Son of Hamilicar Barca, he swore an oath that he would allways hate the
Romans.
Took control of the Carthaginian army in 221 BC
Attacked and captured Saguntum in Spain but in the
process killed some Italian and Roman merchants,
thus beginning the second punic war.
He marched along the Spanish coast
and crossed the alps into Italy with a
Carthaginian and Gaullic Army and many
battle elephants.
Very resourceful - when boulders were
blocking his way he set fires underneath
them and poured lime into them to shatter
them.
Defeated the Roman army at
three battles: the Ticinius, the
Tebia and at Lake
Trasimene,
Annotations:
Hannibal defeated the Romans at the three T's: Ticinius
Tebia
Trasimene
Quintus Fabius Maximus was appointed to
deal with Hannibal. He attempted this by using
guerilla tactis.
he most resounding defeat was at Cannae where the
Romans lost 60,000 men to Hannibal's 5,000. Hannibal
achieved this by luring the Romans in by ordering the
centre of his infantry to retreat - the Romans were then
surrounded from all sides.
Hasdrubal, Hannibals brother was
defeated at the Battle of the River
Mentaurus on his way into Italy. He was
killed and his head thrown into Hannibals
camp.
Annotations:
this was hannibal descovered his brother was in italy !
Scipio, after getting cavalry from Massinissa, attacked
Cartage. Hannibal was recalled from Italy to deal with Scipio.
However Scipio defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama.