Rise of Scipio

After the great and legendary Battle of Cannae which Hannibal won by unanimous decision. A very young man named Scipio Africanus(not his full name)came up with a very clever plan. Hannibal's motto is to do everything the Romans would least expect. That motto was his drive to: 1. Go to Rome 2. Pass the Alps 3. Disobey Carthaginian Roman authorities 4. Battle the Romans in Roman soil 5. Risk his life to claim the City of the Dreams, Rome. Countering Hannibal's hopes was the young man's dreams; that young man was Scipio Africanus (or Scipio for short). Scipio's motto is to do anything and everything to make Hannibal suffer, for Hannibal was the one that killed Scipio's old acquaintance Ticintus (Tiberius Sempronius Longus)on the Battle of River Trebia.

Hannibal was stuck in the Italian peninsula, for his army was too big to get beaten and too small to conquer Rome. So Hannibal sent his brother Hasdrubal Barca to get reinforcements from the Carthiginian capital Carthage. As Hannibal sets his plan Scipio is also having his own story. Scipio led an Army to Spain, so that he could weaken the forces of Carthage. Scipio's army has landed on Spain and quickly led an army to wage war against a Carthaginian outpost; which quickly led to the Battle of  Ilipia. The battle was quickly won by Scipio. Shortly after, Hasdrubal was discovered that he was getting more men and reinforcements. So, the Romans held a step forward; the Romans quickly reacted to Hasdrubal's movements and sent the ambush to Hasdrubal. Hasdrubal was killed with the reinforcements; the Romans sent the head of Hasdrubal to Hannibal. Everyone could see the anger and the hatred in Hannibal's eyes. Truly, Hannibal has gone mad.

Now, Scipio does what Hannibal expects the least; he attacks Carthage.The news quickly spread and it finally reaches into Hannibal's ears. Quickly, Hannibal directed his forces unto Carthage; back to his homeland. Scipio is now controlling every step of Hannibal's army. To Zama they came face to face; Hannibal and Scipio; the battle that paves the way of the very destiny of the world. Hannibal versus Scipio; this is the battle that would end the Second Punic War.

                                                                To be continued - Next Week

The Battle of Cannae

This battle was the most brutal battle that the Romans had experienced. Hannibal was greatly outnumbered in every single concept, except for........ brains. The Romans once again, underestimated Hannibal Barca. There were approximately 86,000 Romans and 56,000 men in Hannibal's army. The Romans were led by Gaius Terentius Varro. In the Battle Hannibal executed a formation called the "fish" formation in Japanese terms, and the Romans compacted themselves into a thick line, giving up flexibility for power. Hannibal positioned his men from least to greatest, his weakest troops was in the center and the strongest ones are at the flanks. The Romans also had cavalry up on the rear to protect the the main force. The Romans thought that they could crush the enemy like pounding a hammer to a plastic cup. The battle went on like this, the cavalry of Hannibal was closing in to the Roman cavalry, with pure determination the cavalry of Hannibal crushes the Roman cavalry leaving their rear unprotected. The gigantic Roman army was nearing to Hannibal's men, finally the Romans collided with the army of Hannibal, quickly the army of Hannibal was collapsing their front lines was faltering and the Romans were breaking through. But, the enemy of the Romans was Hannibal, and you know what that means. Hannibal sprung his trap, surrounding the Romans within seconds. The Roman army panicked and was quickly faltering under Hannibal's men, they had no other place to go but back. But that soon changed because Hannibal's cavalry quickly attacked the Romans from the rear, therefore sealing their fate.

* The Romans had almost twice the size of Hannibal's army but it is amazing still how Hannibal pulled it of. This time was the last time they underestimated Hannibal, but still with an army so large it is almost impossible you cannot lose. This was the greatest victory the WORLD had against the Romans. This just shows that brains is always better than brawns.