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[00:32] Hey! What are you still doing here?
[00:34] I said go and buy it now!
(dramatic music)
[00:40] All right, our beloved
mercenaries. Let's hear it.
[00:45] Okay, thank you one and
all for your hard work
[00:48] fighting in the First Punic War.
[00:50] Would've been nice if you'd won.
[00:51] Maybe tried a little harder.
[00:53] But this isn't the finger
pointing convention.
[00:56] I know you all have one
thing on your minds.
[00:59] "Hey, when are we all getting paid?"
[01:01] (crowd cheering)
[01:02] All right, all right, simmer down!
[01:05] Remember you lost, you, okay.
[01:08] Jim, why don't you tell them?
[01:10] I'm not telling them, you tell them!
[01:12] Ugh.
[01:13] Look, you're not getting paid.
[01:15] (crowd gasps)
What?
[01:16] We lost the First Punic war
[01:18] and owed the Romans a ton of reparations.
[01:20] Of course we can't pay you in full.
[01:23] Let's burn this place to the ground!
[01:25] (crowd cheers)
[01:27] Hey! Hey!
[01:29] Don't burn this place to the ground!
[01:31] Come on, fellas.
[01:32] Will killing us really
make you feel better
[01:35] about your money?
[01:37] Yes.
[01:40] Way to go, sir.
[01:41] Shut up, Jim! You're fired!
[01:43] I guess that makes two of us.
[01:45] Huh? (yells)
[01:48] (suspenseful music)
[01:52] In the aftermath of the First Punic War,
[01:54] Carthage's disgruntled mercenaries
[01:57] left unpaid for all
their hard work revolted
[02:00] and Carthage found itself caught up
[02:02] in an extremely destructive Mercenary War.
[02:05] The panicked Carthaginians
hired more mercenaries
[02:08] to fight the mercenaries
they couldn't afford to pay,
[02:10] and Carthage came dangerously
close to collapse.
[02:14] All the while, across the
water, there was Rome.
[02:18] Ha. Look at those morons.
[02:21] We just kicked their
in the First Punic war
[02:23] and now their own
mercenaries are revolting.
[02:25] Ha ha. Yeah.
[02:27] Wait, First Punic War?
[02:29] You mean there's gonna be a second one?
[02:30] Well, we're definitely taking
advantage of this situation,
[02:33] so almost certainly yes.
[02:35] The Romans did in fact take
advantage of the situation.
[02:38] Amongst the chaos,
[02:39] rebels on the Carthaginian
Island of Sardinia
[02:41] sent out a cry for help to Rome.
[02:43] "Hot diggity dog," said the Romans,
[02:45] "that's free real estate."
[02:47] And so in they went.
[02:49] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[02:51] That's our island! Get the hell off!
[02:53] Hey, they requested our
help. We're simply helping.
[02:57] Oh, no, you don't.
[02:58] Look, we're sending our own army
[03:00] to deal with the rebels, okay?
[03:02] But just to be clear,
[03:03] we're not trying to
start a fight with you.
[03:05] So you know, don't declare
war on us or anything.
[03:07] War!
[03:08] We surrender!
[03:09] Great and as part of the peace treaty,
[03:11] we get to keep these islands.
[03:14] No!
[03:17] The Carthaginians we're hopping mad.
[03:19] As if their humiliating loss
[03:21] in the First Punic War wasn't bad enough,
[03:23] the Romans now took advantage
of their mercenary problem
[03:26] and stole their islands.
[03:28] This shocking land grab
was pretty hard to justify
[03:31] even by Roman standards.
[03:34] Additionally, the Romans now
demanded Carthage pay them
[03:37] even more money on top
of what was already owed.
[03:40] If Rome was trying to make
Carthage as mad as possible,
[03:43] they were doing a fantastic job.
[03:46] The seeds of a Second
Punic War were being sown,
[03:49] and they were being watered
with Carthaginian tears.
[03:53] Resentment in Carthage
only continued to grow.
[03:57] Eventually, Carthage solved
their mercenary problem
[04:00] thanks to Carthaginian military genius
[04:02] and hero of the First
Punic War, Hamilcar Barca.
[04:06] He sorted those naughty mercenaries out
[04:08] with some good old fashioned atrocities
[04:11] and the destructive
Mercenary War was over.
