Quote Originally Posted by CountArach
Hannibal. One of the few men to give Rome a run for their moeny. As a general tactically he was brilliant, however strategically he left much to be desired.
I wouldn't say Hannibal was so bad strategically. The Romans didn't expect him to march through the Alps and he did, surprising them. Surprised Romans yet again by crossing the Arnus Marsh to place his army strategically between Rome and the Roman armies sent to block him, forcing the Romans into an ambush at lake Trasimene.

Politically he couldn't get enough Italian city-states to side with him against Rome, and he couldn't get reinforcments from back home (all politics), so I think its safe to say that rather than strategically poor, this man was moreso deficient in the political area.

Though Hannibal wasn't the first to emphasize the importance of the cavalry arm, he was using these tactics in a region primarily dominated by heavy infantry, so while he didn't invent a new style of warfare as Adolphus did, the result of the enemy being beaten by tactics unfamiliar to them remain the same.