Essay about Hannibal of Carthage

In both ancient and modern interpretations and perceptions, Hannibal is infamous for leading the Carthaginian army and a squadron of elephants athwart the Southern European region and the Alps Mountains against the Roman Empire, who were manifested as the most powerful army, in the Second Punic War. Hannibal is overly expressed and given light to throughout his career and conquest in Italy by prominently well-renowned historians, including: Titus Livy, who was considered as the least reliable source as he was tremendously reliant on other eyewitness accounts of contingency, and was greatly one-sided toward the Romans. Polybius, who was ultimately much more detached, and perceived sources objectively with balance. And modern historians,

Throughout his career as a politician and warrior, Fabius always took the time to make a wise decision. Hannibal tried to trick Fabius into fighting so that Hannibal could surprise Fabius, but Fabius was wise and did not fall for Hannibal’s traps. Fabius was so wise that his tactics of defeating Hannibal seemed senseless to the Romans. However, Fabius knew that it was best to try to corner Hannibal rather than attack him. Fabius cared about the good of Rome more than his own reputation that he instructed look up, his successor as leader of the Roman army, to continue Fabius’ tactics of avoiding battle with

Caesar Augustus the man who found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. Caesar Augustus, one of the strongest and most strategic leaders in roman history, but this was all much later in his life, he started off in a very poor state yet through hard work and determination he came out on top to be known throughout the generations.

Many of the states of Italy that Rome had conquered a century before now joined Hannibal. This was a threat to Rome, so the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio took a Roman army to north Africa and then Hannibal went back to defend Carthage. In the battle at Zama, near Carthage, in 202 BC the Romans finally defeated Hannibal.

     In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare shows how friends often betray each other. Julius Caesar is about to be crowned king of Rome, when some well-known Romans decide that it is not a good idea for this to happen. They form a conspiracy and kill Caesar. Brutus, an honorable Roman and a very good friend of Caesar’s, betrays Caesar by killing him for the good of Rome. Antony, Caesar’s best friend and another honorable Roman, betrays Brutus by turning against the conspirators. Cassius, a respected Roman, and Brutus betray each other by arguing and destroying their friendship. All this betraying lead to many deaths in the play.

The second Punic War was fought in 218 BC with Rome and Carthage. In the second Punic War carthage attacked and captured Saguntum, which was a Spanish city allied with Rome. Hannibal marched his huge Army through Spain and Gaul and through the Alps to attack the Romans in Italy. Hannibal led his army through dangerous mountains. In 216 BC, hannibal won two victories at Lake Trasimeno and the town of Cannae, then reached southern

Rome’s main military opposition was Carthage, a kingdom located on the northern coast of Africa. Carthage and Rome fought in a series of three wars known as the Punic Wars. The second Punic War, fought from 218-202 BC was led by Hannibal on the Carthaginian side and Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus with Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus on the Roman side. The Battle of Lake Trasimene 217 BC was a major battle in the Second Punic War. Under Hannibal, the Carthaginian army defeated the Romans, who were lead by the consul Gaius Flaminius. This battle helped the Carthaginians to bring the Romans close to defeat, Hannibal was able to execute his father Hamilcar’s strategy perfectly in this battle. In the Battle of Cannae, the Carthaginians were just as lucky. Rome’s larger army, under Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro, was efficiently and easily defeated by the Carthaginian forces. Though Carthage surprised Rome with many victories, the Punic War ended in 202 BC with the The Battle of Zama. Scipio lead the Roman army and defeated the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal. Though Hannibal's army had more men than Scipio's, and he had eighty elephants, Rome showed their superiority and skill in ending the Second Punic War with this battle. Many years after this, another kingdom of North Africa, Numidia, fostered a connection with Rome. King Jugurtha of this region was able to benefit from the Roman soldiers through bribery and connections with them.