[04:14] Still, all was not well.
[04:16] In Carthage, mere decades ago,
[04:19] they were the top dogs in
the Western Mediterranean.
[04:22] Now, after the crushing
defeat in the First Punic War,
[04:25] and a huge bill to pay the Romans,
[04:28] Carthage was well and
truly under Rome's thumb.
[04:32] What on earth were they supposed to do?
[04:34] If they wanted any chance
[04:36] at regaining their former strength,
[04:37] there was one thing they
needed now more than anything.
[04:41] Money.
[04:42] But as long as they owed
Rome a bazillion dollars,
[04:45] there was nothing they could do.
[04:47] Fortunately for them,
[04:48] amongst their ranks, there
was one big hunk of a man
[04:52] with one big clump of a brain.
[04:54] Me!
[04:55] - [Senators] Hamilcar Barca?
[04:57] - Yes.
[04:58] Wait, why do you all have
the exact same voice?
[05:00] (yells) I have it too!
[05:01] That's right, hero of the First Punic War,
[05:05] greatest general alive and
the poster above my bed.
[05:10] Hamilcar Barca had an idea.
[05:12] All right, we need money?
[05:15] Well, I've got one word for you. Spain.
[05:18] An area filled with lucrative silver mines
[05:21] from which the silver
would flow like a river,
[05:24] and our pockets would be stuffed
[05:26] like Tony's mother at a buffet.
[05:27] Hey!
So here's my proposal.
[05:29] You send me with an army to Spain,
[05:32] I'll expand our territory,
[05:33] get those silver mines up and running,
[05:35] and we'll be able to pay
the Romans back in no time.
[05:38] Okay, but just to check,
[05:41] you're not secretly raising the money
[05:42] to go on a bloodthirsty revenge
spree against Rome, are you?
[05:45] Because we can't afford that.
[05:46] Hanno, my dear,
[05:48] I'm simply going to pay them back.
[05:56] Well, that wasn't reassuring.
[05:57] Few in Carthage were as
bitter about their loss
[05:59] in the First Punic War as Hamilcar Barca.
[06:02] 98% of his brain matter
had been reallocated
[06:05] to thoughts of revenge.
[06:07] He was also fed up with the
Carthaginian politicians
[06:10] for what he deemed a cowardly betrayal
[06:13] when they surrendered at
the end of the last war.
[06:15] And so for Hamilcar, going to Spain
[06:18] meant being able to act independently
[06:20] from the weak Carthaginian government,
[06:22] building his own strength,
[06:24] and then perhaps somewhere
down the line, revenge.
[06:28] However, he wasn't going
to Spain by himself.
[06:31] Hannibal. Yes, father?
[06:33] Would you like to come with me
to build an empire in Spain?
[06:36] Oh boy, would I!
[06:37] Barbara, mind if I take our
nine-year-old son with me?
[06:40] I want to implant an intense
hatred of Rome in him
[06:41] and prepare him for a glorious
campaign of vengeance.
[06:43] (sighs) Just try not
to traumatize him dear.
[06:46] No promises.
[06:47] The young boy Hannibal
would accompany his father,
[06:51] watching, learning.
[06:53] Boy, you see that city over there?
[06:56] Yes, father?
[06:57] That is Rome. Do you know
what we do to Romans?
[07:01] No, Father.
[07:02] We hate them, Hannibal.
[07:04] We hate them with every
fiber of our being.
[07:07] But why, Father? Can't I
just play with my digimons?
[07:09] No son! They took everything from us.
[07:13] Our land, our wealth, our pride.
[07:17] Those animals! I'll tear
them limb from limb!
[07:21] I'll burn their pathetic
city to the ground!
[07:25] Dad?
[07:26] I'm sorry, son, I've just never
been so proud. Keep going.
[07:30] I'll slaughter their people.
[07:32] I'll cut off their faces
and wear them as masks!
[07:34] (sobs) I love you, son!
[07:36] After taking Hannibal
to the temple of Baal
[07:39] and having him swear an oath
never to be a friend of Rome,
[07:42] off dad and son went
[07:43] for their lovely beach holiday in Spain.
[07:45] But Spain was already inhabited
by many tribes people.
[07:49] And when Hamilcar suddenly
showed up in their territory,
[07:52] they were like, hey, who the hell are you?
