Hannibal Barca

[Elenmmare]

A question in my history textbook prompted me to think long and hard about the man we call Hannibal Barca.

Do you think Hannibal Barca should be remembered as a great military strategist?

My first instinct told me to answer 'no'. He was a great military tactician, but not a strategist. He could win a battle, but not a war. A true general knows when to fight, yet Hannibal initiated the Second Punic War which he was doomed to lose. It has been said before that Hannibal knew how to win a battle but not how to use it.

Upon reconsideration, however, I think I may have been to harsh on him. The truth is, Carthage was probably fated to fight Rome anyway. Perhaps it would have been wiser to submit to Rome altogether.

In any case, do you think Hannibal was a great military strategist? He did make the mistake of leaving Carthage exposed whilst traipsing through Northern Italy.

 

[blood of the North]

I reckon Hannibal didn't really care about carthage. he lived in spain his entire life and as soon as he had the authority and the experience, he attacked spain. Carthage didn't play much of a part in the whole affair. They were perfectly happy to help somewhat when he captured a few towns, but that was it. When it comes to great military strategist i would say yes. Cannae is genius. When Marharbal? told him to march on rome after that victory he replied no because his army didn't have a siege train. I believe his general strategy was to make romes italian allies desert her, which failed after the lack of carthage's support.

 

[Captain Pyjama Shark]

I'ma say that yes, he was a great strategist.  He had it very well planned out how he could win his war.  The problem his, the cards didn't fall in his favour.

In my humble opinion, it was the defeat of the Romans at Cannae, that saved the Romans.  Why is that?  Because Hannibal's plan hinged on the Roman confederacy of city-states, like Capua, Arminium, etc., to revolt.  Hannibal thought that if he defeated the Romans in battle time and time again, he could accomplish this.  After Trasimene and  Trebia he could see his plan falling into place, as Capua and some of the more Greek city-states joined his motley army of Africans, Spaniards and Gauls.

However, as I stated, I think Cannae was the pivotal moment, and that after it Hannibal was doomed to lose.  The city-states were loyal to Rome because Rome protected them, and as we all know Romans seem to have been the most persistent culture known to man when it came to war.  The fact is, that Rome lost so many men, thousands, slaughtered uselessly at Cannae, right after they had lost thousands slaughtered at Trasimene, and before at the River Trebia, was a signal to their  confederacy that the Romans were going to fight to the end, and giving Roman power in the Italian peninsula, that meant that they could afford to lose at a 10 to 1 rate, and they could still pull off a victory.

At that point it became evident to the city-states that joining the Carthaginians would be a foolish gesture, as the Romans had just sent their entire flower of manhood to die on the battlefield, and the Romans were willing to keep that up, again and again for the protection of their allies.

I typed this kinda quickly so if people would like some clarification just ask.

 

[inox_ionizer]

Didn't they draw many of those flowers from their allies? Or was that mostly later on?

 

[Captain Pyjama Shark]

Well half of the Roman army was always Italian allies, if I recall correctly, but I think it was the Romans who took the brunt of the casualties.  I''ll check up on that.

 

[ScientiaExcelsa]

He crossed the Alps.  With elephants.  He traipsed his army 'round the Italian peninsula for several years without being defeated.  Give the man a break, he was a logistics genius if nothing else.

 

[Evilknightz]

Hannibal wouldn't be able to beat the carthage campaign of Roma Surrectum if thats what you mean.

Most of the elephants died too....

He was a risk taker, which romans weren't used to.

 

[Elenmmare]

He crossed the Alps.  With elephants.  He traipsed his army 'round the Italian peninsula for several years without being defeated.  Give the man a break, he was a logistics genius if nothing else.

Right, tactically brilliant. But even an inferior, weak, pitiful general would have been better for Carthage, wouldn't he have?

Because of Hannibal, Carthage lost all of Hispania, was forced to pay 10,000 talents in tribute, had its navy reduced to 10 ships, and couldn't raise an army without Rome's permission. An idle general would never have done that.

So who is strategically greater? The man who picks his battles, or the man who ruins a nation through ego?

 

[Swadius 2.0]

I believe Erich von Manstein tops Hannibal by far.

 

[ScientiaExcelsa]

He crossed the Alps.  With elephants.  He traipsed his army 'round the Italian peninsula for several years without being defeated.  Give the man a break, he was a logistics genius if nothing else.

Right, tactically brilliant. But even an inferior, weak, pitiful general would have been better for Carthage, wouldn't he have?

Because of Hannibal, Carthage lost all of Hispania, was forced to pay 10,000 talents in tribute, had its navy reduced to 10 ships, and couldn't raise an army without Rome's permission. An idle general would never have done that.

So who is strategically greater? The man who picks his battles, or the man who ruins a nation through ego?

Personally, I believe it was political opponents at home in Carthage that destroyed Hannibal in the end.  If his rivals had faced up to Rome and lifted a finger to help Hannibal, well, we might live in a very different world right now.

 

[Elenmmare]

Perhaps he should have recognized that he had enemies at home.

 

[Almalexia]

Perhaps he should have recognized that he had enemies at home.

Perhaps he realized there was nothing he could do about it?

 

[Elenmmare]

How about 'not start a war'?

 

[Almalexia]

Well I think he felt the Gods would strike him down with a bolt of lightening if he didn't fulfill that pesky oath he made to his father to the best of his abilities.

 

[AWdeV]

That oath may have been a Roman-made myth though.

I don't think you can really claim that Hannibal actually started the war either. AFAIK he did attack Saguntum, which was under Roman protection but he did not cross the river Ebro which the Romans accused him off (they had a treaty with him concerning this river) and he attacked Saguntum because Saguntum was raiding people who were under Carthaginian rule. Rome declared war because Carthaginian rulers refuse to hand over Hannibal for his "crimes".

 

[ScientiaExcelsa]

Perhaps he should have recognized that he had enemies at home.

How about 'not start a war'?

What was his alternative?  I'm not saying I know, but I get the feeling he either had to do something or watch Carthage crumble.

 

[Elenmmare]

Carthage wasn't hit that hard by the First Punic war. Yes, they lost a large part of their Mediterranean holdings, but they still had an Empire. They could avoided outright war and maintained it for years to come.

 

[AWdeV]

Whilst continually shrinking and weakening due to Roman taking over, claiming new lands by revising old treaties and the like? I can understand why Hannibal would've wanted to prevent this. It was either shrink, refuse to shrink and be attacked or attack by yourself.

 

[Elenmmare]

Whilst continually shrinking and weakening due to Roman taking over, claiming new lands by revising old treaties and the like? I can understand why Hannibal would've wanted to prevent this. It was either shrink, refuse to shrink and be attacked or attack by yourself.

But they weren't. To my knowledge, Rome didn't take a single Carthaginian holding until Hannibal started the aggression.

To my knowledge, at least. I'm open to learning.

 

[AWdeV]

My knowledge is incredibly limited too but I read that Carthage had a war against it's own mercenaries and that these mercenaries took Corsica and Sardinia, got kicked out by the Carthaginian Natives, came back with unofficial (I think) Roman help, and eventually the Romans simply annexed Corsica and Sardinia by revisiting the terms of the treaty that ended the first punic war.

Due to Carthage being under siege by Mercenaries, they had to accept it but they ofcourse wanted it either back or refunded elsewhere.