The Roman Republic Section 4

Name ______Class ______Date ______Enrichment: Hannibal

Directions Read the selection below. Answer the questions that follow and complete the activity. Carthaginian general Hannibal is considered one of history’s greatest military leaders. His military judgment can perhaps be traced to his earliest days. The son of a general, nine-year-old Hannibal went with his father to war in Spain. His father taught him about the military and also taught him to hate Rome, which had earlier defeated Carthage in war. Over the next 15 years Hannibal also learned how to fight. When he became general in Spain in 221b .c., he was an experienced military leader.

After crossing the Alps with his war elephants in 218 b.c., Hannibal used clever tactics to outsmart the Romans. In three great battles he defeated one Roman army after another. The last of these was the Battle of Cannae, in 216. There, he cornered the Roman army. Carthaginian armies lost just 6,000 to 7,000 men and killed more than 50,000 Roman soldiers. After Cannae, success shifted to the Romans, in part because they beat Hannibal at his own tactical game. For example, they learned to fight Hannibal’s war elephants. Rather than flee in panic when the Carthaginian elephants charged, the Roman maniples stood aside and let the elephants pass. The Romans used the advantage they had of fighting in their own territory to wear down Hannibal. Instead of starting battles, the Romans delayed while the Carthaginians ran out of supplies. Then they attacked Carthage itself. In Africa, Hannibal met his match in the great Roman general Scipio Africanus.

1. How did Hannibal learn to be a soldier?

2. How did Hannibal defeat the Romans at Cannae? How did the Romans defeat him later?

3. Activity Draw a battle map of a battle between Rome and Carthage that shows the tactics the winner used against the loser. Choose the Roman-Carthaginian battle at Cannae described here, or research one of the following battles: Trebia, Lake Trasimene, or Zama.

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