What was Hannibals strategy to win the 2nd punic war?

Answer 1

Hannibal's strategy changed with the changing circumstances of the war. There were four key points: 1) taking the war to Italy 2) fighting a lightning war 3) gaining support from Roman allies in Italy 4) attacking Rome. He failed on all these points except for the first one. A lack of Roman allies switching sides also induced him to apply scorched earth tactics.

Hannibal initial scheme was to take the war to Italy to prevent a Roman attack in Spain (his attack on a Spanish city which was a Roman ally had sparked the war) and on Carthage itself in Africa. He was unsuccessful in relation to the former as a Roman fleet had already set off for Spain. He was successful in relation to the latter as a naval expedition to Africa had to be recalled due to his attack on Italy. He was unsuccessful at conquering Italy.

Hannibal advanced to Italy at an astonishing speed, taking the Spanish cities north of the river Ebro (Roman allies) in just 2 months and rushed through southern Gaul moving inland to avoid the Roman allies on the coast. He crossed the Alps in the winter, which was not thought possible -moreover, military campaigns usually stopped in the winter. The purpose of this was to catch the Romans by surprise and he succeeded in this spectacularly.

Hannibal wanted to attack Rome, but could not because he he lost his siege machines while crossing the Alps -possibly due to snow. He also hoped that the Roman allies in Italy would switched sides. This was initially successful as the Gauls of northern Italy revolted and defeated the Romans there, causing Rome further trouble trouble for them.

After winning a battle at Ticinum (Pavia) in the north he moved south and won another battle at Lake Trasimene (in modern Umbria, central Italy). As he did not have the siege machines he moved to Apulia in the southeast instead of heading for Rome. He did not get support form Roman allies in this area. Here applied another feature of his strategy: scorched hearth. He ravaged the area.

The Romans started a strategy called war of attrition. They avoided battle, but pursued Hannibal, harassed him with guerrilla tactics and used scorched hearth to deprive him of supplies. The aim was to wear him down. They took away from Hannibal the chance of fighting a lightning war.

Hannibal then moved to Campania (north of Naples) and ravaged this area as well. The campaign reached a dead end and returned to Apulia. In Apulia he routed the Romans at Cannae. At this point Hannibal succeeded in getting some Roman allies to switch sides. Greek cities in Sicily revolted and Syracuse allied with him. In Campania some Samnite cities and the city of Capua sided with Hannibal. He set up camp in Capua (Italy's second largest city) getting closer to Rome. However, despite winning two battles, the support of the Campanian cities was inadequate, and he was not supported by the government in Carthage. Hannibal lost ground and returned to Apulia.

The tide turned against him. The Romans besieged Capua, conquered Syracuse, defeated the Carthaginian army in Sicily and pacified the Island. The final blow was when Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal, who was bringing siege machines from Spain, was intercepted, routed and killed by the Romans.

Hannibal managed to capture the Greek city of Tarentum in Apulia, but failed to gain control if its port. He won two more battles, but lost Tarentum and the Romans regained Samnium and Lucania, on the mountains of the south. Hannibal has to retreat to Calabria (the toe of Italy) whose mountainous territory was easy to defend. Eventually, he was recalled to Africa.