Hamilcar developed a base for Carthage in southern Spain, which helps explain the geography and transalpine adventure of the Second Punic War. When Hamilcar died, his son-in-law Hasdrubel took over, but when Hasdrubel died, 7 years later, in 221, the army appointed Hannibal general of the forces of Carthage in Spain. People considered Hannibal “Great”: Hannibal retained his reputation as a formidable opponent and great military leader even after Carthage lost the Punic Wars. Hannibal colors the popular imagination because of his treacherous trek with elephants across the Alps to face the Roman army. By the time the Carthaginian troops had finished the mountain crossing, he had about 50,000 troops and 6000 horsemen with which to face and defeat the Romans' 200,000.
Alexander's empire did not hold. The generals who succeeded him lacked his vision, and they spent the remainder of their careers fighting over the spoils of his conquests. Seleucus gained control over Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, where an empire under his name would rule for many years, and Ptolemy established a dynasty of even longer standing in Egypt. His descendants ruled until 30 B.C, when the last of his line, Cleopatra was defeated by a new and even bigger empire,
Persia conquered everyone they met at first. King Darius (king of Persia) sent messages to Athens and Sparta, telling them surrender; which they refused. Darius, now furious with the Greeks sent his army to fight at Marathon which was 26 miles away from Athens. The Persians lost this battle, a runner was sent to Athens to tell them of their victory. The Persians ran out of supplies and returned after the defeat of Marathon.
King Leonidas Leonidas was the king of Sparta at one time. He is most famous for leading the three hundred Spartans against the Persian army. He lived in the Peloponnesus and the city state of Sparta. Leonidas had a major impact in his time; he led troops to eliminate Persians to defend Sparta. Doing this Sparta and Athens won the war against the Persians, but ended up losing to Rome.
Herodotus accounts of the Corinth assembly speak of Themistocles pursuit of unity. Despite whole unity not achieved, the Greek force was extremely disciplined. Which allowed them to fight and defeat the Persians as a unified force? The Persians did not have unity- Herodotus accounts that in the battle of salamis- “Artemisia was chased by an Athenian trireme…she rammed one of her friends”. Morale The morale of the Greek soldiers in comparison to the Persians contributed to their victory.
Roman strategies allowed Rome to control their towns with ease. The Roman imperial army was undefeated in any major campaigns. Records have even shown Roman feats when they were outnumbered. The soldiers’ desire for recognition and promotion played a big factor in this of course. The soldiers would charge off to fight by enemy forts afraid of what the other men would think of them.
Rough terrain also hampered the phalanx as they would lose cohesion, as this was shown in the battle of Granicus. The Granicus River ran between the two armies of Alexander and Darius and played a large role in the battle hampering the Macedonian phalanx. The terrain forced them to fight hand to hand making their sarissas worthless and left them vulnerable to the quicker spears held by their enemy(Stoneman, 39). The Macedonian phalanx was too well trained to panic and eventually gained the upper hand in the fight and routed the Persians, proving once again the superiority the new phalanx had over its
Alexander came to be ruler not by vote, but by the assassination of his father, King Philip II, who had been bringing Greece under his control little by little. Alexander the great was born in the ancient capital of Macedonia, Pella, in 356 B.C. Alexander was born into royalty, his father was King Philip II, while his mother was Olympias, the princess of Epirus. During his childhood he was surrounded by military training and battle. He watched his dad battle and win, victory after victory throughout the Balkans.
Rome also had such a figure -- in Julius Caesar. This essay will examine the three immediate causes of the collapse of Rome's senate and the establishment of an Empire, beginning with Julius Caesar's rise to power, and ending with the “first settlement”, after Octavian's claiming of the throne.
In three hundred and thirty five B.C (335 B.C), as general of the Greeks in a campaign against the Persians originally planned by his father, he carried out a successful campaign against the defecting Thracians, penetrating to the Danube River. When he returned, he defeated the Illyrians in a single week. In Thebes, he spared only the temples of the gods and the house of the Greek lyric poet Pindar. The eight