Who was Hannibal?
Hannibal was a general from Carthage, in North Africa, who fought Rome in the Second Punic War. In 218 BC, he famously led an army with war elephants across the Alps into Italy.
Hannibal Barca was born in 247 BC. His father, Hamilcar, had fought Rome, and Hannibal is said to have sworn lifelong hostility to Rome as a boy. Starting from Spain, he marched his army over the Pyrenees and the Alps, losing many soldiers and most of his elephants to cold, snow and attacks.
In Italy, Hannibal won stunning victories. At the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, he surrounded and destroyed a much larger Roman army, one of the most famous tactical victories in history, still studied by military academies. For about 15 years, he fought in Italy but never captured Rome itself.
Defeat
Rome sent an army to attack Carthage, forcing Hannibal to return to Africa. He was defeated by the Roman general Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. Hannibal later went into exile and died around 183 BC.
Did You Know?
Historians still debate exactly which Alpine pass Hannibal used to cross into Italy.