Hannibal was a Carthaginian general that lived from 247-182 BCE. Although many regard him as a monster, he was one of the greatest military leaders in history. When he was born, Carthage was about to lose a war that had been going on for a while and was very important. Carthage began declining, and all of the events left a big impression on Hannibal, especially because he was young. Hannibal's father was Hamilcar Barca, who was the general of Rome while Hannibal was young. Hamilcar made Hannibal promise that he would always hate the Romans. When Hannibal finally became general, he returned to his fathers old military ways and attacked the native people and capturing Salamanca. Then he besieged another Roman ally. He kept taking over more and more land. Rome declared the second Punic war, and finally he decided to just invade Italy. He crossed over the Alps, even though he had a huge force, with elephants. Later on, he also got the Gauls to help him against Rome. He finally defeated Rome, and went home and basked in the Glory.
I do not think that Hannibal should have been viewed as a monster. He may have killed a lot of people, which is definitely bad, but he was just doing the same thing as all other power-hungry rulers. I can obviously see why Romans thought he was a monster. He took over huge amounts of land, fought and destroyed their allies, led revolts against them, killed many. If this happened to my country, I would be pretty mad too, and probably would see him as a monster. Overall, I do not necessarily view Hannibal as a monster, but it depends greatly on the point of view.
Source:
"Hannibal." Livius. Articles on Ancient History. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/hannibal/hannibal.html>.
Photograph from:
Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikipedia, 27 May 2005. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannibal.jpg>.
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