Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,

Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscoveres the forgotten stories that changed our world.

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

If you are a Rowan parent who wanted to terrify your children at night, there's a simple

phrase that you would utter in Latin.

Hannibal ad portus, which means Hannibal is at the gates.

From the 3rd century BC, up until the Western Roman Empire's collapse in the early 5th century 80,

this simple phrase reminded Romans of the mortal threat that the Carthidian general Hannibal

Barka posed to the Roman Empire. He was Rome's greatest adversary and the eternal boogieman of the

Empire. And among military historians ranked the greatest general in history. In this episode,

I'm going to be answering a question from listener Jennifer French Lee who asks about Hannibal

Barka's tactics, battles, and anything else unique he did during the first Punic War.

But I want to go way beyond battlefield tactics and look at who was Hannibal of Barka,

who were the Carthaginians, what were the reasons for the Punic War, and why was there no other

existential threat like this to the Roman Empire for centuries and centuries and centuries.

And when we say that he's one of the greatest generals in history, what does this mean?

How do we compare him to other generals, and did he have any qualities that made him fall short?

Also, I want to look at probably his peace-state resistance, the greatest military maneuver he

did in his career, the double entrapment maneuver. I want to describe what it meant, why it was so

difficult and why people hail it is such an act of tactical and military brilliance.

Well, let's start off with that snapshot of what his life was like growing up in Carthage,

which was in Northern Africa. Hannibal Barka's name means ball is merciful to me.

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