Many people may think of "Hannibal" as the silence of the sheep, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
However, if you like world history, you can't have a lector.
Speaking of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general "Hannibal Barca"
The hero Hannibal is the unprecedented defeat of the unprecedented Roman Empire, which was the champion of the ancient world and continued to prosper for 1000 years and for some allies for nearly 2000 years.
Let's take a look at the life of Hannibal, who was later imitated by Napoleon and is still modeled at military schools around the world.
A man born to destroy Rome
Hannibal is the son of the famous general Hamilcar Barca, who was not allowed to fight during the First Punic War.
Hamilcar took his nine-year-old son Hannibal to the Temple of Barca and swore to the gods to destroy Rome.
After that, Hannibal will live only thinking about destroying Rome.
Hamilcar conquered the Spanish tribes, developed mines, and turned wastelands into the interior. Spain, which is famous for its Valencia oranges, has a warm climate and good crops.
Spain was rich under Hamilcar. Hamilcar died before long, and it was his son-in-law, Hashdurbar, who took over. He continued Hamilcar's line, earnestly enriched Spain and enriched his troops. All for Hamilcar's son and brother-in-law, Hannibal's overthrowing Rome.
Hashdurbar is dead. The cause is still unknown. He is also said to have exacerbated the Gauls who were slaves.
In any case, Hannibal inherited the troops and financial strength of his father and brother-in-law. At this time he is only 26 years old.
Hannibal took action as soon as he succeeded to his reign.
He declared war on Rome by attacking Sagunto, a Roman alliance city in Spain.
Unfortunately it was too far from Rome to Sagunto. Rome sent two senators instead of sending troops, but Hannibal did not stop the attack.
Sagunto was dropped, and from that moment on, Hannibal's invasion of Rome began, like a thunderstorm.
Hannibal's Crossing the Alps
The unit of the First Punic War was Sicily.
If Africa-based Carthage tries to invade Rome, it will naturally go through Sicily.
Rome thought so.
Even modern people would think so.
At that time, no one expected Hannibal to come from Kitagawa.
Because there is the Alps in the northern part of the Italian peninsula.
The highest peak of the Alps is Mont Blanc, which is about 4800m, Mt. Fuji in Japan is about 3300m, and the Alps is lined with 2000m-class mountains.
Even today, you will need special equipment to climb. Still, there is a risk of distress.
Even more so, the story of 218 BC. In Japan, it is more than 400 years before the time of Himiko.
A little off the beaten track, but in the middle of the 20th century, Japanese troops tried to cross the mountain to Burma. The aim was the British troops in India, who failed to cross the mountain and most of the Japanese soldiers who participated in the operation died. The famous Imphal operation.
Operation Imphal is said to be the worst operation in the history of the world because of its recklessness.
More than 2000 years ago, Hannibal, the best tactic in world history, succeeded in crossing the Alps.
I was surprised that the powerful Numidian cavalry and the elephants were with me.
It is still unknown why Hannibal succeeded in crossing the Alps.
All I know is that the general Hannibal is a genius beyond human knowledge.
As expected, Hannibal was not able to cross the Alps unscathed, and it seems that he lost about 30% of his troops.
And Rome wasn't just looking at Hannibal's movements with his fingers.
Roman Consuls Publius Cornelius and Sempronius Longs assault Hannibal, which has crossed the Alps, which would have been exhausted.
The result is Hannibal's overwhelming victory.
The Roman army had no hands or feet on the Numidian cavalry, which was said to be the strongest in the Mediterranean at that time.
This battle was later Battle of Ticinus Called Battle of the Trebia However, it ended in an overwhelming victory on the Hannibal side.
It seems that the number of troops was almost the same, but the Roman side seemed to have no teeth on the Numidian cavalry, and lost the troops of 20000.
On the other hand, the Hannibal side was almost exhausted, and it was said that the exhaustion was also a Gaul mercenary hired along the way.
In other words, the composition is that the Roman side is hit hard and the Hannibal side is almost intact.
It was a near-perfect victory, but Hannibal said he regretted having missed the enemy consul. Later historians think about it. What was really disappointing for Hannibal was not that he missed the Consul, but that he missed the Consul's son.
Hannibal, who won a lot, said that among the Roman soldiers who were taken prisoner, the soldiers of the Roman allies were unconditionally released, and all the soldiers of the Roman homeland were executed after torture. He informed his hometown of this and told him that if he was on the Hannibal side, he would guarantee independence and freedom, but he would be on the Roman side.
It is clear that Hannibal's aim was to dismantle the Latin League.
At that time, Rome did not have a client state system and was all allies. The former enemies, Etruria and Samnium, are also allies, not client states.
Hannibal planned the secession of this ally.
Advance Hannibal! !!
Hannibal, with abundant funds, hired Galians in northern Italy to replenish his strength.
Rome, on the other hand, could not predict Hannibal's actions. He made an accurate prediction, but he wasn't confident there.
There are always two Roman Consuls. Rome divided the consul into Rimini and Arezzo as a prediction of where Hannibal would move. From the conclusion, it can be said that it was a mistake.
Gaius Flaminius, one of the Roman consuls of the time, and Hannibal clashed on the banks of the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
I didn't become a partner. The Roman side was quickly driven to the riverbank and scattered. Flaminius also died. At least 15,000 of the 25,000 Roman soldiers died. On the other hand, the damage on the Hannibal side was about 2000, and most of them were Gallia mercenaries.
The Roman side appointed Fabius Maximus of the prestigious Franius family as a dictator and tried to counter Hannibal.
Fabius Maximus, later known as the Roman Shield, adopted endurance tactics that did not fight Hannibal.
When Hannibal came and tried to fight, he ran away.
If you fight Hannibal, you lose. Fabius' judgment was correct, but the proud Romans did not welcome such a fight. He was given the nickname "Conctator" for Guz and was recalled to Rome.
And in 216 BC, Rome encounters the worst event since its founding, or the worst event in Roman history.
" Battle of Kanne ", which appears in world history textbooks used by Japanese high school students and is said to be used as a teaching material at military schools in developed countries. ".
It is said that the secret of Roman strength lies in the dense tactics of heavy infantry called Legion.
The heavy infantry will defeat the enemy by assaulting as one.
Hannibal used this to deliberately charge Rome.
If you make an assault, the team will be divided into two and the chain of command will be messed up.
Rome won that way. So Hannibal made an assault and urged his left and right troops to siege the assaulting corps.
As a result, the Roman army was surrounded on all sides.
The strongest military commander Xiang Yu in Chinese history was defeated in a four-sided song.
The Roman army was defeated without any help.
It is said that 70,000 Roman soldiers participated in the Battle of Cannae. Of these, 60,000 were killed in action and most of the rest were taken prisoners.
All Roman soldiers are Roman citizens with Roman citizenship. From an officer to a soldier, he died in this battle.
Roman Consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus was also killed in action. Another consul, Valo, escaped. And another, Hannibal didn't yet know that he would have missed his biggest rival at this time.
The Roman side also destroyed the Gallia conquest army north of Italy in the same year, losing 80,000 troops in just one year.
Thus, the battle of Cannae, the most famous battle in the history of the world, came to an end.
Italian shield and Italian sword
Fabius Maximus was appointed as the new Roman Consul. Rome realized after the defeat of the Battle of Cannae. Don't fight Hannibal.
No one accused Fabius of being a waste.
Fabius still did not fight Hannibal thoroughly. From his battle, he became known as the "Italian Shield".
History proves the correctness of Fabius' strategy.
Hannibal was as strong as a demon, but had major drawbacks. It's a logistical issue.
Why was the Roman army so strong?
It is said that it was an emphasis on logistics.
Why did Hideyoshi take the world?
There were many military commanders who were better at fighting than Hideyoshi. Shingen Takeda, Kenshin Uesugi, Date Masamune, Mori Motonari. However, no one was better at logistics than Hideyoshi.
There was no supply of supplies to Hannibal beyond the Alps.
As a result, Hannibal dropped a city in southern Italy and used it as a supply base.
Support from Carthage did not reach Hannibal.
There are two reasons.
One is because Rome had the hegemony of the Mediterranean.
Supply does not reach because it is Rome that occupies Sicily.
There, Hannibal succeeds in separating Syracuse, a city-state in eastern Sicily, from Rome.
Sicilian tyrant Hieron has been on the Roman side since the First Punic War, but he died when he survived to the age of 90. And his successor chose to go to Hannibal.
As a result of the Battle of Cannae, many cities were on the side of Hannibal.
Some important cities such as Capua and Tarentum were included, and the Roman side became poor.
The other is that the Roman army dispatched to Spain had nailed the Carthaginian army.
Publius Cornelius, who once served as a consul, worked well here.
Therefore, Hannibal fought alone without any support from Carthage.
That was possible because Hannibal had hardly reduced his troops.
There was a Roman consul who was aggressively attacking such Hannibal. Marcus Claudius Markels. A consul called the Italian sword, from a prestigious Roman aristocrat alongside the Fabius and Corneus families, aggressively attacked Hannibal.
Hannibal had to protect the occupied southern Italian city, as he couldn't expect any support from his home country.
Marcus repeatedly hits and aways, keeping Hannibal from taking action, Battle of Nola Succeeded in defeating Hannibal in.
Victory was a small one, and only Hannibal, who hates exhaustion, retired, but it was important in the sense that Rome knew that he could also win Hannibal.
Marcus attacked Syracuse who became Hannibal's side and made him fall, and developed an attrition warfare with Hannibal, but he was killed in action by Hannibal's plan.
However, the achievements of Marcus and Fabius were great. In the meantime, a young man, who would later be called a war god, came to the fore in Rome.
And history has moved ~ The war god descends ~
An abnormality has occurred on the Spanish front.
Publius Cornelius, who had nailed the Carthaginian army in Spain, was killed in action. His younger brother Gneus Cornelius also died.
The Roman Senate was worried about the commander to be sent to Spain.
The main general was full of Hannibal. The excellent general was killed by Hannibal.
At that time, a young man ran for commander of the Spanish front.
The name of the young man who has just turned 25 is Publius Cornelius.
The son of Publius Cornelius, who died in Spain.
Later on, everyone calls him this way.
Scipio Africanus When.
Roman custom stipulated that the consul should be over 40 years old. So the Senate objected.
Scipio became Aedile at the age of 22, but his qualifications are originally over 30.
Although it was an unconventional Scipio, the Roman Senate shows a depth of bosom. Rather, it was a shortage of human resources and it was in danger of extinction, so it may have been judged that it was not the case if it was bound by such a custom.
This is one of Rome's strengths. A bad nation has no determination. A strong nation is decisive.
Scipio quickly defeated Hannibal's younger brothers when he arrived in Spain.
Not only that, but his innate brightness and forgiveness capture the hearts of the Spanish peoples.
However, Scipio also makes one mistake. He had escaped Hannibal's younger brother Hashdurbar with his army.
However, when Hashdurbar arrives in Italy, he makes a mistake. The letter to his brother Hannibal was robbed by the Roman army and destroyed by the ambushed Roman army ( Battle of the Metaurus . ).
As was the case in Hamilcar's time, there were abundant human resources on the Roman side. On the other hand, only Hannibal can be called a human resource in Carthage.
When Skipia returned to Rome, he went to Sicily and organized an army. He finally landed in Africa.
It is said that Scipio most faithfully imitated Hannibal's strategy across the Alps. Scipio goes to Africa and joins the Numidian cavalry, the source of Hannibal's strength.
However, Numidia at that time was divided into two, and the more dominant one was Carthage.
At that time, there were no stirrups, so those who could ride a horse were valuable, and very few people could fight while riding a horse. Therefore, securing cavalry was of utmost importance.
When Scipio landed in Africa, the Carthaginian leaders were scared.
Carthage was in power by the Hannon faction as it was during the First Punic War. Hannibal brought Hannibal back to Africa.
Look at Zama
The word "Zama --- !!" comes from the Battle of Zama.
* It's a lie. The Zama of "Zamamiro" comes from the place name of "Zama" where the Buddha was in the Kamakura period.
Hannibal loses to Scipio in the Battle of Zama.
Moreover, Scipio fought exactly the same as Hannibal showed at the Battle of Cannae.
Scipio skillfully surrounded the assaulting Hannibal.
In fact, Hannibal had more pure soldiers, but Rome was twice as many as Carthage when it came to his cavalry. This dictated his victory or defeat.
Hannibal probably knew the disadvantages of his army. He met with Scipio before the war and offered peace, but Scipio rejected it.
Hannibal, the strongest invincible, lost.
Since then, the word to look at Zama has spread all over the world.
Carthage swallowed a request from the Roman side, lost territory, and was forced to pay compensation.
After the Battle of Zama, Hannibal became the head of Carthage and began to carry out various political reforms.
Although the compensation to Rome has been paid off, the domestic anti-Hannibal faction is deep-rooted, and the feeling of hating Hannibal in Rome is strong, and the combination of the two forces Hannibal to go into exile in Syria.
He was also wary of his asylum destination, and he lived in exile in Crete and Asia Minor, and died himself at the asylum destination.
He is 60 years old. He is too sad the last to be the best strategist in the history of the world.
Personal evaluation of Hannibal
In the West, anyone would name Hannibal when asked to choose one of the best generals. Even Napoleon must probably mention Hannibal.
He seemed to be good at his administration, and his personal ability would be one of the best in the history of the world.
Only one, it seems that there was no luck at all.
Hannibal was not blessed with allies from beginning to end. Carthaginian leader Hannon was a paradigm of incompetence and did not take any sloppy military action while Hannibal invaded Rome.
History may have changed significantly if Carthage had invaded Sicily with all its might.
It is said that the strongest hero in Shonen Jump magazine is Lucky Man, but in a sense, the lucky guy is the strongest.
If you're a lucky man who doesn't have the ability to keep up with you, you can say that Hannibal has the best ability but no luck.
If Carthage had beaten Rome, history would have changed a lot if Carthage had a little more talented people.
However, the result of the Punic Wars would have been a big difference between Carthage and Rome as a nation.
Rome, which is united in the crisis of the country and has abundant human resources, and Carthage, whose leaders did not feel the crisis as if they were in the crisis of the country.
A country does not move by one person.
Even if Hannibal had occupied Rome after the Battle of Cannae, he would have been besieged by his allies and still on the path of destruction. In fact, Hannibal did not attack Rome directly after winning the Battle of Cannae.
He wanted to avoid the Battle of Zama if he could avoid it.
Hannibal must have been a thorough realist. It seems that he could see the victory or defeat of all the battles.
And his most unlucky thing may be the birth of a genius general named Scipio in Rome at the same time.
And ironically, Hannibal's strategy was thoroughly studied by Rome and later incorporated into the overwhelming strength of Rome.