[07:54] What are you doing here?
[07:55] I'm teaching my son how to
become a warrior like me.
[07:58] Aw! Well, that's sweet.
[08:00] Well then little guy,
let's see what you got.
[08:04] Good boy.
[08:05] As Hamilcar got to work
fighting the tribes of Iberia
[08:08] and expanding Carthaginian influence,
[08:10] Hannibal became a child of war,
[08:13] even earning battle scars from a young age
[08:15] and he grew to become a great
military leader himself,
[08:19] making his father very proud.
[08:22] I love you so much, son.
[08:24] Dad, not in front of the enemy!
[08:25] (army laughing)
[08:29] You killed that guy so well, son.
[08:32] (army laughing)
Dad!
[08:34] The Barcas successfully
consolidated Carthaginian power,
[08:37] got those silver mines up and running,
[08:39] and were sending buckets of cash
[08:41] back to a money-starved Carthage.
[08:43] And symbolizing Carthage's
regrowing strength,
[08:46] a beautiful new city would
eventually be founded in Spain,
[08:50] New Carthage with a magnificent
palace at its center.
[08:55] Carthage is back, baby!
[08:58] What in the name of
Apollo is going on here?
[09:01] (yells) Romans!
[09:02] Flowing silver mines? Dancing elephants?
[09:05] What are you up to, Hamilcar?
[09:08] I'm simply gathering the
money to pay you back.
[09:10] Oh. Oh, okay then.
[09:12] Or are you rebuilding strength
[09:14] to go on a bloodthirsty revenge spree?
[09:17] Like I said, Claudius,
[09:19] I'm simply trying to pay you back.
[09:25] Aw, you guys are hugging.
[09:28] No, we're not!
[09:30] I was.
[09:31] I was hugging! (sobs)
[09:34] Hamilcar had practically carved out
[09:36] a kingdom for himself in Spain,
[09:38] free from the meddling
Carthaginian politicians.
[09:41] His power was becoming immense.
[09:44] But dad.
[09:45] Yes, my son?
[09:46] I'm confused. Are we really
simply paying the Romans back?
[09:49] We're not gonna go on a
bloodthirsty revenge spree?
[09:52] Of course we are.
[09:53] I'm just saying that to get
the Romans off our backs.
[09:56] Listen, here's the most
important life lesson
[09:58] I have for you: vengeance is everything.
[10:02] An all-encompassing thirst for vengeance
[10:04] is great for your mental health.
[10:05] Are you still confused?
[10:06] No, no, I get it now.
[10:08] But what if the Romans
find out what we're up to?
[10:11] They won't find out.
[10:12] Why?
[10:13] Well Hannibal, because I use NordVPN!
[10:20] I'm confused again.
[10:21] Do you like your computer being hacked,
[10:23] all your passwords being stolen
[10:24] and used to create a fake virtual you
[10:26] who drains your mom's bank account?
[10:28] Me neither. And that's why I use NordVPN.
[10:33] These days, hackers are
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[10:36] while you're only getting dumber.
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[10:46] you need to protect
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[11:21] That's nordvpn.com/oversimplified.
[11:25] And as always, you'll be
supporting my channel.
[11:29] So thank you. Now, where were we?
[11:32] Oh yeah.
[11:33] Carthaginian tears, a child of war,
[11:37] and the Carthaginian conquest of Spain.
[11:41] The Carthaginian recovery
had been staggeringly quick
[11:44] and Rome was seriously alarmed.
[11:47] But they were also preoccupied
with ongoing wars elsewhere,
[11:50] including an expansionist war to the north
[11:53] where they were enslaving
thousands of northern Celts.
[11:56] So for now, to keep Carthage in check,
[11:59] the Romans insisted on a new treaty.
[12:02] See this river?
[12:03] The two sides agreed
that everything above it
[12:06] was in Rome's sphere of influence,
[12:08] while beneath it was Carthage.
[12:10] Under no circumstances
were the Carthaginians
[12:12] to expand north of that river.
[12:15] But for now, Hamilcar and
son were living it up.
[12:19] Well son, here's to many more years
[12:22] of successful campaigning in Spain.
[12:24] Now if you'll excuse me, I just
have to go fight those guys.
[12:28] See you later, son.
