Hannibal: Rome’s Greatest Enemy 

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“I will either find a way or make one” Hannibal

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.

"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

I’ve heard the same stories a hundred times and I still love to listen to them

After every victory Hannibal is reported to have said "I love it when a plan comes together."

Hannibal needs to have a Netflix series like the Ottoman Empire

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.

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.

Interested to note that Hannibal's family created the city of barcino in Iberia. Commonly considered the birth of Barcelona

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 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

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

here after oversimplified!!

“There is a common emotion we all recognize and have not yet named-the happy anticipation of being able to feel contempt." - Hannibal Barca

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.

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.

Why would anyone “thumbs down” a video like this?! These videos are awesome and one of the reasons RU-vid is great

It's incredible to believe that this history actually happened sometimes. Elephants across the Alps 2000 years ago. Never to be forgotten

Hannibal scared Rome but you don’t have to be scared of bad razors lol 😂

Hannibal: “We’ll attack Rome another time.” Rome: “It was at this moment, he knew, he f*cked up.”

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.

Who’s here after watching OverSimplified? 😂

Hannibal: I brought Rome to its knees. None shall surpass me. Attila: Hold my Kumis

Some people who were a thorn to Rome deserves a video too: Spartacus, Boudicca, Vercingetorix.

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.

'Hannibaal at the Gates' even though his greatest folly was not attacking them in words of his own brother.

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.

I'm a simple man, I see Hannibal, I click

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.

Finally a biograhics video about Hannibal I've waited for this,for a long time thank you biographical much love from Philippines

Been waiting on this one

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

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.

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

Dude, please do a video bassed off of The Duke of Wellington.

Who else came here from Oversimplified’s Punic war?

Buddy, the commercial you did was priceless. Can't stop laughing. Enjoyed seeing your funny side!

Awesome video Simon

"Hannibal is at the gates!" *Goosebumps*

Girls with time machine: "I'm your granddaughter" Boys with time machine: "Hannibal bro you gotta siege Rome."

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! 😀

Another great video brother!

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.

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.

That was the best biography of the channel !

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.

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.

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.

Oh how long i have been waiting. Thank you for Hannibal.

Simon thank you for this

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."

>Play Rome 2. >Pick Carthage. >Rome inevitably rolls up on you no matter how much you bribe them. >Cry

nice vid, loved it

I love your videos,very educational and entertaining😍😍😍

Hannibal - "I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER" LOL! (the A-TEAM)

Pls do it! over simplified do it!

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

All jesting aside I ❤️your channels! Keep it up!

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.

Simon, can you please make a video on Zheng He, the 14th century Chinese admiral and explorer.

Been hoping for this one for a while. The city of Carthage would make a great addition to Biographics in my opinion.

Great video

Imagine a world if Hannibal conquered Rome? That'd be a great alternative history story. Also, can you do your biography?

You should do Thomas Cochrane , his life is one of the most exciting in naval history and he’s barely known about

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?

All your videos are interesting.

"When people go through something rough in life, they say, "I'm taking it one day at a time." Yes, so is everybody. Because that's how time works." - Hannibal Buress

Ad Ambush at 7:33 - 8:53 Just like Hannibal.

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.

Well done

Hannibal loves it when a plan comes together :)

I was so waiting for this one! Hannibal Barca 💪

Among his many talents, Mr. Whistler is a very effective salesman. I really began considering buying that shaving kit - and I never even shave!

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.

Could you please do a bio on Ip Man? Thank you :)

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.

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 will have a look on the shaving thing. Hard to change my usual one. You know it.

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.

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

Who else is bringe watching Simon Wistler channels during Corona look-down? All the best from Germany.

Love your channel. You need to do a biographics on Clare Chennault.

Like the great Roman General Obiwanus Kenobii said: "there are alternatives to fighting." And they did win in the end.

He was an unstoppable warrior but he did not finish the job. He should of marched on Rome and conquered it.

Thank you

I'm from Tunisia and i feel proud 🇹🇳🇹🇳♥️

You…are… *vengeance!*

Omg wow I’m really excited about this episode clicked on it straight away

Two thumbs up! 👍👍

Biographics is really coming up !

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.*

“The weight of Carthage is just to big even for the Great...Hannibal....Barca”

Another great biographic! I am curious as to why the Digeridoo was used in the intro of the last segment? As it is known as a musical instrument of the Aboriginal people of Australia.

Thank god for the oversimplified video for the backstory

Who's here after watching oversimplified

Yes! We're back to ancient Rome! Thanks Simon & team :)

My favorite Ancient general. He could take command of any kind of army personnel.

Love that sponsor segue. Looks like someones's been watching too much @LinusTechTips.