Hannibal

Mario Bürki

Brass Band
Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, was born in 248 BC. His father commanded the Carthaginian land forces during the later stages of the First Punic War.

He kept his army intact and led a successful guerrilla war against the Romans in Sicily. As soon as he was old enough, Hannibal joined his father›s army in the

invasion of Hispania.

Hamilcar Barca died in battle in 228 BC. Hannibal›s brother-in-law Hasdrubal the Fair succeeded to his command of the army with Hannibal serving as an officer

under him.

Hasdrubal signed a treaty with the Romans where Carthage promised not to expand north of the Ebro River. Hasdrubal also endeavored to consolidate

Carthaginian power through diplomatic relationships with native tribes. This included arranging the marriage between Hannibal and an Iberian princess named

Imilce.

Hasdrubal the Fair was assassinated by a Celtic assassin in 221 BC. Hannibal was now proclaimed commander-in-chief by the army.

In 218 BC Carthage decided to hit back. Defeated at sea, the Carthaginians decided this time to attack Italy by land from their base in Hispania. Hannibal led an

army made up of 30,000 Spanish infantrymen, 9,000 African cavalry and a team of elephants. To attack Rome from Hispania meant that Hannibal had to take

his soldiers and animals over the snow-covered Alps.

The Romans did not believe it was possible and were taken by surprise. However, the journey had taken its toll and by the time Hannibal reached Italy, he only

had 26,000 men left alive.

The first battle between the two sides took place at Trebia. Although they had many more men, the Romans were heavily defeated by the Carthaginians. One of

the reasons for this was that the Romans had trouble coping with Hannibal›s elephants. The elephants were used at the front of the Carthaginian forces (similar

to the way tanks were used in the First World War). Because of the elephants› size and trumpeting, the Romans had great difficulty in persuading their horses

to charge Hannibal›s forces.

The Romans tried several different tactics against elephants. They were extremely difficult to kill, so the main aim was to make them panic and run amok amongst

the Carthaginians. They tried to do this by killing their driver or by stabbing them with javelins in the soft skin under the tail. The Romans also discovered that

elephants were frightened of the sound of squealing pigs. Therefore pigs were covered in tar, set alight and let loose amongst the elephants. The Carthaginians

attempted to counteract this tactic by giving wine to the elephants before battle and stabling them with pigs so that they would get used to the squealing.

Although Hannibal›s elephants survived the Battle of Trebia, most of them died soon afterwards from the cold weather. However, the lack of elephants did not

stop Hannibal inflicting a series of defeats on the Romans. The most important of these was at Cannae where over 50,000 Roman soldiers were killed and a

further 19,000 were captured. Hannibal, on the other hand, lost less than 6,000 men.

Even though they suffered these losses, the Romans refused to surrender. As Hannibal was never strong enough to attack Rome itself, he failed to obtain a total

victory over the enemy.

The Roman Senate responded to these military reverses by ordering an attack on Carthaginian held Spain. This was a success, and Scipio Africanus, who

organised the campaign, became a national hero. Scipio now started to plan an attack on Carthage, and Hannibal was forced to abandon the territory he

controlled in Italy in order to defend his homeland.

Scipio and his troops landed in Africa in 204 BC. Instead of attacking Carthage, Scipio visited King Masinissa of Numidia, whose cavalry had played such an

important part in Hannibal›s victories over the Romans. In exchange for promises of Carthaginian territory, King Masinissa agreed to join forces with Scipio.

The Battle of Zama took place in 202 BC. Hannibal had 40,000 men and 80 elephants while Scipio had 25,000 Romans and 11,000 Numidians. Hannibal started

the battle by ordering an elephant charge. However, the Romans had learnt by bitter experience how to deal with elephants. Instead of pigs they now used men

blowing trumpets. The noise frightened the elephants and many of them turned and stampeded, trampling to death large numbers of Carthaginians. Hannibal›s

troops were scattered and they were gradually hunted down by the Numidian cavalry.

The Romans were extremely harsh on the defeated Carthaginians. All but ten of their ships were destroyed, vast amounts of money had to be handed over and

all overseas territories had to be abandoned. Carthage also had to promise that in future it would gain permission from Rome before forming alliances or going

to war with other countries.

Hannibal now decided to become a politician and he was elected as suffete, or chief magistrate. He reformed the way Carthage was governed, stipulating that

membership of the Hundred and Four be chosen by direct election rather than co-option. He also changed the term of office from life to a year with a term limit

of two years.

The Romans became concerned by Hannibal›s growing power and in 195 BC they demanded he retired from office. Hannibal moved to Ephesus, where he met

Antiochus III of Syria and later became his military adviser.

In 190 BC Hannibal was placed in command of a Seleucid fleet but was defeated in a battle off the Eurymedon River. He fled to Crete, before seeking refuge with

King Prusias I of Bithynia, who was engaged in warfare with Rome›s ally, King Eumenes II of Pergamon. Hannibal went on to serve the Bithynians in this war.

The Romans became concerned about Hannibal›s naval victories and demanded that Prusias I hand him over. Hannibal was determined not to fall into his

enemies› hands and at Libyssa he took poison.

Publication details:
Title	Hannibal
Composer	Mario Bürki
Instrumentation	Brass Band
Duration	21.00
Difficulty	Difficult
Countries availability
Not available in	Germany, United Kingdom