[12:29] I love you!
[12:33] What the? Aw crap.
[12:36] I drowned? Oh well.
[12:38] Always remember, son,
[12:41] you are vengeance!
[12:48] Also, delete my browsing history.
[12:49] Hamilcar Barca was tragically
ambushed at a river
[12:52] and drowned.
[12:53] His son-in-law and
possibly also his lover,
[12:56] no further questions,
took charge for a while,
[12:58] but he too was later assassinated,
[13:00] leaving finally a 26-year-old Hannibal
[13:04] in charge of the
Carthaginian armies in Spain.
[13:07] Sources say the men readily
accepted him as their leader.
[13:10] He chose to suffer the
same hardships as his men.
[13:13] He lived in the same conditions,
[13:15] was often the first into
battle, and the last one out.
[13:18] And it also helped that he
looked a lot like his dad.
[13:21] He had the total respect of his men.
[13:24] If he said, "jump," they said "how high?"
[13:26] If he said "tuck me in,"
they said "how tight?"
[13:29] If he said, "talk to a girl
without peeing your pants,"
[13:32] they said "that's impossible.
Nobody can do that!"
[13:35] An army that would follow
him anywhere would be crucial
[13:38] for exacting his vengeance against Rome.
[13:42] Hannibal's army had become
[13:44] a strong and loyal fighting force,
[13:46] and that was making a certain
nation very uncomfortable.
[13:50] Seeing Carthage restrengthened so quickly
[13:52] was not something Rome had expected.
[13:55] Yet here they were, paying off their debts
[13:58] and expanding their territory.
[14:00] It didn't feel very much like Carthage
[14:02] was under Rome's thumb at all
[14:04] and Rome wanted to put an end to it.
[14:07] Tensions were strung tighter
than your lyre's g-string
[14:10] and all it would take was one incident
[14:12] to trigger all-out war.
[14:16] And in 219 BC, a city in Spain
[14:19] would find itself at the very center
[14:22] of that fateful incident, Saguntum.
[14:25] Remember that treaty
[14:27] declaring everything south of this river
[14:29] to be Carthage's sphere of influence?
[14:31] Well, Saguntum should therefore
[14:33] obviously be Carthaginian, right?
[14:36] Wrong!
[14:37] Saguntum had actually scored itself
[14:39] an informal alliance with Rome
[14:41] after Rome had helped it
with an internal dispute.
[14:44] With Carthaginian encroachment,
[14:46] Saguntum began to fear
for its independence,
[14:48] and Rome declared itself
Saguntum's protector.
[14:53] But this clearly went against
the Ebro River Treaty,
[14:57] so what on earth was Rome doing?
[14:59] Were the Saguntines and
the Romans truly just BFFs?
[15:03] It's possible.
[15:04] Or was Rome deliberately
trying to interfere
[15:07] with Hannibal's Spanish expansion
[15:08] and maintain a staging post
for a future war with Carthage?
[15:12] More likely.
[15:14] And Hannibal certainly viewed
this Rome-Saguntum alliance
[15:17] as an outrage.
[15:18] Yet another example of Roman arrogance.
[15:21] At first, he left Saguntum alone.
[15:24] But having learned from his
father to hate all things Roman,
[15:28] and having inherited his father's dream
[15:30] of bringing Rome to its
knees, more and more,
[15:33] Hannibal may have begun to see
Saguntum as an opportunity.
[15:38] Could this controversial alliance
[15:40] be just what devilish
little Hannibal needed
[15:43] to kickstart a second war with Rome
[15:46] and restore Carthaginian dominance?
[15:49] It's even possible that Rome
were also using Saguntum
[15:52] to goad Hannibal into a fight
[15:54] so they could go and
kick him out of Spain.
[15:57] And as the two giants began
gearing up for round two,
[16:01] the poor people of Saguntum had no idea
[16:04] that they were about to be
crushed in the collision.
[16:08] Hey, your alliance with
Saguntum is an insult
[16:12] and we won't stand for it.
[16:14] They're our friends Hannibal,
[16:15] and if you lay a finger on
them, it'll be an act of war.
[16:18] Yeah, Hannibal! Back the hell off!
[16:21] War, eh?
[16:22] I was thinking I might
just besiege their city
[16:25] and massacre their people.
