In my opinion Hannibal represents the limits of what one person can do. He was undoubtedly the greatest commander on either side of the Second Punic War but the reasons that Carthage lost the war were too large and systemic for a single great man to overcome.
Totally agree, while rome was great, the enemy Hannibal faced wasn't just rome but a lot of circumstances, the weak nobility of the carthage, and it's culture, Hannibal own ideal on how the rome should be faced, the locations, the duration, and etc. If things back then was a little different, maybe we would have carthage as on of the greatest empire ever existed instead of rome.
Kiiind of.. As the famous quote said, he could at gain a victory but not use one He was definitely outplayed by roman sneaky shenanigans but if he fast marched to Rome and capitalized on his victories who knows
@@peach5438 Romans were afraid he might make an alliance with anti-Roman Powers and unite them against Rome. Which he actively tried to do. But the war against Rome had long been lost and no one was willing to listen to a dying old man...
The Mongols used the same tactics many times as Hannibal did at Cannae. Have the center fall back and then attack the enemy from four sides. The strategy worked time and time again for the Mongols against their many foes.
@youngzzaz5407 idk but he did run around with a black security guard and a white Chad for backup...sometimes he'd hire the help of a straight up crazy man to help them out.
Cartagena was founded in 227BC by Hasdrubal the Fair, son in law of Hamilcar, brother in law of Hannibal. It's original name was Qart Hadasht, the same name Carthage started as.
being Tunisian American the thing that my parents were taught in Tunisian History classes in school was literally all about Carthage and Hannibal and they took extreme pride in both of them in Tunisia. Now I see why they take pride in it.
You should be proud of our nation 🇹🇳 Didon, hannibal and carthage are our national treasure ♥️ You should learn about our numidians kings too!! (Massinissa, Jughurtha, aksil and Dihiya)
The story of Hannibal just goes to show one thing. No one wants to join you in the hustle, but everyone wants to join and steal from your enjoyment. If his countrymen had sent him as much an extra legion of assistance, am pretty sure that Rome wouldn't have existed at all.
Hannibal being one of my favourite leaders in history, I know this whole story off by heart. Watched it all anyway just to help out the channel and listened to Simon's narration.
Hannibal has long been my favorite General in history. "When the standard of the Roman flag flew over much of the known world, only Hannibal dared to bring Rome to it's knees." Drifters, anime 2016
@@forcedtohaveahandle I agree, I always tell people about it(a personal favorite). I think the only reason it isn't among the best is because it only has 12 episodes. Otherwise, It has all the makings to be in that argument.
My favorite parts of all your videos are the conclusions. You end your videos, some with dirty history, and other with sadness, with such eloquence and class. Makes me want to read a history book on said subjects.
The reason Hannibal didn’t attack Rome itself is basically because he didn’t have the siege equipment nor was his army big enough for something like that
Orville Alexander well yeah it’s like his “great” accomplishment turned out to be his undoing and bringing the elephants along didn’t do much good cause a lot of them died on the way too
Look at Saguntum. It took 8 months for Hannibal to capture it. Carthaginian's engineering were leagues behind Roman and Hannibal knew it. His goal was to make Rome surrender by making her allied cities defect
19:23 Not due to Roman Cav superiority, but because of Defection of Numidian allies from Carthage to Rome. So that the Cathage's Numidian allies were outnumbered by Rome's Numidian allies.
Yeah, the third Punic war was started under the pretext that Carthage had raided the Numidians or something like that, which most historians believe was just a made up casus belli for the Romans to attack. So there was no way the Carthagians could rely on their Numidian "allies"
Roman army infantry did most of the dirty work.The cavalry was a mix of both roman and Numidians coming back to finish the last strugglers of the Carthaginian army
Yeah. Wish he went into a bit more detail about why Scipio Africanus managed to best Hannibal. The lack of Numidian Calvary for Hannibal during Battle of Zama was the primary reason Hannibal lost.
@@matiusbond6052 Rome commited to harrass hannibal for more than a decade and strike at the right moments in Iberia and Africa. The mistakes of the cartaghinian gov don´t invalidates the sucesses of the roman senate;so yes,Rome won
@@cristhianramirez6939 Yes,they won,but a house divided cannot stand.Hannibal led a multi national army against Rome and defeated them in battle time after time with less men and equipment,Rome eventually refused to engage him in any more battles,and only harrassed ,and shaded him,but Hannibals Govt was divided with one faction against him and the war.,in addition the African Numideans swtched sides to Rome,so essentially Hannibal was beaton by Africans.Hannibal had to fight two enemies,one at home and the other abroad.
Let me tell you something and you always insightful you explain the story that a 10-year-old kid in an 80-year-old man can understand I really enjoy your site especially through these crazy times were going through it gets my mind through a lot of tough times learning about history and getting my mind off all the craziness that’s going on in the world so I just wanted to thank you personally and I hope you keep saying bro
The using a cresent formation thing is still used in small-unit aggressive combat today, usually offensively where a force will start with a head on attack and collapse the flanks around the sides of the target creating natural crossfire. Crazy how Hannibal had elephant troops and was using the same ideas that men with guns and missiles use today.
Vercingetorix was more of a nuisance if anything. It should be noted his successes were due to studying Roman strategy whilst fighting as a Roman vassal. He even originally had a friendship with Julius Caesar.
The consensus among modern military historians and generals is that Hannibal's judgment was correct. A siege of Rome would have failed, as well as an all out attack on the city. He would have lost. Hannibal, like his father before him, was hamstrung by the Carthaginian aristocracy's unwillingness to support the wars far from home.
@@MrVvulf, modern historians and generals also say don't fight a war that can't be won. If the people and the Government isn't behind your war, then you have no business in fighting it. As General William Sherman showed during the American Civil War with his March to the Sea, a war can only be supported as long as the people are in support of it.
Andy Ngô lots of local support in Italy - but like the Spanish civil war and lately in Syria -all the new power-vacuums may be impossible to control for new decentralized players.
@@richardstephens5570 That's beside the point he was making. Hannibal did not have either the manpower or the material to lay siege to Rome successfully. Doing so would thus not only put him in a position where he had limited options and predictable behavior - thus negating his greatest advantage - but also have depleted his manpower for either similar or fewer Roman casualties than just clashing with them in open battle. Both of which would've made it much easier for Rome to defeat him by subjecting him to the meat grinder. Hannibal's fallback strategy of inflicting repeated battlefield defeats solves this another way: by destroying so much of the Roman military through attrition that they couldn't effectively defend their city. That would not only encourage Carthaginian leaders to finally get off their asses and help him, but also allow him to lay siege to Rome even with his existing forces.
Have to say. Sometimes I watch your videos just for your adverts Simon. You are actually so good at dropping them in and not break the immersion to your videos.
Can you do a video on Abram Petrovich Gannibal, his story is amazing! He was an african sold to the ottoman emperor but was bought by peter the great who treated him like a son not a slave. Gannibal studied in France and helped improve the Russian army! (This is just the tip of the iceberg. Plus Alexander Pushkin is a descendant from Gannibal. Alexander Pushkin is another great choice because he started Russian Literature (like he helped make it popular and made one of the first popular Russian novel way before Dovstoyevsky Chekov and Tolstoy ever did). Pushkin was the OG.
Wow! I just looked him up & he’s a very interesting character! His life is one of unbelievable twists. Yes, it would def be interesting to see what Simon & his team could do with APG’s life story💖.
You are forgetting something: ancient Rome had Spin Doctors. The question of how do I make myself look good to the public... is to make your enemy look even greater and then defeat him. Julius Caesar was a master of this tactic.
Hard to compare them. When Hannibal stood at the gates of Rome, he had been completely destroying Rome in a time of boom and strenght for Rome for 20 years. Attila, on the other hand, fought a very feeble and divided Roman Empire, really close to the complete dissapereance of the western part, and still lost in 2 years. Admitedly, he did hit Rome rrally hard and faced another incredible Roman general, but there is no point of comparison. Not even close
People down here in the comments are saying ‘he should of gone to Rome that was his biggest mistake!’ And I find that stupid. Rome despite being young was formidably defended with great walls and large garrison, more that as far as Rome was concerned at the time the gates of hell were open and there could be only war. After Cannae they began committing human sacrifice to please the gods, raising up poorly equipped legions made up of teenagers and even began arming the slaves, that’s how scared they were of Hannibal and how far they were willing to go. Moreover Hannibal didn’t have any sort of supply lines and relied on mobility, raiding the countryside and beating Legions to get their equipment to keep his army alive. He’d been doing this for 16 years and the strategy that did the most damage to him was when Fabius followed him and posting his legions to limit his movements, and whenever Hannibal tried to draw Fabius into a fight he’d always hang back and take up the most sensible and defensive positions. His strategy was not to beat him in battle but through attrition. So imagine he’s stuck in a siege, his army is immobile, he has no supply lines and the Romans still have proper legions and auxiliary troops that could surround Hannibal and destroy him. Hannibal couldn’t afford to lose a single battle, if he lost one battle it was all over so do you really think he’d immobilise himself for a long siege with no supply lines, reinforcements and allowing every legion from all over Italy to surround and have a serious probability of destroying him. He was counting on a Carthaginian army that was coming down from Northern Italy, with tons of soldiers, mercenaries, supplies and most importantly with the people and equipment needed to create Siege weapons. That’s when he’d of attacked Rome, but that army was destroyed and he couldn’t of sieged Rome. Carthage wasn’t defeated by the Romans, he was defeated by his nation’s government who didn’t support him and help him finish off Rome. Also there’s potential that the Battle of Zama didn’t actually happen, though don’t quote me on that though
Great comment , but I'll add one thing, siege warfare was far from effective at that time and he was mostly defeated by his only failure , taking a major port and hold it long enough to receive reinforcement from carthage. They did tried to send him troops but without a port i was impossible. An example of this is that a fleet had to turn back at tarancum( misspelled the name for sure) because he failed to secure the citadel surrounding the port.
"The worst policy of all, is to besiege walled cities. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can be possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters and various implements of war and piling up of mounts over the wall will take 6 whole months. And one will lose one third of their men with the town still being untaken." - Sun Tzu Hannibal definitely made the correct decision by the teachings of the Art of War
It's widely understood now (and to an extent back then) that was Hannibal's biggest mistake. He never had a plan in place what to do if he was successful in the initial parts of the 2nd Punic War. He thought that if he could defeat Rome in successive battles, they would sue for peace and that was a mistake as he underestimated the Roman resolve. Successful wars are fought when you assume your enemy won't sue for peace and your goal is a full annexation (looking at you - Japan at Pearl Harbor). It's happened plenty of times in history when you half-ass fight a war. China being another example, Wu defeated but didn't annex Yue and later got annexed by a vengeful Yue.
@@arcadion448 widely understood? By whom? He didn't had the means to capture big fortified city's like Rome and he had a plan , Rome was an anomaly. Every other states would have negotiated after canae... He had a plan and no plan is perfect but it wasn't a half ass war that's for sure.
As usual i liked the informative and well presented story. I have some queries, though. Why would someone as clever as Hannibal not put Rome under siege? You seem to suggest conquering Rome was not the aim of Hannibal. Why would someone who made a vow to hate Rome would even want to make a deal then? Some historians think a bit different: Rome was not only well fortified but as a city had the largest population at the time. Hannibal's commander even told him once: you can win many battles but not a war. We had to wait Sun Tzu to fully understand why. Sun Tzu quote on STRATEGY and TACTICS goes more or less like this: "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." That is exactly what happen between Rome and Hannibal. The Romans learned from Hannibal TACTICS and it is probably this the reason why they became an almost infallible war machine. When that machine ceased to inflict pain, Rome eclipsed.
There’s a comment thread above that mentions the real reason he couldn’t siege Rome; Lack of siege equipment, lack of military power, and poor sieging ability represented at the beginning of the war with taking 8 months to siege Seguntum.
Great Bio ,though I have to make a small correction,the battle formation of Cannae is a direct derivative of the layout Miltiades used in the Battle of Marathon against the Persians in 490 B.C.
I have actually watched a full series of the punic wars. It is honestly amazing, there is so many moves, counter moves and battles. Two generations of Fathers and sons commanding armies and more than half millions soldiers who fought in the war. The closest war to have that many fighters would be WW1. This is just one of the many layers of the story of the punic wars. The tactics Hannibal used to fight Rome and the battle on many fronts. Also how Rome won is miracle nothing but a miracle. If you have free time i would highly recommend watching a full documentary
@@cinnamon3578 So many interesting parts of history are forced to take a back seat when they should also be given attention, and I find that really annoying and hypocritical.
Great video as usual. Any chance of episodes on Gaius Marius or Lucius Cornelius Sulla. These are two personalities from Ancient Rome that don't get nearly as much attention as they should.
Hannibal didn't leave the city of Rome alone because he thought he didn't have to take it, he did it because he realized that he wouldn't be able to take it. He would have been vastly outnumbered (which for a besieging force is already pretty bad) and the Romans would have had the time to call their allies and raise armies outside of Rome in order to surround him. He would have needed reinforcements from Africa, but those never came.
Yes finally!!! My comment a few months back to do a video on Hannibal has finally been answered! Nonetheless for Hannibal to take his troops across the alps was stupid AF, but still a bad ass move because in the end he still won the next battle against both consuls.
Nah. Nope. Not at all. Rome *NEVER* spoke or felt confident in conquering Hannibal. . .& Hannibal didn’t “mess up”, even when deciding against laying siege to the Capital.
One thing I’ve heard about the reason Hannibal never marched on Rome and Rome never yielded despite her loses were a difference in philosophy: Hannibal and Carthage followed a more Hellenic style which was more about draining resources and less about all out destruction. Rome however followed the principle that as long as a Roman still stood so did Rome itself. So Rome could go on for longer than Hannibal could afford.
There is an allegory that Hannibal and Scipio met in 193ish. Scipio asked him who he considered the greatest generals in history. First, our hero said Alexander, and gave reasons. Then our boy said, Pyrrhus, saying that he had the keenest eye for a battlefield, plus, he was able to challenge Rome on its home turf. When Scipio asked him who was next, Hannibal unhesitatingly named himself. As Scipio laughed, and asked what if Hannibal had won at Zama, Hannibal said, "Then I would have named myself before Alexander, and before Pyrrhus, and before all other generals."
This was the only real thing that impressed me about Rome. That it was able to take those beating and they where epic beatings and still have a army and the populace to keep fighting, There isn't many times "Pride" is a good virtue but this was one of the only few times.
Numidian cavalry who had eyes and shade that made Hannibal invincible in the territories of Italy Maharbal met Hannibal during the conquest of Spain, before 220 BC. J.-C .. Numidian cavalrymen were one of the pillars of the army of Carthage during the first and the second Punic war and were essential for the strategy of Hannibal. With the Libyan infantry, they form the most powerful contingent of its army. After the battle of Lake Trasimeno and the battle of Cannes, Maharbal insisted that Hannibal should go to Rome to take the city, but Hannibal did not follow his advice. 245 -av. AD Maharbal. General Numidian Cavalry 239-av. AD Naravas.leader Numidian Cavalry Naravas was a Numidian Berber prince of the Massyles family, fine strategist and skilled rider, leader of the Mercenary War
12:08 This is the biggest "What if scenario" in history...if Hannibal had destroyed Rome when he had the chance, there'd be no Christianity or Islam, and he would've rewritten 2000 years of history.
As in the same case of Xerxes and Darius with Greece, so many people will think “How terrible of Hannibal to attack rome!” like he was responding to a huge slap across the face of Carthage by Rome to begin with. It was a justified campaign
Love this channel! I hope you guys do one on Octavius as well :D p.s. love that the sponsored material is always shavers and yet Simon has a bushy beard :D
An odd thing with most of the men history considers to be the greatest military leaders is that most of them were ultimately defeated. Napoleon, Hannibal, Lee, Rommel, and probably some others i can't think of right now.
admiral yi sun shin -- arguably the greatest Naval commander in history, killed in action in his last battle but his navy won and is probably the singular reason that Korea is a thing today and isnt another japanese state/territory.
The Romans didnt have that big of an advantage when it came to cavalry at Zama, even if they did it was very slight. Hannibal's cavalry failed because they were attacked by his own newly recruited war elephants who panicked even before the battle started.
Not really! The Carthaginians would not be able to contain the Greek world which swallowed Phoenicia the mother land of Carthage which lost all its unique indeginous culture for a new hellenistic civilization.
What always amazes me about wars from this long ago, is how large the battles and the armies were even that long ago. It wasnt so long ago people in europe lived in small tribes all over the continent and there were virtually no centralized powers or empires. And a few hundred or thousand years later, empires, world powers, civilizations arise from the ground, battling each other with tens of thousands (or even more) of men. Mind blowing to think about it
I remember the days when there was one ad at the beginning of a video and that was it, now there's multiple ads all throughout the video, then you have to advertise for dollar shave club multiple times during the video too lol. Jeez, we get ads shoved down our collective throats all day everyday. And most of the time, it's the same ad, repeated every time and it is so old.
One of my favorite generals in history. One of the more remarkable facts about Hannibal as a leader is that despite the incredible hardships his troops had to endure with incessant campaigning on foreign soil for over a decade, there was never a recorded instance of mutiny or mass desertion or defection within his army. Another ancient general that would be a great topic would be Belisarius, one of the last great Roman generals.
Simon i love your presentations. Pure and honest. And you seem a man i could share a pint with. Would you consider doing one on Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z (Zed)? Would be smashing sir.
Hannibal should have taken Rome, it would have caused the Roman Empire to collapse and Carthage would have been strong. The political map would have looked different today for sure.
4TheRecord the whole world would have been different. If you think of how much Rome impacted the world by spreading it’s culture, belief and influence over the world for so long. If Carthage concurred Rome the world we know would be completely different
If Hannibal had sieged Rome, the Empire never would have risen, and the political landscape in Europe would be unrecognizable. Europe never would have shaped out like it did because Roman influence would have ended in the same time period Ying Zheng unified China rather than ending in the rough 1300-1400s AD. That's a lot of history to be gone
Hannibal did not have the means to lay siege to the city, not even a ram. He also did not have Carthage's support, so he could not have even if we wanted to
@@Arby117chief Normally that wouldn't have been necessary. According to the codex of war of those times Rome was clearly defeated, but they just kept on recruiting new armies.
Hello, been following this channel for atleast 2 years now and really like your stuff, greetings from Finland! Any chance you could make a video about Mannerheim, Finland´s most acclaimed war hero, president and a legend?
Good stuff but that little table lamp gets on my 'noives'... You should symmetrically replace it with the exact dim yellow light as on the other side of you.
Hannibal intelligence officer: Sir the Romans has very large walls and we have no siege weapons to bring them down. Hannibal : Doesn't matter lets just march to Rome anyways and hope the wall magically falls down. Hannibal advisers : Sir their're attacking our homeland Carthage. Hannibal : *WHAT why would they do that.*
Thanks to Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring this video. Go to dollarshaveclub.com/biographics to get your starter set for just $5!
Please do the bigraphy of Joseph Fouche.... please.... please.... please....
Thank you, keep up the good work 👍
Biographics can you please do Sitting Bull
Simon should shave on the screen with it
Grace O'Malley
In my opinion Hannibal represents the limits of what one person can do. He was undoubtedly the greatest commander on either side of the Second Punic War but the reasons that Carthage lost the war were too large and systemic for a single great man to overcome.
🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿
Kind of like what Messi is to football 😂😂😂😂
@@INJEMBI if there's one alien masquerading as a human on earth, its Messi
Aurelian managed more with more things stacked against him. Think romans were just better...
Totally agree, while rome was great, the enemy Hannibal faced wasn't just rome but a lot of circumstances, the weak nobility of the carthage, and it's culture, Hannibal own ideal on how the rome should be faced, the locations, the duration, and etc.
If things back then was a little different, maybe we would have carthage as on of the greatest empire ever existed instead of rome.
Kiiind of..
As the famous quote said, he could at gain a victory but not use one
He was definitely outplayed by roman sneaky shenanigans but if he fast marched to Rome and capitalized on his victories who knows
“I will either find a way or make one”
Hannibal
That’s my tattoo!
Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam
@@bellaferelli751 wdym ?
@@bellaferelli751 That’s an awesome quote for a tattoo! What is the original language? Latin?
I’ve heard the same stories a hundred times and I still love to listen to them
Same!
Me to
Me 3..
A story is only as boring as the story teller
Bruh Carthage is located in my country and I heard hannibal's stories so many times and can't get enough of them
"Let the Romans be relieved from their agony, since they think that it tries their patience too much, to wait for an old man's death."
-Hannibal Barca
Barca was not a surname. Hannibal never had this epithet.
@@peach5438 I thought the justice was served when they burnt down the Carthage?
@@neilwu3912 Barca is his family name
🇹🇳
@@peach5438 kings don't kill kings...
@@peach5438 Romans were afraid he might make an alliance with anti-Roman Powers and unite them against Rome. Which he actively tried to do. But the war against Rome had long been lost and no one was willing to listen to a dying old man...
The Mongols used the same tactics many times as Hannibal did at Cannae. Have the center fall back and then attack the enemy from four sides. The strategy worked time and time again for the Mongols against their many foes.
And in their defeat in Egypt that ended the expansion of the empire the same tactic was used against them.
Hannibal needs to have a Netflix series like the Ottoman Empire
or something like Marco Polo, a point of view of a character of Hannibal's exploits to his end.
Absolutely right!
Vaughn reed jr Hannibal was more likely Phoenician or of mixed heritage
Vaughn reed jr Would be just as a huge of a fail as black Achilles.
@Thicc Boii allegedly an exiled princess. Zero proof of this so nice try... 🤷♂️🤦♂️
After every victory Hannibal is reported to have said "I love it when a plan comes together."
Did he??😈😈
Yup, he would also smoke a cigar
@youngzzaz5407 idk but he did run around with a black security guard and a white Chad for backup...sometimes he'd hire the help of a straight up crazy man to help them out.
Interested to note that Hannibal's family created the city of barcino in Iberia. Commonly considered the birth of Barcelona
is barcino related to the name barca?
Cartagena was founded in 227BC by Hasdrubal the Fair, son in law of Hamilcar, brother in law of Hannibal. It's original name was Qart Hadasht, the same name Carthage started as.
MrVvulf You can still see the original old Punic walls
@@miliba yes indeed, and barca means thunder bolt in phenician!
@@learsinmaddog4872 Wow..cool..💝
being Tunisian American the thing that my parents were taught in Tunisian History classes in school was literally all about Carthage and Hannibal and they took extreme pride in both of them in Tunisia. Now I see why they take pride in it.
Even in tunisia, I've learned about Carthage and hannibal in basically every year
You should be proud of our nation 🇹🇳
Didon, hannibal and carthage are our national treasure ♥️
You should learn about our numidians kings too!! (Massinissa, Jughurtha, aksil and Dihiya)
@@zahouda numidians were not our king
@@zahouda massinisiah betrayed Hannibal and the historians called him the dog of romans .Numidians were not our Kings thank you
@@zahouda they're not our kings we are canaanites Arab Phoenicians
The story of Hannibal just goes to show one thing.
No one wants to join you in the hustle, but everyone wants to join and steal from your enjoyment.
If his countrymen had sent him as much an extra legion of assistance, am pretty sure that Rome wouldn't have existed at all.
I mean I don’t think many people would want to cross the Alps in winter
Leave me home I’ll cross in the spring
Hannibal being one of my favourite leaders in history, I know this whole story off by heart. Watched it all anyway just to help out the channel and listened to Simon's narration.
Hannibal has long been my favorite General in history.
"When the standard of the Roman flag flew over much of the known world, only Hannibal dared to bring Rome to it's knees."
Drifters, anime 2016
underrated anime
@@forcedtohaveahandle I agree, I always tell people about it(a personal favorite). I think the only reason it isn't among the best is because it only has 12 episodes. Otherwise, It has all the makings to be in that argument.
He still took took the L
*YOU STOLE IT FROM ME! THIEF OF GORGIDAS!*
@@xSirDudex I agree. My favorite is Hajime no Ippo, can't recommend it enough. It has 3 seasons but still very few anime fans know of it...
