History Memes

Funny enough, years later, when talking to Scipio Africanus at a diplomatic meeting in Anatolia, Hannibal suggested that boldness was one of the highest qualities a general could have.

Perhaps he had time to reflect in the intervening years!

With all seriousness, Hannibal was a major threat. The issue was twofold - first, that the Romans were stupidly, pathologically stubborn. Few other polities - of any period - would lose a full fifth of their male population and say "Fuck you, I'm just getting warmed up."

And second, related to the first, that Hannibal took the wrong strategy to deal with stubborn fuckers. He was never going to wear the Romans down, and Rome's vassals were both fond of the whole "They don't ask for taxes" thing and terrified of what the infamously grudge-bearing polity would do to them once Carthage's back was turned if any of them betrayed Rome, but had to remain neighbors with the Republic after a negotiated peace - ie, if Rome was not destroyed entirely, it would almost certainly destroy any of the turncoat polities out of sheer spite, even if it took patience in waiting for an opportunity.

The decapitation strike was his only option, not just a option. By failing to recognize this, he made himself a boogeyman for the next 500 years of Roman history, burned a decade in Italy, and thousands of lives - mercenary and Italian alike - but never made the progress he needed to.

Brilliant general! But military science was not a well-developed field at the time. I mean, hell, Hannibal performed the first double-envelopment in recorded history, man gets at least a little leeway for being a trailblazer rather than a perfected end-product!