[16:26] I hope you do, Hannibal!
Find out what happens.
[16:29] Yeah, we hope you do, Hani- Wait, what?
[16:32] Maybe I will.
[16:33] Go ahead, kill them all.
[16:34] Uh.
Okay, then.
[16:35] Fine.
Fine.
[16:37] Okay.
Guess I'll do just that.
[16:39] Consul?
We look forward to it.
[16:41] Consul? You're gonna protect
us though, right, Consul?
[16:44] Consul?!
[16:47] Oh no!
[16:48] To top it all off,
[16:49] when the Saguntine people
made the genius decision
[16:52] of raiding into Carthaginian
territory, enough was enough.
[16:56] In an action that was guaranteed
[16:59] to provoke the Romans into war,
Hannibal besieged the city.
[17:03] The siege of Saguntum
lasted eight cruel months
[17:06] before Hannibal broke
through the city defenses
[17:09] and turned Saguntum into a killing field.
[17:12] It was a massacre.
[17:15] What the hell?
[17:18] Tell me I didn't just catch
you massacring our friends,
[17:21] the Saguntise!
[17:23] Well Consul, if you like
the Saguntise so much,
[17:26] perhaps you should Sagundeez nuts!
[17:30] (all cheering)
[17:32] Hearing word of the attack on Saguntum,
[17:34] Rome was understandably in an uproar
[17:37] and all eyes were now fixated
on what would happen next.
[17:41] As Rome sent a delegation to Carthage
[17:44] led by one of the most highly
esteemed Roman senators,
[17:48] Fabius Maximus.
[17:50] He demanded an answer for Hannibal's sins.
[17:53] All right, listen up scum.
[17:56] You've got a rogue general in
Spain attacking a Roman ally.
[17:59] What are we supposed to do about it?
[18:01] Well, there shouldn't have even
been a Roman ally in Spain.
[18:04] You're the aggressor here!
[18:05] Hand Hannibal over to us as a criminal
[18:08] so we can punish him severely.
[18:10] No.
Yes.
[18:10] No.
Yes.
[18:11] No!
Look,
[18:13] I hold in the folds of my
toga both peace and war.
[18:17] Which one should I let drop?
[18:19] Whichever one you want!
[18:22] Then I choose war!
[18:28] (dramatic music)
[18:30] The Second Punic War had begun.
[18:35] Pack it up boys we've got 'em!
[18:38] We already destroyed these clowns once,
[18:41] and we were the underdogs!
[18:43] Now, we're the, over dogs?
[18:45] Hotdogs.
Exactly.
[18:47] This is gonna be E-Z. Here's the plan.
[18:50] Consul Longus, you take your army
[18:52] and sail straight for Carthage.
[18:55] Burn that city to the ground!
[18:57] And Consul Scipio, you
just head on over to Iberia
[19:00] and make sure this Hannibal
guy doesn't do anything crazy.
[19:03] I mean, what's he gonna
do? Cross the Alps?
[19:05] (all laugh)
[19:09] We're going to what?!
[19:11] Cross the Alps!
[19:13] We're going to what?!
[19:16] I just told you.
[19:17] Hannibal, we'll freeze to death!
[19:19] Trust me, Jerome.
[19:20] The Romans are expecting us to fight
[19:22] the same way we did last time,
[19:24] passively, taking no initiative.
[19:26] They think it's gonna be E-Z.
[19:30] So this time, we have to be aggressive.
[19:33] We have to go on the attack!
[19:35] It sickens me to say this,
[19:36] but this time we have to
be a little more Roman.
[19:40] (all gasp)
[19:41] You mean we're gonna take
poops and baths together?!
[19:43] But I'm insecure about my hairy legs!
[19:45] No! I'm saying this time we're
gonna take the fight to them.
[19:49] Think about it.
[19:50] Rome thinks they're
simply going to invade us
[19:52] and win the war.
[19:54] So when they suddenly find
themselves being invaded
[19:56] from the north, they'll freak out
[19:59] like Tony's mother when the
buffet runs out of shrimp.
[20:01] Hey!
[20:02] I gotta admit, it's
actually kind of genius.
[20:05] And my hairy legs will
insulate me from the cold!
[20:07] That's the spirit!
[20:08] Hannibal, you have my sword.
[20:11] And my spear.
