Preview

Hannibal Qualities

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
700 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hannibal Qualities
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, a Roman soldier, and military leader. Born in 247 B.C., was raised in Carthage to be a soldier. Hannibal opposed to his father's archenemy. Hannibal’s job was to protect the city of Carthage. Even though Hannibal's mother was unknown, his father Hamilcar, a former military leader, taught Hannibal to be the brave and smart header he was. Hannibal has the smartest military genius in Carthage.

The first battle Hannibal had fought and won was the battle of Trebia. In this battle, Hannibal and his army quietly passed the Roman army into northern Italy, over the Alps. After two months, Hannibal was met by a Roman force at the Trebia River ,so he used his Cavalry to get his men across the river. Hannibal hid his men in
…show more content…
In this battle, Hannibal has the advantage of choosing his battle ground and sends a message to the others by using his enemy. Hannibal moved his soldiers behind the hill leaving his tents where the Romans can see. The night before Hannibal had instructed his men to light fires on the hills, so that the Romans would believe that his forces were farther away than they actually were. Hannibal’s men were laid out in such way as to surround their enemies from all sides. All at once Hannibal gave orders for an attack. From the surrounding hills the Carthaginian cavalry and infantry came down with an impact, coming at the enemy army from all sides. The Romans did not even have time to draw up in their usual battle array, and were forced to fight in open order. The Carthaginians drove them on to the lake, where there was no escape.Many were driven to drown in the lake. An ancient tradition says that because of the blood, which for over three days filled the area, the name of the stream which crosses it was changed to Sanguineto - Blood River. And of course Hannibal's military genius leads him to victory. The battle of Trasimene was between Rome and …show more content…
The battle was between Rome and cannae. In the battle, Both sides put their cavalry on the flanks.Hannibal made two adjustments in his setup. His cavalry was superior to the Romans, especially on his left.Hannibal first moves as he drew up his army, by placing his light slingers and spearmen at the front. Behind them, he positioned his Celtic and Spanish swordsmen in a crescent in the center. On his left wing he stationed his Celtic and Spanish heavy cavalry, on the right he stationed his light Numidian cavalry.Hannibal put his most reliable (African) troops on the flanks and turned his center over to his less reliable Spanish and Gallic allies. The greater part of his cavalry under Hasdrubal was placed on the left wing and the light Numidian on the right. Both armies advanced against each other. The Romans drove in hard, using their superior infantry to best advantage. They had their velites fall back and ploughed into their foe with their heavy infantry.The Libyan infantry and cavalry of Hannibal's flanks stood fast, overlapped the Roman line, and in a rear encircling movement turned to pursue the victorious legionaries. A large body of cavalry now separated from the Carthaginian left wing and charged across the field of battle to the right wing, where it fell into the rear of the cavalry of the Roman allies. With these strategies, Hannibal has the last victory against Rome.

Hannibal's military genius lead him to win all Punic wars.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What seemed like what would be an easy Roman victory, turned into utter destruction. The night before the battle, Hannibal Barca, the Commander of the Carthaginians, formulated a plan to destroy the Romans. First, Hannibal would have the center of his army slowly fall back. After that, Hannibal would engage with the Roman flanks. On the day of the battle, the Romans boasted 80,000 ground troops and 6,000 cavalry, while the Carthaginians just had 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hannibal resumed his siege of Saguntum and conquered it after a terrible and costly siege. Hannibal, although he held preeminence in Carthage, still had to rely on his allies to keep him in power. A delegate was sent to Rome to answer a question regarding whether Hannibal had acted on his own or had the approval of the Carthaginian senate. The delegate, according to Livy, was the best orator in Carthage. He quickly quashed the argument regarding the border of Hasdrubal because the Carthaginian council had not been part of the talks. Furthermore, he argued that the Romans had broken the treaty after the First War by invading Sardinia; finally, he stated that Hannibal broke no treaty because the Saguntines did not have an alliance with Rome when the treaty between Hasdrubal formed. However, the Romans did not care about that, they wanted peace or war. The Carthaginians declared the Romans needed to choose, and the Romans chose the later. At this critical juncture, Carthage still held with Hannibal and wanted to help him.…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hannibal became a Carthaginian statesman and eventually grew in power. The Romans were scared that with Hannibal’s increase in power, he would lead another revolt against them. They made Hannibal give up his power and they exiled him. Hannibal traveled to many places including Tyrus, Ephesus, Crete, and Asia Minor. In Ephesus, King Antiochus, was at war with the Romans. Antiochus put Hannibal in control of one if his fleets, but he was defeated. After this, Antiochus was prepared to give Hannibal to the forces of Rome. Hannibal then fled to Crete, after a while, Hannibal was ready to go back to Asia Minor. King Prusias let Hannibal stay with him and Hannibal helped him in the war against Rome’s allies. Hannibal won many victories for Prusias, but the Romans let Hannibal keep helping him. They forced Prusias to hand Hannibal over. Hannibal was not ready to fall into the hands of the Romans. In 183 B.C. Hannibal ingested a deadly poison and…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    From a snapshot of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians defeated the Romans while under the consul of Gaius Flaminius. The battle is considered one of the largest and most successful ambushes in military history. The battle consisted of around 50,000 Carthaginian soldiers versus about 30,000 Roman soldiers. The aftermath of the battle produced well over 15,000+ lost soldiers for the Roman army while Hannibal only lost approximately 2,500 of his own. Despite the overview of the battle, much more can be examined when looking at the events leading up to the brilliant ambush set by…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Punic Wars were three conflicts between Carthage and Rome. The first conflict was from 264-241 B.C. It grew out of an altercation between Messana and Syracuse. The Messanians asked Carthage for help and Syracuse asked Rome for help. The Strait of Messana, which separated the Italian Peninsula from Sicily, was important strategically, and both Carthage and Rome responded. The Punic army (Carthaginians) arrived in Sicily and mediated peace between the two and established a military base. When the Roman army arrived, they drove off the Punic army from the military base and war ensued (Columbia…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One general, wreaking havoc throughout the Roman lands was known as Hannibal Barca. Following in his father’s footsteps as a superior military general, he challenged Rome in battle every chance he could. After several attempts of coaxing Rome into battle he achieves a decent victory at the Battle of Trasimene in 217…

