A Question my Professor Couldn't Answer..

**tapanojum** · 12-22-2007, 04:38

...I asked him "If Hannibal defeated the Romans at Cannae in a crushing defeat. Why didn't Hannibal march onto Rome and leave a garrison or even burn it down like the Romans soon after did to Carthage, before heading back to defend Africa? Did Rome still have a considerable amount of power in Italy to defend itself?

My Ancient World Civilization 101 teacher couldn't answer this...

Thanks!

**Boyar Son** · 12-22-2007, 04:44

in short.

they cornered him.

ALOT (and i mean it) of manpower.

hannibal could gain victories but didnt know how to use it.

hannibal needed reinforcements to take the large city of Rome.

Roman intercepted a massenger and defeated hannibals brother/reinforcements.

**antisocialmunky** · 12-22-2007, 06:13

He didn't have enough men and Rome refused to surrender, some how kept most of its allies on its side, and waged a war of attrition.

Cannae almost broke Rome but it had a almost masochistic way of bouncing back from defeats in those days. I mean, they raised a new army of the same size and split it into some smaller armies so Hannibal couldn't seek decisive engagements anymore.

I mean, these are the same people that subdued Iberia by throwing man power at it for 100 years.

**lobf** · 12-22-2007, 07:59

If I understand it correctly, he couldn't hold the city with the number of troops he had. I think he could have looted it and burned it to the ground, but he wasn't interested in that. He wanted to keep it.