Hannibal was born in 247BCE, he was the son of a Carthaginian general named Hamilcar Barcareerred, who rallied his North African nation-state from defeat in the First Punic War (264–241 BC) to conquer much of Iberia. Hannibal grew up in military service, and following the 221 BC assassination of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal, who had replaced Hamilcar, Hannibal took charge of the Carthaginian army. He soon proved a brilliant field commander who applied his intellect and martial skills to the singular end of winning battles. Hannibal, a sworn enemy of all things Roman, declared war against them and this was the start of the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). Victory in Italy was Hannibal’s sole objective. To achieve it, he marched the bulk of his army in Iberia across southern Gaul and over the Alps into the Roman heartland. Hannibal’s strategy was to attack Rome. Although his tactics for battle were superior he had strategic failures which would eventually lead to his campaign in failure.

Finally on the 15th day, after a journey of five months from Cartagena, with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and only a few of the original 38 elephants, Hannibal descended into Italy, having surmounted the difficulties of climate and terrain, the guerrilla tactics of inaccessible tribes, and the major difficulty of commanding a body of men diverse in race and language under conditions to which they were ill fitted (wsu.edu).      Hannibal's forces were now totally inadequate to match the army of Scipio, who had rushed to the Po River to protect the recently founded Roman colonies of Placentia (modern Piacenza) and Cremona. The first action between the two armies took place on the plains west of the Ticino River, and Hannibal's Numidian cavalry prevailed. Scipio was severely wounded, and the Romans withdrew to Placentia. After manoeuvres failed to lead to a second engagement, the combined armies of Sempronius Longus and Scipio met Hannibal on the left bank of the Trebia River south of Placentia and were soundly defeated (December 218). This victory brought both Gauls and Ligurians to Hannibal's side, and his army was considerably augmented by Celtic recruits. After a severe winter (in which he contracted an eye infection), he was able to advance in the spring of 217 as far as the Arno River (wsu.edu). Although two Roman armies were now in the field against him, he was able to outmanoeuvre that of Gaius Flaminius

to break free, Antony lost the battle but he and Cleopatra managed to flee the battle early

In 288 B.C. a group of mercenaries known as the Mamertines was hired by the city of Syracuse that was undergoing a revolt. Soon they were defeated by the loyal inhabitants of Syracuse and applied to both Rome and Carthage for assistance. Carthage, acting first, offered a garrison to protect the Mamertines, but they found this offer to be unappealing and turned to Rome to see their offer. However at this point in time the rivalry between Carthage and Rome became so fierce that there would be no feasible way to accept assistance from both powers, Rome acted by sending two legions to occupy Sicily and defeat the

Julius Caesar was a strong leader for the Romans who changed the course of the history of the Greco - Roman world decisively and irreversibly. With his courage and strength he created a strong empire. What happened during his early political career? How did he become such a strong dictator of the Roman Empire? What events led up to the making of the first triumvirate? How did he rise over the other two in the triumvirate and why did he choose to take over? What happened during his reign as dictator of Rome? What events led up to the assassination of Caesar? What happened after he was killed? Caesar was a major part of the Roman Empire because of his strength and his strong war strategies. Julius Caesar was a

the strongest of the two in this field. This superiority was met by a large scale Roman construction of the navel fleet after their land forces captured one of the Carthaginian ships. Soon this was reflected in the fightings, and in 256 Carthage was besieged, but the Romans were defeated. Then for some years Carthage was the most successful who was commanded by Hamilcar. However, at the battle at the Aegates Islands in 241, the Carthaginians were beaten so badly that they requested peace. This agreement involved leaving

Ever wondered what it takes to be a good king or ruler? Julius Caesar is one of the most famous rulers of all time. He was one of Rome’s greatest and most powerful leaders. His changes to the empire helped take Rome to new levels of success. The life of Caesar was short, yet great. It is important to learn about this great man and his many accomplishments.

Julius Caesar is and was one of the most influential people in history. He created laws, stuck wars, and developed new strategies for leadership and battles. "Caesar is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, as well as a brilliant politician and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders (Julius Caesar pg.1)." He transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire and he extended his land all the way through Gaul to The Atlantic Ocean, as well as fighting a civil war and being proclaimed as dictator for life.