Born: 247 BCE.
Died: 183 BCE.
Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian general who has been dubbed the Father of Military Strategy. For sixteen years he kept a professional army in Italy inflicting crushing defeats on successive Roman armies sent against him. Hannibal fought to avenge Carthage’s defeat in the First Punic War, but he failed to destroy Rome which allowed the Romans to counterattack and invade Carthage itself. Although defeated in 202 BCE, Hannibal lived on in the minds of the Romans as both their worst nightmare and as one of the greatest military commanders in history.
Historical Background
Hannibal was born in 247 BCE in Carthage, North Africa and was the son of Hamilcar Barca. In 238 BCE, his father made Hannibal swear an oath to the Carthaginian god Moloch to fight the Romans to his last breath. In 221 BCE, Hannibal took command of the Carthaginian forces in Spain and married a Spanish princess named Imilce. In 219 BCE, he set his plans in motion for war with Rome by attacking its ally, Saguntum. The following year, Hannibal marched an army of 60,000 men and 37 war elephants over the Alps into Italy. He subsequently won three great battles against the Romans at Trebia (218 BCE), Lake Trasimene (217 BCE) and Cannae (216 BCE). After the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal refused to march upon Rome itself, and Hannibal was confined to southern Italy until being recalled to defend Carthage in 203 BCE. At the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE, Hannibal was defeated by the Roman general Scipio Africanus, who copied Hannibal’s tactics to great effect. After the end of the Second Punic War, Hannibal proposed reforms to guide Carthage during its darkest days but was forced into exile in 195 BCE by his political enemies. He subsequently served as an advisor to the Seleucid king Antiochus III, but after the Seleucids were defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BCE, Hannibal fled to the Kingdom of Bithynia. He committed suicide in 183 BCE at the age of 64 to avoid capture by the Romans.
Historical Influences
Hannibal had two major influences in his life: His father and Hellenistic culture. Hannibal inherited from his father, Hamilcar Barca, a burning desire to avenge Carthage’s defeat by Rome in the First Punic War (264-241 BCE). His grand strategy in the Second Punic War was not to destroy Rome itself, but rather to detach its Italian allies and thus deprive Rome of its human resources and reduce it to a third-rate power. In addition, Hannibal was influenced by Hellenistic policies on the conduct of warfare, which emphasized fighting battles in an enemy’s territory until the enemy realized there was nothing further to be gained. Both sides would then open diplomacy involving settlements of a commercial and geographic nature. In stark contrast, the Roman conduct of warfare emphasized fighting wars until they were decisively won, and the enemy regime was destroyed. What Hannibal failed to realize was that, in the words of Richard A. Gabriel, “battles are the means to a strategic end, not ends in themselves” (Gabriel, 2016).
Key Battle
Hannibal’s signature battle was the Battle of Cannae (216 BCE). At Cannae, Hannibal fought the Romans under Tarentius Varro and won by deploying his main infantry line in a crescent formation, flanked by cavalry and African infantry. As the Roman infantry, trusting in its numbers, pushed forward against the Carthaginian line, the Carthaginian crescent bent rather than broke, enveloping the Roman army. When the Carthaginian cavalry attacked the Romans in the rear, the Romans were surrounded. According to ancient sources, 70,000 Romans died at Cannae, making it one of the bloodiest battles in history.
Historical Significance
Hannibal was probably the greatest enemy Rome ever faced. Along with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, he is widely considered by military historians to be the greatest general of the Ancient Era. His classic double envelopment at the Battle of Cannae is still studied at American military colleges and has been imitated by many military commanders throughout history, from Scipio Africanus to Norman Schwarzkopf. In the words of Nigel Rodgers, “He was undoubtedly one of the very greatest generals of the ancient world, resourceful, tenacious and indomitable, with a smattering of Greek culture, like many nobles in Carthage” (Rodgers, 2007, p.52). If Hannibal had won the Second Punic War, it is likely that Carthage, and not Rome, would have dominated the Mediterranean world for the next several hundred years.
Bibliography
Bernardes Ribeiro, Jose Luiz. "Hannibal in Italy by Jacopo Ripanda - Sala di Annibale - Palazzo dei Conservatori - Musei Capitolini - Rome 2016." Wikimedia Commons. Last revised December 5, 2016. www.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannibal_in_Italy_by_Jacopo_Ripanda_-_Sala_di_Annibale_-_Palazzo_dei_Conservatori_-_Musei_Capitolini_-_Rome_2016_(2).jpg
Gabriel, Richard A. “Why Hannibal Lost.” History Net. Last revised February 25, 2016. www.historynet.com/why-hannibal-lost/
Grant, R.G. Commanders: History’s Greatest Military Leaders. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2010.
Rodgers, Nigel. The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome. London, Hermes House, 2007.
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