What nationality was Hannibal?

Answer 1

Hannibal was a Carthaginian.

Carthage and Rome were the two great powers of the last two centuries BC, and since both depended on control of the Mediterranean (Rome for food, Carthage for trade) there was an inevitable rivalry between them, which Roman politicians regularly converted into open war.

Usually Rome's more militaristic and centralised government led to Roman victories in these wars, but in 216 BC during the Second Punic War (Punic means Carthaginian) Hannibal developed a strategy which trapped, immobilised, and then destroyed the largest army Rome had ever mustered at the battle of Cannae.

Rome should have been finished as a military power after Cannae, but a combination of bluff, misdirection, and political legerdemain by Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator(Quintus Fabius Maximus the timewaster) stopped Hannibal from destroying Rome until the army had time to regroup.

Once the Roman army had regrouped, the Roman General Scipio Africanus landed an expeditionary force in north Africa and in turn defeated Hannibal at the battle of Zama - using a combination of bribery of the Carthaginian allies and a variation of Hannibal's own tactics at Cannae.

Hannibal is considered to be one of the greatest strategists of the Ancient World - comparable to Alexander the great and Themistocles - while the way that he could destroy Rome as a credible military force, yet still eventually lose the war, has been one of the most difficult lessons for military theorists ever since.

Answer 2

Hannibal was born in Carthage