My favorite parts of all your videos are the conclusions. You end your videos, some with dirty history, and other with sadness, with such eloquence and class. Makes me want to read a history book on said subjects.
here after oversimplified!!
The reason Hannibal didn’t attack Rome itself is basically because he didn’t have the siege equipment nor was his army big enough for something like that
His army was strong enough to conquer Rome its just that he couldn't siege it
Orville Alexander well yeah it’s like his “great” accomplishment turned out to be his undoing and bringing the elephants along didn’t do much good cause a lot of them died on the way too
Look at Saguntum. It took 8 months for Hannibal to capture it. Carthaginian's engineering were leagues behind Roman and Hannibal knew it. His goal was to make Rome surrender by making her allied cities defect
@@jurtra9090 yeah and apparently he had misunderstood what the relationship was Rome and it’s allies
@@LutherusPXCs his army definitely wasnt strong enough to conquer Rome itself.
19:23 Not due to Roman Cav superiority, but because of Defection of Numidian allies from Carthage to Rome. So that the Cathage's Numidian allies were outnumbered by Rome's Numidian allies.
Yeah, the third Punic war was started under the pretext that Carthage had raided the Numidians or something like that, which most historians believe was just a made up casus belli for the Romans to attack. So there was no way the Carthagians could rely on their Numidian "allies"
Roman army infantry did most of the dirty work.The cavalry was a mix of both roman and Numidians coming back to finish the last strugglers of the Carthaginian army
It's incredible to believe that this history actually happened sometimes. Elephants across the Alps 2000 years ago. Never to be forgotten
*Wooly Mammoths living in the Alps 20,000 years ago*
Wooly Mammoths not the same as African elephant
@@mrshrek362 Still elephants
@@mrshrek362Mammoths were just furry elephants.
Yeah. Wish he went into a bit more detail about why Scipio Africanus managed to best Hannibal. The lack of Numidian Calvary for Hannibal during Battle of Zama was the primary reason Hannibal lost.
It was Hannibals own gov. and his Numedians that beat him not Rome
@@matiusbond6052 Rome commited to harrass hannibal for more than a decade and strike at the right moments in Iberia and Africa. The mistakes of the cartaghinian gov don´t invalidates the sucesses of the roman senate;so yes,Rome won
@@cristhianramirez6939 Yes,they won,but a house divided cannot stand.Hannibal led a multi national army against Rome and defeated them in battle time after time with less men and equipment,Rome eventually refused to engage him in any more battles,and only harrassed ,and shaded him,but Hannibals Govt was divided with one faction against him and the war.,in addition the African Numideans swtched sides to Rome,so essentially Hannibal was beaton by Africans.Hannibal had to fight two enemies,one at home and the other abroad.
@@matiusbond6052 North Africans*
@@user-ow1qs7jo7f Just what do you mean by that? ANCIENT AFRICANS WERE BLACK AND BROWN NATIVES OF THEIR LANDS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
Why would anyone “thumbs down” a video like this?! These videos are awesome and one of the reasons UA-cam is great
@@myusername2607 No, I think they mistook this Hannibal for Lecter.
It's those damned PETA people again, protesting the mistreatment of the elephants.
BronzDano Too many errors to justify a thumbs up?
Probably trolls too lazy to post a comment.
Because some men just want to watch the world burn.
Let me tell you something and you always insightful you explain the story that a 10-year-old kid in an 80-year-old man can understand I really enjoy your site especially through these crazy times were going through it gets my mind through a lot of tough times learning about history and getting my mind off all the craziness that’s going on in the world so I just wanted to thank you personally and I hope you keep saying bro
The using a cresent formation thing is still used in small-unit aggressive combat today, usually offensively where a force will start with a head on attack and collapse the flanks around the sides of the target creating natural crossfire. Crazy how Hannibal had elephant troops and was using the same ideas that men with guns and missiles use today.
“There is a common emotion we all recognize and have not yet named-the happy anticipation of being able to feel contempt."
- Hannibal Barca
I am feeling this way right now. Wish it had a name ❤
1:25 - Chapter 1 - Early life
5:00 - Chapter 2 - War with rome
9:00 - Chapter 3 - Triumph
14:15 - Chapter 4 - Hannibal greatest victory
17:10 - Chapter 5 - Downfall
19:35 - Chapter 6 - Later life
Some people who were a thorn to Rome deserves a video too: Spartacus, Boudicca, Vercingetorix.
Spartacus and Boudicca do have videos
Vercingetorix was more of a nuisance if anything. It should be noted his successes were due to studying Roman strategy whilst fighting as a Roman vassal. He even originally had a friendship with Julius Caesar.
Boudicca is overrated,at the first real army she faced she got obliterated,with five times more men than the romans with only two legions
Hannibal scared Rome but you don’t have to be scared of bad razors lol 😂
Lol
'Hannibaal at the Gates' even though his greatest folly was not attacking them in words of his own brother.
The consensus among modern military historians and generals is that Hannibal's judgment was correct. A siege of Rome would have failed, as well as an all out attack on the city. He would have lost. Hannibal, like his father before him, was hamstrung by the Carthaginian aristocracy's unwillingness to support the wars far from home.
@@MrVvulf, modern historians and generals also say don't fight a war that can't be won. If the people and the Government isn't behind your war, then you have no business in fighting it. As General William Sherman showed during the American Civil War with his March to the Sea, a war can only be supported as long as the people are in support of it.
Andy Ngô lots of local support in Italy - but like the Spanish civil war and lately in Syria -all the new power-vacuums may be impossible to control for new decentralized players.
@@arcadion448 Hannibal believed he could force Rome to negotiate by defeating their armies in the field. He was wrong.
@@richardstephens5570 That's beside the point he was making. Hannibal did not have either the manpower or the material to lay siege to Rome successfully. Doing so would thus not only put him in a position where he had limited options and predictable behavior - thus negating his greatest advantage - but also have depleted his manpower for either similar or fewer Roman casualties than just clashing with them in open battle. Both of which would've made it much easier for Rome to defeat him by subjecting him to the meat grinder.
