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Hannibal crosses the alps

A platitude as old as platitudes themselves details Hannibal going across the alps. This phrase evokes images of elephants trudging through the snow out of France and into Italy. Hannibal did not make it out of the alps unscathed. At several points his army was attacked from heights with rolling boulders. He was able to make it into Roman territory by crossing the Rhone river upstream from the bridges.

Hannibal was a Carthaginian general who escaped from Spain and took the fight to the Roman Empire in Italy. The mention of his name provoked intense fear in the heart of the bravest Roman.

Terms:

Carthage: city state in N.Africa. Present day Tunisia.
Punic: Roman word for Carthage.
Punic Wars: Started over the city of Messana on the island of Sicily (circa 260 B.C.).
Second Punic War: Hannibal started fighting in Spain, but gave the Roman army the slip and headed over the Pyrenees.
Battle of Cannae: The elected Roman consuls attacked Hannibal near Cannae. Hannibal once again outfoxed the Romans who were massacred. The fleeing Roman soldiers were hamstrung (their hamstrings cut to prevent their escape) and then killed.
Fabius Maximus The Roman dictator who preferred to chase Hannibal rather than meet him in the field.
Third Punic War: Rome finally went to battle to destroy Carthage. A pitched battle ensued which continued door to door till finally in 146 B.C. the last starving garrison surrendered. Carthage was destroyed, its citizen sold into slavery.

Read more about the Punic Wars