Hannibal

Hannibal was a Carthaginian commander and military genius. He was born in the year of 247 of the "royal" family of Barca. His father, Hamilcar Barca was one of the greatest Carthaginian generals during the First Punic War. The name of "Hannibal" literally means the "mercy of Baal". In 241 B.C. when Hannibal was only 6 years old, the War against Rome came to a close. After 23 years of fighting, the war ended in a peace treaty that both sides knew was more or less "made to be broken." Rome now stood squarely facing Carthage, neither city could place any real trust in the other. Carthage spent the next decade recuperating from the war. Hamilcar was dispatched to Spain, taking with him his nine year old son. The Carthaginian government was seeking compensation for the loss of Sicily in the last war, and Hamilcar personally saw it as a potential base to wage a war of vengeance against the Romans. Hannibal was brought up to succeed his father's position as general of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, and like his father, was filled with a deep hatred of Rome. At the age of 19, Hannibal lost his father in a battle against one of the hispanic tribes in an attempted, but unsuccessful, revolt. Young, but already a somewhat seasoned soldier from traveling with his father on his campaigns as a boy, Hannibal rose to command all of the forces in Spain. During the Second Punic War against Rome, he crossed the Alps with 38 War Elephants in a mere 15 days to surprise the Roman armies. Winning battle after battle, including killing 60,000 Romans in a single day at the Battle of Cannae, he still lost the war when the Romans could replenish their losses with deep manpower reserves that Carthage didn't have. Feared and successful even in peace, the Romans eventually forced him to commit suicide in 183 BC.

He decided to attempt to take over the Iberian Peninsula (where Spain is today) by crossing it with 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. [1]