Hannibal's fallback strategy of inflicting repeated battlefield defeats solves this another way: by destroying so much of the Roman military through attrition that they couldn't effectively defend their city. That would not only encourage Carthaginian leaders to finally get off their asses and help him, but also allow him to lay siege to Rome even with his existing forces.
Been waiting on this one
Me to!
Like the Roman’s?
Have to say. Sometimes I watch your videos just for your adverts Simon. You are actually so good at dropping them in and not break the immersion to your videos.
Dude, please do a video bassed off of The Duke of Wellington.
Finally a biograhics video about Hannibal I've waited for this,for a long time thank you biographical much love from Philippines
Can you do a video on Abram Petrovich Gannibal, his story is amazing! He was an african sold to the ottoman emperor but was bought by peter the great who treated him like a son not a slave. Gannibal studied in France and helped improve the Russian army! (This is just the tip of the iceberg. Plus Alexander Pushkin is a descendant from Gannibal.
Alexander Pushkin is another great choice because he started Russian Literature (like he helped make it popular and made one of the first popular Russian novel way before Dovstoyevsky Chekov and Tolstoy ever did). Pushkin was the OG.
Wow! I just looked him up & he’s a very interesting character! His life is one of unbelievable twists. Yes, it would def be interesting to see what Simon & his team could do with APG’s life story💖.
You are forgetting something: ancient Rome had Spin Doctors. The question of how do I make myself look good to the public... is to make your enemy look even greater and then defeat him. Julius Caesar was a master of this tactic.
Hannibal: I brought Rome to its knees. None shall surpass me.
Attila: Hold my Kumis
>distant Mongol laughs and horse charging noises.
i think they will both , more like chill down and laugh at Rome's demise over a beer or 2.
Hard to compare them. When Hannibal stood at the gates of Rome, he had been completely destroying Rome in a time of boom and strenght for Rome for 20 years. Attila, on the other hand, fought a very feeble and divided Roman Empire, really close to the complete dissapereance of the western part, and still lost in 2 years.
Admitedly, he did hit Rome rrally hard and faced another incredible Roman general, but there is no point of comparison. Not even close
The Vandals kicked both sides of Rome thoroughly. Genseric was the latter Hannibal imo.
Geez guys I just happened to be drinking Kunis and wanted to reference it.
I'm a simple man, I see Hannibal, I click
People down here in the comments are saying ‘he should of gone to Rome that was his biggest mistake!’ And I find that stupid. Rome despite being young was formidably defended with great walls and large garrison, more that as far as Rome was concerned at the time the gates of hell were open and there could be only war. After Cannae they began committing human sacrifice to please the gods, raising up poorly equipped legions made up of teenagers and even began arming the slaves, that’s how scared they were of Hannibal and how far they were willing to go.
Moreover Hannibal didn’t have any sort of supply lines and relied on mobility, raiding the countryside and beating Legions to get their equipment to keep his army alive. He’d been doing this for 16 years and the strategy that did the most damage to him was when Fabius followed him and posting his legions to limit his movements, and whenever Hannibal tried to draw Fabius into a fight he’d always hang back and take up the most sensible and defensive positions. His strategy was not to beat him in battle but through attrition. So imagine he’s stuck in a siege, his army is immobile, he has no supply lines and the Romans still have proper legions and auxiliary troops that could surround Hannibal and destroy him.
Hannibal couldn’t afford to lose a single battle, if he lost one battle it was all over so do you really think he’d immobilise himself for a long siege with no supply lines, reinforcements and allowing every legion from all over Italy to surround and have a serious probability of destroying him. He was counting on a Carthaginian army that was coming down from Northern Italy, with tons of soldiers, mercenaries, supplies and most importantly with the people and equipment needed to create Siege weapons. That’s when he’d of attacked Rome, but that army was destroyed and he couldn’t of sieged Rome.
Carthage wasn’t defeated by the Romans, he was defeated by his nation’s government who didn’t support him and help him finish off Rome.
Also there’s potential that the Battle of Zama didn’t actually happen, though don’t quote me on that though
Roman Woolner nah but he was right there
Great comment , but I'll add one thing, siege warfare was far from effective at that time and he was mostly defeated by his only failure , taking a major port and hold it long enough to receive reinforcement from carthage. They did tried to send him troops but without a port i was impossible. An example of this is that a fleet had to turn back at tarancum( misspelled the name for sure) because he failed to secure the citadel surrounding the port.
"The worst policy of all, is to besiege walled cities. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can be possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters and various implements of war and piling up of mounts over the wall will take 6 whole months. And one will lose one third of their men with the town still being untaken." - Sun Tzu
Hannibal definitely made the correct decision by the teachings of the Art of War
It's widely understood now (and to an extent back then) that was Hannibal's biggest mistake. He never had a plan in place what to do if he was successful in the initial parts of the 2nd Punic War. He thought that if he could defeat Rome in successive battles, they would sue for peace and that was a mistake as he underestimated the Roman resolve. Successful wars are fought when you assume your enemy won't sue for peace and your goal is a full annexation (looking at you - Japan at Pearl Harbor). It's happened plenty of times in history when you half-ass fight a war. China being another example, Wu defeated but didn't annex Yue and later got annexed by a vengeful Yue.
@@arcadion448 widely understood? By whom? He didn't had the means to capture big fortified city's like Rome and he had a plan , Rome was an anomaly. Every other states would have negotiated after canae... He had a plan and no plan is perfect but it wasn't a half ass war that's for sure.
As usual i liked the informative and well presented story.
I have some queries, though. Why would someone as clever as Hannibal not put Rome under siege?
You seem to suggest conquering Rome was not the aim of Hannibal. Why would someone who made a vow to hate Rome would even want to make a deal then?
Some historians think a bit different: Rome was not only well fortified but as a city had the largest population at the time. Hannibal's commander even told him once: you can win many battles but not a war.
We had to wait Sun Tzu to fully understand why. Sun Tzu quote on STRATEGY and TACTICS goes more or less like this:
"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."
That is exactly what happen between Rome and Hannibal.
The Romans learned from Hannibal TACTICS and it is probably this the reason why they became an almost infallible war machine. When that machine ceased to inflict pain, Rome eclipsed.
