victoria bc real estate with photos General Information
| Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca | |
|---|---|
| 247 BC – 183 BC | |
 This Roman marble bust of Hannibal was found at Capua (Museo Nazionale, Naples) and was apparently made in his honor during Hannibal's own lifetime. | |
| Allegiance | Carthaginian Empire |
| Rank | General, commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian armies |
| Battles/wars | Second Punic War: Battle of Lake Trasimene, Battle of Trebia, Battle of Cannae, Battle of Zama |
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca, (247 BC – ca. 183 BC, short form Hannibal) was a Carthaginian military commander and tactician, later also working in other professions, who is popularly credited as one of the finest commanders in history. He was born in Carthegena, a Carthaginian colony in Spain at the time. He lived during a period of tension in the Mediterranean, when Rome (then the Roman Republic) established its supremacy over other great powers such as Carthage, Macedon, Syracuse, and the Seleucid empire. He is one of the best-known Carthaginian commanders. His most famous achievement was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.
During his invasion of Italy, he defeated the Romans in a series of battles, including those at Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae. After the Battle of Cannae, many Roman allies joined Hannibal, who promised them independence and self-governance. According to some historians Hannibal lacked the siege equipment necessary to attack the heavily defended city of Rome, but as J. F. Lazenby points out it was not a lack of siege equipment, that even Livy mentions, but the shortage of supplies and the political agenda. He maintained an army in Italy for more than a decade afterward, never losing a major engagement, but could not force the Romans to accept his terms for peace. A Roman counter-invasion of Africa forced him to return to Carthage, where he was defeated in the Battle of Zama. After the war he successfully ran for the office of suffet. He enacted much-needed political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome. However, his reforms were unpopular with members of the upper class who, per an eventual demand by the Romans, forced him into exile. During his exile, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as military advisor to Antiochus III in his war against Rome. After Antiochus III met defeat and was forced to accept their terms, Hannibal fled again, making a stop in Armenia, where he worked as a townsplanner for the new capital. His flight ended in the court of Bithynia where he may have achieved an outstanding naval victory by means of biological warfare and was afterwards betrayed to the Romans.
Hannibal is universally ranked as one of the greatest military commanders and tacticians in history. Military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge once famously called Hannibal the "father of strategy", because his greatest enemy, Rome, came to adopt elements of his military tactics in its own strategic arsenal. This praise has earned him a strong reputation in the modern world and he was regarded as a "gifted strategist" by men like Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington. His life has been the basis for a number of films and documentaries.
He has been attributed with the famous quote , "We will either find a way, or make one."