Hannibal

Hannibal was born in 247 BC into a Carthaginian military family still burning from defeat in the First Punic War; his father made him swear never to befriend Rome. In 218 BC he attacked Saguntum in Spain and triggered the Second Punic War, then invaded Italy by crossing the Alps with North African war elephants and a mixed Carthaginian-Celtic army. Over the next few years he won at Ticinus, Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae, inflicting staggering Roman losses and peeling away Rome's Italian allies. He occupied most of southern Italy for fifteen years, but Rome under Fabius Maximus avoided dir…