[20:13] And my legs!
[20:15] Bleugh.
[20:18] Hannibal's plan, a daring Alpine
trek to surprise the Romans
[20:22] was a bold but risky strategy.
[20:25] If it paid off, he could catch the Romans
[20:27] with their pants down, but
he could also end up losing
[20:30] a ton of men and supplies
[20:31] in the hostile mountain conditions.
[20:34] Nevertheless, in 218 BC,
with a fire in his eyes
[20:38] and some vengeance in his belly,
Hannibal brought his force
[20:42] of almost a hundred thousand
men across the Ebro River.
[20:45] They spent months on the road
trekking through the cold,
[20:48] hostile mountain conditions.
[20:50] And when they finally
reached the other side,
[20:52] they said, "Hooray! We did it.
[20:55] We crossed the Alps."
[20:57] No, those were the Pyrenees.
[20:59] Those are the Alps.
[21:01] (wind whooshing)
[21:03] (army crying)
[21:06] After crossing the Pyrenees,
[21:07] the army then had to pass
through Southern Gaul,
[21:10] a vast territory filled
with tribes people,
[21:12] many of whom were hostile
to Hannibal's presence.
[21:15] His journey to the Alps
was an ordeal in itself
[21:18] as he was forced to fight his way through
[21:20] and incurred pretty hefty losses
[21:22] before even reaching the mountains.
[21:24] His plan was almost stopped
in its tracks entirely
[21:27] as the Roman Consul Scipio
on his way to Iberia
[21:30] discovered Hannibal was
right on his doorstep.
[21:33] Suddenly, Hannibal's journey became a race
[21:37] as he rushed to get his massive army
[21:39] across the vast Rhone River
[21:41] before the Romans could intercept him.
[21:44] The crossing was chaotic,
[21:45] with the panicking elephants
causing several men to drown.
[21:49] And the first combat of the war occurred
[21:51] when small scouting parties from each side
[21:53] encountered one another.
[21:55] When Scipio finally caught
up to Hannibal's position,
[21:58] what he found was an
empty Carthaginian camp.
[22:01] Hannibal had slipped through his fingers.
[22:05] The Roman Consul Scipio felt
the weight of the situation.
[22:10] Quite unbelievably,
[22:11] Hannibal was going to
cross the Alps into Italy
[22:14] and the Romans had no idea
where he would emerge.
[22:18] For the first time,
[22:20] a Carthaginian force had the
Roman homeland under threat.
[22:24] Scipio sent his men
onto Iberia as planned,
[22:27] but he himself rushed
home to raise a new army
[22:30] so that if Hannibal survived the crossing,
[22:32] Scipio would be there waiting.
[22:36] Would you look at that, boys?
[22:38] We're here! The Alps!
[22:40] Although it is a little
later than I expected.
[22:43] Yeah, it's kind of chilly.
[22:45] We'll set up camp here and
wait for spring, right?
[22:47] It's way too cold, right?
[22:52] Hannibal?
[22:53] (wind whooshing)
[22:56] Hannibal's famous crossing
of the Alps was brutal.
[23:00] It was already autumn and
the men suffered terribly.
[23:03] It was cold. Men would fall
off the sides of icy cliffs.
[23:06] They starved, they fell off
the sides of icy cliffs.
[23:10] Some sources say they had
to eat their pack animals
[23:12] and would finish off dying comrades
[23:14] in order to take their
clothes for extra warmth.
[23:17] And then, they would fall
off the sides of icy cliffs.
[23:20] Imagine an army of 50,000
men with all of their horses,
[23:24] supplies and 37 elephants
trying to navigate
[23:28] the most hostile mountain range in Europe.
[23:31] And it wasn't just nature
that they were up against.
[23:34] Tribes people lived in the mountains
[23:36] and they couldn't believe
what they were seeing.
[23:39] A tribe approached Hannibal and said,
[23:41] hey man, geez, that's some
nice armor. What is that, gold?
[23:45] Man, I'd really like that armor.
[23:46] Hey boss! They've got food as well.
[23:49] Shut up! Be cool.
[23:51] Hey, why don't you let us guide you
[23:52] through this narrow gorge?
[23:54] We're not gonna kill you or nothing.
[23:55] Just walk right on through
there. We're not gonna kill ya.