    • 1788 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Historians tend to depict Fabius’s victory over Hannibal as a combination of his own strategic thinking as well as some degree of luck. Hannibal cannot be held directly responsible for Carthage’s loss to Rome in the Second Punic War. Even Roman sources acknowledge that Hannibal was ill equipped and underfunded to seriously threaten the city of Rome, it would be irresponsible for historians not to consider the Carthaginian situation as a…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The second war started in 218 BC and ended in 201 BC. The leader of the Carthage in this war was the general hannibal, who also made a daring cross in the middle of the winter to attack Rome. He brought elephants with him when he attacked Rome.…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Marcus Junius Brutus was born in Macedonia in 85 BC. He was the son of Marcus Junius, who was killed in Pompey in 77 b.c. his mother, Servila, was Caesars’ lover. He was known as a literary man who wrote histories (now lost).…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scipio was born into one of ancient Rome’s noble families in 236 B.C. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all consuls as well as Scipio himself. There is little to nothing known about his early life other than he fought alongside his father in the second punic war, where his father died. He later served as military tribune at the battle of Cannae in 216 B. C.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scipio was born in 236 B.C. in Liternum, Campania. He is born into the Scipio family, which is a famous and one of the great patrician families in Rome. Scipio’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been consuls.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Punic Wars

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages

    of Agrigentum in 262 BC, which was a land battle. To avoid this happening again, the…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The second punic war marks the peak of Roman power. It was the first time they were vulnerable, but it was also the last time. Hannibal took the fight to Rome's land instead of waiting for the Roman to come. Although Hannibal came very close to bring Rome down to their knees, he still couldn't do the impossible and Rome, at the end, still triumphed. And that's Rome first step into what we know about them now, an ancient super power.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Roman Violence

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Carthaginians expanded their military grasp and established a base in Spain or at the time Iberia. During this time the Carthaginian army was lead by Hamilcar Barca and his son in law, Hasdrubal. But before all of this could happen Hamilcar Barca made his son swear a blood oath. Hannibal, Hamilcar’s son took control of the Carthaginian forces in 221 B.C. that were currently based in Iberia. It was thought that carthaginian troops in Iberia numbered about 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and 37 war elephants. Hannibal’s plan to invade Rome required him and his army to cross the Pyrenees, the Rhone River, and the Alps and wind up in Italy ready to fight. His march would cover about 1,000 miles and would be known as one of the more famous campaigns in campaign history. His journey was long one and it was not going to be easy, but on the other side of the mountains sat Rome that had little clue of what was going on. Hannibal was forced to leave many siege engines as well as supplies that would have slowed his trek into Rome. The supplies that Hannibal meant to march with would not have been the only thing slowing him down, he had to battle various tribes, weather, and the overall incline. 17 days later and with only 26,000 men and a handful of elephants Hannibal's historic march was over, but his invasion had just kicked up. The Carthaginians had the element of surprise on their side and could have walked…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient Rome Vs Athens

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sparta was the most feared city-state in all of Greece, and the Roman Empire was a global superpower. One of Sparta’s values is that a warrior never backs down in battle. For example, during the Persian War, when Sparta and Athens were allied, Persia went for Sparta first. The Spartans lost, however, they didn’t go without an extremely intense fight. With three hundred Spartans, King Leonidas faced an entire Persian army in efforts to allow the other Greeks a chance to recover. Every single soldier sacrificed his life in an effort to save Greece. Herodotus, a Greek historian, recalls the battle of Thermopylae; “Here they defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands and teeth,” It was a loss in battle, but it was a win for the Greeks. The Roman Empire was similar to this determination in an example concerning the Gallic War. The Germanics thought they had the upper hand due to the fact that there was a river separating Gaul from Rome, however, that never stopped the Romans. Julius Caesar, Ancient Rome’s most famous dictator, ordered for his soldiers to construct a wooden bridge to cross the Rhine River. In a mere few days, Caesar’s army would cross the river, demonstrating that the Roman Empire could go anywhere. Therefore,…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays