2nd Punic War
           After awful defeats, like at Dunkirk, the fall of France and Nazis overrunning most of Europe, the tide of the WWII turned, the Allies got a grip and won the war at the end. The aftermath and dealing with Germany's allies was not ideal, because part of Europe was abandoned to the Russians with the rabid Stalin at the helm. Germany was a pile of rubble. Romans did not turn Carthage into a pile of rubble, merely severely restricted its scope of actions and therefore there was a 3rd Punic war 60 years later.

View of the ruins of the Forum Romanum and the Palatine Hill

Part 2.

          Hannibal had dreams after the Cannae victory, that NOW the Romans will send delegations suing for peace. He had plans how to get back Sicily and Corsica and Sardinia. Dreams, dreams… that did not come true. The main action the Senate undertook was forbidding public mourning.

Model of Carthaginian
war elephant

          It was no doubt a terrible disaster, and the Roman military reputation was in tatters, there was no more money and even the staunchest allies were muttering about high taxes.  The outlook for Hannibal was bright and cheery between 216 and 212 BC.  Not only were the Romans exhausted, their allies were as well. Some of the Greek cities in the Italian south began to look to their own interest and waver in their loyalty to Rome. The city of Syracuse, a staunch Roman ally, had an internal revolution with attendant demagoguery, rousing speeches and killing off of the king’s family and going over to Hannibal, and the city of Capua as well. To top it all, the Macedonian king Philip saw a great and easy opportunity to get some fame and loot and he made a pact with Hannibal that when the going will be toughest for the Romans, the Macedonians will attack them from the east. 

            Well, the Macedonian king eventually regretted this rash alliance. The Romans were warned about it when they caught a messenger with correspondence between Hannibal and Philip. They could not do much about it at the moment, except to foment restlessness and rebellion against Macedon in Greek city-states, to keep the Macedonians much too busy to plot. Meantime, things were tough. The Romans returned to Fabian tactics and suddenly the nickname ‘Cunctator’ sounded positively clever and heroic.

Q.Fabius Cunctator

            Rome continued to prosecute the war in Sicily, in Spain, and had a fleet in the Adriatic to keep an eye on Macedonia. To pay for it all, a law was passed that nobody could keep any large sum of money or precious metals at home, all had to be lent to the state. (This concerned women’s jewelry as well, and after the war led to the first women’s demonstration ever.)

          Hannibal just could not get ahead. He brilliantly defeated Roman armies, but could not use these victories to any lasting effect. Even if Capua went over to him, when he and his army left, the Romans laid siege to it and in 211 BC Capua fell back into Roman control. Which was a year later than Syracuse in Sicily. Archimedes was very inventive in Syracusan defensive strategies and machines, but could not prevent betrayal from within and Syracuse and the whole Sicily was back in Roman hands by 210 BC. 


        In Spain, Publius Scipio, who so famously missed Hannibal on the Rhone, sent his brother Gnaeus to blockade Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal in Spain, and Hasdrubal was unable to send any help to Hannibal in Italy.

         But disaster struck – Hasdrubal managed to defeat and kill both Scipio brothers in 211 BC.  Publius Cornelius Scipio, the son and nephew of the killed men, petitioned the Assembly to get the Spanish command. Even though he was too young and did not even hold the office of a praetor yet, he was unprecedently granted the power to command (imperium) and the rank of proconsul (in place of consul). 

Carthage reconstructed

            Young Scipio possessed courage, resourcefulness, self-confidence and the power to inspire his men. Rumours had it that he possessed also a sense of humour. Scipio has shown his mettle, when he marched boldly to the New New City (New Carthage) and conquered it. In the city were 10 thousand Spaniards, whom the Carthaginians held hostage, so their tribes would not go over to the Romans. Scipio gave them part of the booty and sent them home. This inspired many Spanish tribes to go over to the Romans. Hasdrubal escaped with most of his army and marched to Italy to join Hannibal in 208 BC.  That gave an opportunity to the Carthaginian generals remaining in Spain to show how good they are. Their contribution to the war was a total defeat of the Carthaginian power in Spain.

            If Hasdrubal were to succeed in joining with Hannibal, the Romans might have lost the war. With so many farmers in the army, famine was never far away. Insurance fraud by military contractors did not present a fine example of the best patriotic behaviour. Loyal allies were exhausted. However – two Roman armies converged on Hasdrubal and his men. His army was destroyed and he himself killed. Hannibal withdrew to the heel of Italy’s boot. When it rains, it pours – Carthaginian fleet, bringing troops and supplies from Africa was lost in a storm, and Hannibal’s other brother, Mago, who managed to land in north of Italy, in Genoa, was promptly defeated and mortally wounded.

            The enormously popular Publius Cornelius Scipio returned to Rome in 206 BC as a candidate for consulship and was elected. Whereupon a great quarrel erupted about just how to end the war.  Scipio in Spain made interesting alliances with North African kings Massinissa and Syphax, and his idea was to invade North Africa and bring the war to Carthage. The old Fabius Cunctator wanted to hesitate some more. Finally, Scipio received the command, raised volunteers and gathered two legions from Sicily and with this force ferried to North Africa in 204 BC.

P.Cornelius Scipio Africanus

            After diplomatic maneuvering, mainly to put Roman ally Massinissa on the Numidian throne to get his cavalry, Scipio learned that Hannibal returned to Carthage from Italy to defend Carthage. Battle of Zama in 202 BC ended with the defeat of Hannibal. Carthage sued for peace, and the terms were hard – Carthage had to surrender all territories outside Africa, and to recognize Numidia as Roman ally. Rome wanted also recoup its material losses and the indemnity was set at 10,000 silver talents, (1 Attic silver talent was 26 kg of silver, a price of a trireme) payable in installments for 50 years...  Scipio returned to Rome and celebrated magnificent triumph. He received also the right to call himself Africanus.  The war was over and Rome was suddenly Mediterranean superpower.