[23:58] It's just right this way.
[24:02] We're not gonna kill ya!
[24:03] Hannibal's army were
forced to fight their way
[24:05] through the gorge
[24:06] as massive boulders rained
down on them from above.
[24:09] Some clever reorganization of
his line helped them survive,
[24:12] and they were able to fend
off the opportunistic tribes.
[24:16] But losses from the
constant attacks were heavy.
[24:19] As the journey continued,
men who went over the sides
[24:22] would get stuck on the ice sheets below
[24:24] and had to make a grizzly choice
[24:26] between starving to death or
just getting it over with.
[24:30] When the deeply demoralized
army reached the summit
[24:33] and rested for a couple days,
[24:35] Hannibal tried to lift their
spirits with a rousing speech.
[24:39] Look, men! down there, it's Rome.
[24:42] These plains stretching
out in front of you
[24:45] are bountiful with food
to eat and Romans to kill!
[24:50] Move, Bessie!
[24:51] Look! You have just
climbed the walls of Rome.
[24:54] The hard part is over.
[24:56] From here on out, it's all downhill
[24:59] and nobody else will die!
[25:02] Except for them.
[25:04] The rest of us here, no one dies.
[25:08] Starting now.
[25:12] Okay, let's go.
[25:13] Oh for goodness sake!
[25:14] As it turned out, the descent
was as deadly as the way up
[25:18] with the cold really starting to set in.
[25:20] The path became even more narrow.
[25:22] And at one point, the men spent three days
[25:25] in the freezing cold
repairing a collapsed road.
[25:28] When they finally reached the bottom,
[25:30] Hannibal said look guys, we did it!
[25:33] (army groaning)
[25:36] Well, I thought it went really well!
[25:38] When Hannibal left Spain,
[25:39] he had about a hundred thousand men.
[25:42] By the time he reached the Italian plains,
[25:44] his numbers had dwindled to about 26,000.
[25:48] He was now caught in enemy territory
[25:50] without a supply line or a
source of reinforcements.
[25:53] And any elephants who had
survived to this point
[25:56] were almost certainly traumatized.
[25:58] So what on earth was Hannibal up to?
[26:01] This supposed military genius
[26:03] had just led a starving and weakened army
[26:06] right into enemy territory.
[26:08] Any modern general who lost
half their men to mountains
[26:11] would be immediately fired
[26:13] and possibly even depantsed on live TV.
[26:16] Here's the thing, while
Hannibal may not have planned
[26:18] on losing quite so many men,
[26:20] he had almost certainly
expected considerable losses,
[26:23] and he always had a plan
for how to replace them.
[26:26] Need men?
[26:28] Northern Italy was full of
men, big burly Celtic men.
[26:33] All the men Hannibal would
ever need to beat off Rome.
[26:36] These Celts were filled with resentment,
[26:39] having only recently
been conquered by Rome.
[26:42] Hannibal hoped to be seen as a liberator,
[26:45] convince the Celts to cut ties with Rome,
[26:47] and instead join him in crushing Rome.
[26:51] That way, he could gain a
source of reinforcements
[26:53] and supplies right in Rome's backyard.
[26:57] But sir, in order to win
the loyalty of the Celts,
[27:00] we would need to make a
seriously favorable impression
[27:02] on them.
[27:03] How do we get 'em to like us?
[27:05] Hmm.
[27:06] Kill them.
(dramatic music)
[27:08] One of Hannibal's first actions in Italy
[27:10] was to obliterate a nearby
tribe who wouldn't join him.
[27:14] This sent a clear message
to all the other tribes.
[27:17] It was his wrath they
should fear, not Rome's.
[27:21] The realization that a Carthaginian army
[27:24] had just invaded them
[27:26] must have been shocking for the Romans.
[27:28] But when they looked at this rag tie group
[27:30] broken by the Alps,
[27:32] they couldn't have felt very intimidated.
[27:34] However, Hannibal was now in Italy
[27:38] and he was about to embark
[27:40] on one of the most
astonishing military campaigns
[27:43] in all of human history.
[27:46] The Romans may not have known it yet,
[27:48] but there was now a monster
loose in their territory,
[27:51] and he was vying for Roman blood.
[27:56] (dramatic music)
[28:06] (dramatic music continues)