Hannibal Barca
Rome’s greatest enemy accomplished the impossible in 218 BCE. He marched 40,000 men and 37 elephants across the snow-covered Alps to attack Italy directly. Hannibal then crushed Roman armies at Cannae using brilliant encirclement tactics. Though his 15-year campaign eventually stalled without reinforcements from Carthage, his military genius forever changed warfare. He ended his days in exile by 183 BCE. Roman mothers frightened disobedient children for generations with warnings that “Hannibal is at the gates.”
