Daily #28

Hannibal was born in 247 B.C.E in Carthage, which was suffering from the rule of the ancient Romans. His father, Hamilcar Barca, was the main leader of the Carthaginian army during the First Punic War. Living in such disagreement with Rome, he developed a deep hatred for Rome during his early years and wanted to get revenge on them somehow. Hannibal saw the terrible results of the first Punic War when Carthage lost badly and they were in a poor sate. After the death of his father and the death of his brother Hasdrubal, Hannibal finally became commander of the Carthaginian army in 221 BCE. His main goal was to somehow destroy Rome so his country could be powerful again. He started on his lifelong journey to Italy by first going through Spain and cutting through the Pyrenees Mountains in Northern Spain. He then got through the Alps and finally reached northern Italy. While in Italy, he destroyed and sacked many towns and cities and got into many significant battles that he managed to fight through. Hannibal led his troops to within 50 miles of Rome and the strongest Roman army ever assembled met them there. This would be the decisive battle called the Battle of Cannae and it favored Rome because they greatly outnumbered the Carthaginian army. Hannibal let the Romans break through his line of infantry and he knew that was what they would do. He hid his cavalry so the Romans could not see them and when the time was right, the cavalry invaded and trapped the Romans on three sides. The Romans were stuck and could not do anything, and they were absolutely crushed at that point. Carthage had defeated the strongest army that Rome ever had and Hannibal had finally gotten revenge on the one area he hated most. Due to the victory for the Carthaginians in the Battle of Cannae, I definitely think the Romans saw Hannibal as a monster for all he did to them because he single handedly reached Italy and defeated Rome when he was outnumbered. Even when Rome showed Carthage their greatest army, Carthage somehow came out with an important victory. The Romans became worried about one single guy because of all the terrible things he did to them and they saw him as a major obstacle.