Hannibal Burial Essay

Carthage suffered a great defeat during the Battle of Metaurus which became the turning point of the war. Hasdrubal tried to risk taking the same route as his brother through the alps. His goal was to join forces and take all of Italy together. Disaster struck when he was attacked by some a roman army waiting for him. Hasdrubal and his forces were slaughtered. Hannibal was distracted by another Roman army who was giving him trouble, so he had not heard of his brother’s demise. The news finally came when his brother’s severed head was thrown into Hannibal’s camp. “Hannibal saw that the death of his brother was the doom of Carthage; and he sadly exclaimed,”O Carthage, I see thy fate!””(Add Source Here) This great victory put the reigns of the

war in Rome’s hands.
With Hasdrubal gone, Scipio easily took control of Spain and started to make his way toward Hannibal’s home, Carthage. He gathered troops from all over Italy and brought an estimated 30,000 men and 440 ships with him to Africa. Scipio quickly defeated the front defenders. Hasdrubal’s son gathered many Carthaginians under his leadership to defeat Scipio. In the night, their army was injured by several raids led by Scipio. Later, the two armies finally clashed together, and Scipio came out victorious. Carthage was now under a serious threat.
Hannibal, seeing destruction so close to his home, rushed back to Africa where the final battle would take place.

The two generals met before the battle to talk over peace agreements, but neither side settled for peace. The battle that took place is called the Battle of Zama. The Roman army was set up in columns with weak forces in between them. They also had cavalry on the sides. Hannibal’s army had three rows of soldiers. The mercenaries in front, the new recruits in the middle, and the experienced soldiers in the back. They also had war elephants leading them and cavalry on the sides. At the beginning of the battle, the elephants began their charge, but the left half made and unwanted U-turn and crashed into Hannibal’s left cavalry. Scipio took advantage of the situation and quickly sent his cavalry to destroy Hannibal’s cavalry during the chaos. The Carthaginian cavalry retreated with Rome’s cavalry in hot pursuit. The other elephants went between the columns of Roman forces and were quickly eliminated. For the rest of the battle the Romans slowly pushed back Hannibal’s mercenaries and recruits until they came face to face with the experienced soldiers. They did not give an inch of ground to the weary Romans. The battle stayed like this until out of nowhere the Roman cavalry, done with their pursuit, attacked the Carthaginians from behind. This unexpected move quickly won Scipio the battle. Hannibal retreated to Carthage and requested that the government ask for peace terms. Rome had finally won the long and bloody

war.
The aftermath for Carthage left it worse off than the first war with Rome’s harsh peace terms. The peace terms were that Carthage could not start a war before asking for Rome’s permission first. Carthage had to pay 10,000 talents to Rome over the next fifty years as compared to the 3,200 talents they had to pay for the first war. They also had to give up Spain and the islands surrounding North Africa. Carthage was now nowhere near the strength of their victorious rival.
Carthage possessed a greater general than Rome; however, Rome was able to endure the struggle. In the beginning of this war, Hannibal was absolutely destroying the Roman army. The only reason they were able to carry on the war effort was because they didn’t want to lose Rome and they had abundant supplies of resources. Every time Hannibal destroys one of Rome’s great armies, Rome would just raise a new one. Since Hannibal was isolated in Northern Italy with no easy way for Carthage to send supplies or reinforcements, he wasn’t able to stay in the lead. His defeat came when Carthage finally did send someone to help him. When his brother came to help, he was defeated. This left Hannibal with no way of getting any reinforcements and left Carthage vulnerable. Hannibal was defeated in one of the greatest wars to ever take place, but his military genius is still studied and used by leaders today.