Greatest Generals. 270 B.C - 14 A.D

[Harkilaz]

His tactics to politically control Gaul by keeping its tribes seperated showed much greater knowledge than Hannibal.

Though I agree with much of what you posted, I don't agree with this as it doesn't consider the variables in their campaigns. Hannibal's diplomatic problems he faced were much more difficult than Caesar's in Gaul. Hannibal had already faced and dealt with similar warrior society tribal problems in Spain, either through diplomacy or conquest - Italy was a completely different ball park - the nature of the alliances to both Hannibal and Rome were dictated by centuries of interstate rivalries that determined what actions the cities and towns would take when faced by Hannibal - political factionalism within the cities governing elite and interstate rivalries hindered Hannibal's strategy - for example - gaining Capua turned a number of cities from ever joining Hannibal out of choice because of their fear of Capuan Hegemony - those in the past that had joined Capua in her policy decisions in war turned from Rome - and those that didn't had fought that very same Capuan league in the past, and their very survival depended on staying with Rome as they feared they'd lose out in an alliance with Hannibal. This was the case all over the South where he tried to turn others. In Bruttium, centuries of warfare between the Greeks and the Bruttians made the Greeks hesitant of joining Hannibal when most of Bruttium joined him, which is true of Greek intercity rivalry too - when he captured Locri, who had previous interstate rivalry with Rhegion, the Rhegions turned to Rome for help fearing Locrian Hegemonic aspirations. Likewise, the Bruttians also attacked Croton without Hannibal's knowledge, which shows they also expected more power - sadly - with Rome's reaction after Cannae to garrison cities that might sway in order to prevent such a thing (though this did not mean it would work - see Tarentum in 213/2) this limited Hannibal's success massively, and was in no way, a failing on Hannibal's part due to his own skill. The combination of long term conditions (local rivalries) and short term factors (Rome's military response) proved to much for Hannibal's strategy to overcome. That's not to say he didn't face tribes with history of rivalry either, but in contrast, the Gauls were certainly easier to manipulate and defeat militarily than the towns and cities of the Italian Peninsular.