There’s a comment thread above that mentions the real reason he couldn’t siege Rome; Lack of siege equipment, lack of military power, and poor sieging ability represented at the beginning of the war with taking 8 months to siege Seguntum.
Great Bio ,though I have to make a small correction,the battle formation of Cannae is a direct derivative of the layout Miltiades used in the Battle of Marathon against the Persians in 490 B.C.
I have actually watched a full series of the punic wars. It is honestly amazing, there is so many moves, counter moves and battles. Two generations of Fathers and sons commanding armies and more than half millions soldiers who fought in the war. The closest war to have that many fighters would be WW1. This is just one of the many layers of the story of the punic wars. The tactics Hannibal used to fight Rome and the battle on many fronts. Also how Rome won is miracle nothing but a miracle. If you have free time i would highly recommend watching a full documentary
I would love to watch that.
@@CuteDwarf11 We need a movie or TV series on the Second Punic war
@@cinnamon3578 I'll make sure to order a large pizza so when it comes out.
@@CuteDwarf11 So many parts of Roman history is overlooked. Eastern Roman history is amazing too. There is a lot of potential
@@cinnamon3578 So many interesting parts of history are forced to take a back seat when they should also be given attention, and I find that really annoying and hypocritical.
Great video as usual.
Any chance of episodes on Gaius Marius or Lucius Cornelius Sulla. These are two personalities from Ancient Rome that don't get nearly as much attention as they should.
Lucius cornelius Sulla
Hannibal didn't leave the city of Rome alone because he thought he didn't have to take it, he did it because he realized that he wouldn't be able to take it. He would have been vastly outnumbered (which for a besieging force is already pretty bad) and the Romans would have had the time to call their allies and raise armies outside of Rome in order to surround him. He would have needed reinforcements from Africa, but those never came.
"Hannibal is at the gates!"
*Goosebumps*
Yes finally!!! My comment a few months back to do a video on Hannibal has finally been answered! Nonetheless for Hannibal to take his troops across the alps was stupid AF, but still a bad ass move because in the end he still won the next battle against both consuls.
You should do Thomas Cochrane , his life is one of the most exciting in naval history and he’s barely known about
Been hoping for this one for a while. The city of Carthage would make a great addition to Biographics in my opinion.
Hannibal: “We’ll attack Rome another time.”
Rome: “It was at this moment, he knew, he f*cked up.”
Nah. Nope. Not at all.
Rome *NEVER* spoke or felt confident in conquering Hannibal. . .& Hannibal didn’t “mess up”, even when deciding against laying siege to the Capital.
One thing I’ve heard about the reason Hannibal never marched on Rome and Rome never yielded despite her loses were a difference in philosophy: Hannibal and Carthage followed a more Hellenic style which was more about draining resources and less about all out destruction. Rome however followed the principle that as long as a Roman still stood so did Rome itself. So Rome could go on for longer than Hannibal could afford.
Like the great Roman General Obiwanus Kenobii said: "there are alternatives to fighting." And they did win in the end.
Hannibal loves it when a plan comes together :)
Girls with time machine: "I'm your granddaughter"
Boys with time machine: "Hannibal bro you gotta siege Rome."
What a comment
There is an allegory that Hannibal and Scipio met in 193ish. Scipio asked him who he considered the greatest generals in history. First, our hero said Alexander, and gave reasons. Then our boy said, Pyrrhus, saying that he had the keenest eye for a battlefield, plus, he was able to challenge Rome on its home turf. When Scipio asked him who was next, Hannibal unhesitatingly named himself. As Scipio laughed, and asked what if Hannibal had won at Zama, Hannibal said, "Then I would have named myself before Alexander, and before Pyrrhus, and before all other generals."
Pls do it! over simplified do it!
ik
Who’s here after watching OverSimplified? 😂
Lol I was wondering if anyone was going to say that.
Over simplified is good but Simon is goated.
This was the only real thing that impressed me about Rome. That it was able to take those beating and they where epic beatings and still have a army and the populace to keep fighting, There isn't many times "Pride" is a good virtue but this was one of the only few times.
I'm from Tunisia and i feel proud 🇹🇳🇹🇳♥️
Ad Ambush at 7:33 - 8:53
Just like Hannibal.
Ambush? Ambushes are unexpected. That's the same place the ads are every single time he has an ad.
I was about to suggest this General in your video of the Empress Wu but decided to search it up in your videos. Very impressed! 😀
Hannibal - "I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER" LOL! (the A-TEAM)
He is on the Jazz
Or falls apart.
Numidian cavalry who had eyes and shade that made Hannibal invincible in the territories of Italy
Maharbal met Hannibal during the conquest of Spain, before 220 BC. J.-C ..
Numidian cavalrymen were one of the pillars of the army of Carthage during the first and the second Punic war and were essential for the strategy of Hannibal. With the Libyan infantry, they form the most powerful contingent of its army.
After the battle of Lake Trasimeno and the battle of Cannes, Maharbal insisted that Hannibal should go to Rome to take the city, but Hannibal did not follow his advice.
245 -av. AD Maharbal. General Numidian Cavalry
239-av. AD Naravas.leader Numidian Cavalry
Naravas was a Numidian Berber prince of the Massyles family, fine strategist and skilled rider, leader of the Mercenary War
Please do videos on the following people:
1. Dennis Rader
2. Jack London
3. Upton Sinclair
4. Jack Ketchum
5. Jane Austen
12:08
This is the biggest "What if scenario" in history...if Hannibal had destroyed Rome when he had the chance, there'd be no Christianity or Islam, and he would've rewritten 2000 years of history.
Nah B. The line of the Prophet Abraham, peace and blessings be upon them, was not in Rome at the time.
@@michaelblackwell5344 Abrahams line was long gone by then
@@Truename586 nah Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him is a descendant
As in the same case of Xerxes and Darius with Greece, so many people will think “How terrible of Hannibal to attack rome!” like he was responding to a huge slap across the face of Carthage by Rome to begin with. It was a justified campaign
Among his many talents, Mr. Whistler is a very effective salesman. I really began considering buying that shaving kit - and I never even shave!
