Rome's granary. It became so once again, when Belisarius captured the province for the Eastern Emperor Justinian a century later.

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