Early Life Hannibal Barca (Hannibal) was born in Carthage(present-day Tunisia) 247 B.C.. Ever since he was a young boy, Hannibal hated Rome with a fiery passion. At a young age his father (Hamilcar Barca) took Hannibal to Spain and made him swear eternal hatred toward Rome and its empire. Hannibal even asked his father to let him go on campaign with him in Spain. As an officer in Spain he won his first Laurels, at the time he was under the command of Hasdrubal. At age 26 he was given control of an army and was sent to maintain Carthaginian control over Iberia. He won the favor of all of his men by being: similar to his father, brave, simple in life, and willing to share the hardships of his men. The things that have been said of him being cruel and treacherous have been dismissed as false, anti-Carthaginian war propaganda.
Hannibal’s March Across The Alps
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They went through the Pyrenees, southern Gaul(France) and up the Rhone river valley. As they passed through the Alps Hannibal’s army was frozen by cold and attacked by local tribes all along the route. Often times the tribes would roll heavy stones across the Carthaginians path. They finally exited the Alps after two weeks and with only 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, but most of the elephants. An army commanded by Scipio was sent to Spain where they were supposed to battle Hannibal. However Scipio missed the elusive Carthaginians, but Scipio’s scouts followed them to the foothills of the Alps. Assuming Hannibal was headed to Italy Scipio sent his army to Spain but, he sailed to Rome to warn of the attack and get another army to fight Hannibal with. Hannibal got to the Ticinus river where Scipio and his forces were waiting for them. Even though they lost lots of men in the Alps the Carthaginians still won, Scipio was injured and forced to flee before he was