Simon, can you please make a video on Zheng He, the 14th century Chinese admiral and explorer.
Even after what KoeiTecmo did to him?
People often neglect to mention Hannibal's high-strung, loud, but surprisingly cerebral partner in conquest.
Ericus Andreus
“The weight of Carthage is just to big even for the Great...Hannibal....Barca”
He was an unstoppable warrior but he did not finish the job. He should of marched on Rome and conquered it.
He didn't have the forces to do that because Carthage officials didn't back him up
@@HeimTarch but had he hone for it more people would have joined his army
Hannibal Lacked Siege Equipment, He also lacked funding from Carthage. I don't think they could have resupplied Hannibal's army.
Heithem Tarchouna FACTS
Master Sandvich Exactly! You and @Heithem Tarchouna are 100% correct!
Awesome video Simon
You…are… *vengeance!*
Love this channel! I hope you guys do one on Octavius as well :D p.s. love that the sponsored material is always shavers and yet Simon has a bushy beard :D
Lol. Nice one
Could you please do a bio on Ip Man? Thank you :)
An odd thing with most of the men history considers to be the greatest military leaders is that most of them were ultimately defeated. Napoleon, Hannibal, Lee, Rommel, and probably some others i can't think of right now.
admiral yi sun shin -- arguably the greatest Naval commander in history, killed in action in his last battle but his navy won and is probably the singular reason that Korea is a thing today and isnt another japanese state/territory.
The Romans didnt have that big of an advantage when it came to cavalry at Zama, even if they did it was very slight. Hannibal's cavalry failed because they were attacked by his own newly recruited war elephants who panicked even before the battle started.
Oh how long i have been waiting. Thank you for Hannibal.
Thanks for doing Hannibal! I'm still patiently waiting for Witold Pilecki, the Polish badass who got himself sent to Auschwitz and then escaped.
To be clear, I skipped over the Dollar Shave Club part because I already have it, and I did indeed subscribe because of this channel.
Imagine a world if Hannibal conquered Rome? That'd be a great alternative history story.
Also, can you do your biography?
Alternatehistory did a bio of Simon? ... Sorry. I’ll see myself out.
Not really! The Carthaginians would not be able to contain the Greek world which swallowed Phoenicia the mother land of Carthage which lost all its unique indeginous culture for a new hellenistic civilization.
Rex Fulgur you couldn’t possibly predict how such an immense change over 2000 years ago would span out to present day.
That was the best biography of the channel !
Yes! We're back to ancient Rome! Thanks Simon & team :)
What always amazes me about wars from this long ago, is how large the battles and the armies were even that long ago. It wasnt so long ago people in europe lived in small tribes all over the continent and there were virtually no centralized powers or empires. And a few hundred or thousand years later, empires, world powers, civilizations arise from the ground, battling each other with tens of thousands (or even more) of men.
Mind blowing to think about it
Hannibal Buress: Come on, man!
So actually, according to an interview, he was named after Hannibal of Catharage (a.k.a. Hannibal Barca)
My favorite Ancient general. He could take command of any kind of army personnel.
>Play Rome 2.
>Pick Carthage.
>Rome inevitably rolls up on you no matter how much you bribe them.
>Cry
Just conquered the Italian peninsula with carthage in rtw1 on hard mode. Thought of Hannibal every seeing battle i had against rome.
Omg wow I’m really excited about this episode clicked on it straight away
Buddy, the commercial you did was priceless. Can't stop laughing. Enjoyed seeing your funny side!
I was so waiting for this one! Hannibal Barca 💪
Thank god for the oversimplified video for the backstory
I remember the days when there was one ad at the beginning of a video and that was it, now there's multiple ads all throughout the video, then you have to advertise for dollar shave club multiple times during the video too lol. Jeez, we get ads shoved down our collective throats all day everyday. And most of the time, it's the same ad, repeated every time and it is so old.
One of my favorite generals in history. One of the more remarkable facts about Hannibal as a leader is that despite the incredible hardships his troops had to endure with incessant campaigning on foreign soil for over a decade, there was never a recorded instance of mutiny or mass desertion or defection within his army.
Another ancient general that would be a great topic would be Belisarius, one of the last great Roman generals.
The fact that Hannibal never got a truly great historical epic movie is insane.
A video about Lucky Luciano would be awesome.
P.S: Finally some Tunisian history
Simon i love your presentations. Pure and honest. And you seem a man i could share a pint with. Would you consider doing one on Percy Fawcett and the Lost City of Z (Zed)? Would be smashing sir.
Hannibal should have taken Rome, it would have caused the Roman Empire to collapse and Carthage would have been strong. The political map would have looked different today for sure.
4TheRecord the whole world would have been different. If you think of how much Rome impacted the world by spreading it’s culture, belief and influence over the world for so long. If Carthage concurred Rome the world we know would be completely different
Republic*
The Empire didn't rise until Augustus rose to power in (I believe) 27 BC
If Hannibal had sieged Rome, the Empire never would have risen, and the political landscape in Europe would be unrecognizable. Europe never would have shaped out like it did because Roman influence would have ended in the same time period Ying Zheng unified China rather than ending in the rough 1300-1400s AD. That's a lot of history to be gone
Hannibal did not have the means to lay siege to the city, not even a ram. He also did not have Carthage's support, so he could not have even if we wanted to
@@Arby117chief Normally that wouldn't have been necessary. According to the codex of war of those times Rome was clearly defeated, but they just kept on recruiting new armies.
Hello, been following this channel for atleast 2 years now and really like your stuff, greetings from Finland! Any chance you could make a video about Mannerheim, Finland´s most acclaimed war hero, president and a legend?
Cato demands more salt in this episode.
Another great video brother!
Due to the Dune movie announcement, could we do Frank Herbert?
Good stuff but that little table lamp gets on my 'noives'... You should symmetrically replace it with the exact dim yellow light as on the other side of you.
Hannibal intelligence officer: Sir the Romans has very large walls and we have no siege weapons to bring them down.
Hannibal : Doesn't matter lets just march to Rome anyways and hope the wall magically falls down.
Hannibal advisers : Sir their're attacking our homeland Carthage.
Hannibal : *WHAT why would they do that.*