Important+People+-+Hannibal

=**Hannibal Barca**=

Life
Hannibal was born in Carthage in 247 BC. As a child, his father (Hamilcar Barca) made him swear that he would always be an enemy of Rome. By the time he was 26 (221 BC), he was made commander of the Spanish army. Hannibal’s first victory was in 218 BC when he defeated Scipio at the Trebia River, which started the 2nd Punic war. In 216 BC was the battle of Cannae where Hannibal almost wiped out the Roman army. The 2nd Punic war lasted until 202 BC (the battle of Zama) when Rome, led by Scipio and Massinisn defeated Hannibal. The next year (201 BC), Rome and Carthage had a peace treaty and Hannibal only managed to retain a small army. Even after the peace treaty, Hannibal helped others such as Antiochus and King Prusias in wars against Rome. Unfortunately, the Romans demanded him to surrender and he wouldn’t give in, so in either 183 or 182 BC, Hannibal committed suicide in Bithynia (modern day Turkey).

Accomplishments and Effects on Rome
Hannibal affected the Romans greatly. In the battle of Cannae, he almost wiped out the whole Roman army. The Romans had 80,000 men and Hannibal had 50,000 men. In the end, 14,000 Romans escaped, 10,000 were captured and the rest were killed. Luckily for the Romans, he didn’t decide to attack again right after but instead found more men to join his army. Hannibal also managed to walk from Carthage to Rome with the whole army and elephants. He accomplished much in his short life.

Loss
Sadly, all of Hannibal’s work came to nothing. In the end, Carthage was destroyed and almost all of his people slaughtered. He even committed suicide so that the Romans wouldn’t capture him. Although Hannibal didn’t quite succeed, he still taught the Romans a valuable lesson to be more careful.