.
.
.
Italy's
Trends, Travel Tips and Culinary Traditions
Region by Region
It was till the Romans understood the value of controlling this sea trade and started to expand their influence every day more. This was one of the key drivers of the first punic war and now the situation was a sort of "cold war" between the two great enemies, Rome and Carthage.
How to keep their flourishing commerce while breaking the growing power of their "dangerous" neighbours became the key question for the Carthaginians. At first glance, the war against Rome didn't seem the best option as Carthage had already tried (during the first first Punic war) to fight them without success. One of the lesson painfully learned from that war was that the Carthaginian fleet seemed to be much weaker than the Roman one, hence, a sea battle would have meant a sure defeat.
This is when the character of Hannibal, a young general, son of Hamilcar (one of the most famous Carthaginians generals) came into the scene. This ambicious young man had been living in Southern Spain in the Carthaginians colony ruled by his father Hamilcar. At his death, he took over the power and start planning his Great Plan: how to beat the Romans in their own country, Italy. After years of careful preparation, everything was ready he only needed a pretext that was caused by the Romans (to defend the rights of the old city of Saguntus). Really, it was the confrontation of two great countries and two great armies, "No states, no nations ever met in arms greater in strength or richer in resources; these Powers themselves had never before been in so high a state of efficiency or better prepared to stand the strain of a long war…." This excerpt from Livy's history of Rome clearly summarises the situation before the war.
The invasion of Italy by Hannibal,
a Logistics Genius
The story of Hannibal and the Carthaginians during the second Punic war (218 b.c. - 202 b.c.) against the Romans is a great example of how logistics has been leveraged to gain a competitive edge when fighting a war. Not surprisingly, Hannibal was considered by the Romans the greatest enemy they had ever faced.
Hannibal Crossing the Alps
(detail from a fresco ca 1510)
Palazzo del Campidoglio (Capitoline Museum)
Photo: antmoose, Rome, June 2004
At that time, Carthage, located on the Northern coast of Africa (near today's city of Tunis) and Rome were on a temporary peace after the first punic war - won by the Romans - but always looking to take over each other's supremacy over the Mediterranean Sea.
Both economies were very much dependent on the commercial trade lanes within the Mediterranean sea - probably Cathage more than Rome - in order to continue their prosperous commerce and to sustain their economies based on the exchange of key raw materials mainly coming from the Eastern countries (Greece, Lebanon…). Carthage was one of the most successful marketplaces of that time.
Hannibal Barca:
an imaginary portrait
But if not on the sea, the only option to win the Romans would be to invade them by the mountains, going through the Alps, taking them by total surprise. A major challenge that would have required the greatest logistics organization to make it happens and that could only be designed by a Logistics Genius, Hannibal.
Indeed, the keys for the victory should have been the surprise effect and the speed of the execution: when very few would have expected the Carthaginians to attack, practically nobody would have thought that they would not come by sea but they would walk out from the Alps.
Actually, just looking at the map of Mediterrenean, shown below, the most natural way to reach Italy from Carthage (Tunis) was clearly by sea where the distance is only 400 kilometers with Sicily while only thinking to start a foot march across all the southern coast of Spain, France and finally till Rome would have meant a sort of "mission impossible" of more than 1,600 kilometers...
Hannibal´s route of invasion
given graciously by The Department of History,
United States Military Academy
