Hannibal, the Carthaginian General

What an inspiring life Hannibal led! He marched his army over the Alps Mountains in winter and defeated the Romans on the other side of the mountain, a formidable task! Hannibal’s Alpine crossing had fired the imagination of many a warrior, especially Wellington, the 19^th century British Commander and Napoleon, the First Emperor of France.    

Hannibal Barca was born to Hamilcar, a Carthaginian general, in 247 BC in Carthage, Tunisia, in North Africa. His father took Hannibal at a very young age of nine years to Spain, along with his brother, to rough it up in the war fronts. Carthage had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Rome in the First Punic War of 264-241 BC. Hamilcar had made his two boys, swear an oath never to show goodwill to the Romans, an oath of eternal enmity.

As Hamilcar sank to his death in a river during the battle with an Iberian tribe in 229 BC, both the sons witnessed it and fled for their lives. Hannibal was 18 years old then. The leadership of Carthaginian forces passed on to his elder brother Hasdrubal, who negotiated a peace treaty with Rome. When he was assassinated in Spain, Hannibal at the age of 26 was elected general by popular vote of the Carthaginian troops in Spain, ratified by the Senate in Carthage.

Within three years Hannibal tore up the treaty that his brother had worked so assiduously with Romans and laid siege to the Roman town Saguntum, south of the Ebro River in Spain. From there he marched across Pyrenees mountains and then Alps to swoop down on Italy. Basically the fight was to determine who will be the masters of the Mediterranean waters and the surrounding lands.

Hannibal led his forces atop Alps, in the summer of 218 BC. His was the first ever troops to cross the Alps with an army, since the Greek hero Heracles (Hercules), who according to traditions was the first to force a route through Alps. Hannibal was supposed to have started with 90,000 infantry, 12000 cavalry and 37 African elephants. He and his troupes started to climb Alps early November at the very onset of winter. By the time he crossed over he was left with only 50,000 infantry and 9000 cavalry but all the 37 elephants.

Hannibal’s army tried to cross over Alps through one of the 6 narrow passes, with the rugged and steep mountain peaks rising before them and bitter cold winds howling through the narrow passes, with bone-chilling effects. With the stirring speeches of Hannibal and grit, and the reward of reaching the fertile plain of Po valley down on the side of northern Italy on crossing the mountain, the troops made the journey in an amazing 9 days.

The bewildered animals, horses and elephants and the pack animals slipped over the snow and skidded to their death. On reaching Po valley, Hannibal did not give them rest for too long. He pushed them to move on, as the snow fall was heavy and if immobile, they might freeze to death.

As the passage was too narrow for the pack animals and soldiers to move, men worked hard building a path along the cliff side, packing the path with any material that was available. In a single day they created a path wide enough for horses and pack animals to pass and descend.

Then came the elephants, which were stuck in the snow. The path had to be widened and made strong enough for the elephants to cross. Men worked tirelessly around the animals for three days and created a path good enough for them to cross. They reached Turin, exhausted and frost-bitten and malnourished, and despondent. They had lost 70,000 infantry, half the cavalry and many elephants. War was yet to begin.  

Romans were in panic on hearing that Hannibal with his army had crossed over the Alps Mountain within 15 days in mid-November winter and landed in Italy in 218 BC. Hannibal fought many battles in Italy: battle of Ticinus in November, 218; battle at Trebbia in December 218; in June 217 at the battle of Trasimene and the battle of Cannae in August 216, and won all of them, in spite of all odds.

His army was emaciated and depleted, but he held the element of surprise. His huge war elephants from Africa were enough to strike terror into the hearts of Roman soldiers. His strategy was superb; he had uncanny ability to place his troops in the position most appropriate to their fighting skill. Had Hannibal pushed straight for Rome, he could have captured it, but he knew his limits, so never went against Rome itself.

Romans were so scarred of Hannibal’s advance; they quickly sacrificed a Gallic man and woman and a Greek man and woman, burying them alive in dual sacrifice to get the goodwill of their gods! But Hannibal and his army were was not in good shape. His compatriots back home in Carthage were refusing to send in additional reinforcements. He is said to have stripped the dead Romans of their rings and sent these home to be poured out before the Senate, who impressed by this gesture, agreed to send in more men and elephants.

Hannibal sent in ambassadors to Rome to force them to come to the negotiating table. Romans refused and persisted in fighting Hannibal to finish. Hannibal’s men were tired with the perpetual war and needed to return, may be just like Alexander’s army that revolted on the banks of Indus River in 327 BC. In 215 BC, when Romans faced them once again in Cumae, Hannibal suffered his first ever defeat in Italy.

Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio had reached the den of the lion by landing Roman troops in Spain itself and Hannibal had to divert men and material to defend his home base. In 205 BC, Hannibal in his forties was war weary and steadily losing, losing Spain and other allies to Romans. Roman army was progressing towards Carthage. The Senate hurriedly agreed to all the terms dictated by Romans to negotiate peace. Hannibal was asked to return to Carthage and fight the Romans, which he did.

In the last fight in 202 BC, Hannibal and Scipio met and fought at Zama, near Carthage. Hannibal’s army lost. Thousands of Carthaginians died, many thousands were taken prisoners; some managed to escape, including Hannibal. He rode 120 miles over two days at full gallop and evaded his pursuers. He returned to Carthage, but on learning that Romans had asked for him as a hostage and the willingness of Carthaginians to give him up, he escaped again and reached Tyre, the ancestral home of Carthaginians, where he was welcomed as a hero. 

Rome emerged victorious and as undisputed masters of central and western Mediterranean and surrounding coastlines. Hannibal continued his tirades against Rome, by first serving as adviser to Antiochus III of Seleucid Empire, and goading him to go against Rome. In 191 BC, Antiochus lost the battle at Thermopylae, Greece, where 300 Spartans had resisted the Persians in 480 BC.

Hannibal fled once again from the Romans, this time to the royal court of King Prusias of Bithynia, a small kingdom on the shores of Black Sea. He aided in the king’s campaigns against king of Pergamon, a long time ally of Rome. In 182 BC the Romans persuaded King Prusias to hand over Hannibal to them. Hannibal aged 63, not wanting to end up a Roman prisoner and having lost all his options, took his life by drinking poison.

Thus ended the magnificent story of Hannibal, an all time great military general world had produced, who succeeded in holding Romans in anxiety and fear for a long time. Hannibal was an enigma; there are no written records left by him. All the accounts we have of him were written by his enemies, Livy the Roman historian and Polybus, the Greek historian.

Even his enemies admired his ability to survive hardship, deprivation and uncertainty. He was most formidable under extreme pressure. He not only performed, but goaded his men to perform difficult feats of endurance and bravery. He was a brilliant strategist and fearsome to his enemies.

A great general, nevertheless he lost to the Romans, whom he had vowed to hate till the end. Rome was left as the Queen of Mediterranean with no one to challenge her once Hannibal left the stage.