Hannibal never had a plan for breaching Rome’s walls.
Interesting take on history (and current events).
The following day Hannibal crossed the Anio and led out the whole of his force to battle; Flaccus and the consuls did not decline the challenge. When both sides were drawn up to decide an action in which Rome was the victor's prize, a tremendous hailstorm threw the two armies into such disorder that they had difficulty in holding their arms. They retired to their respective camps, fearing everything rather than their enemy. The following day, when the armies were drawn up in the same position, a similar storm separated them. On each occasion, after they were once more in camp, the weather cleared up in an extraordinary way. The Carthaginians looked upon the occasion as preternatural, and the story runs that Hannibal was heard to say that at one time he lacked the will, at another the opportunity, of becoming master of Rome. His hopes were further damped by two incidents, one of some importance, the other less so. The more important was his receiving information that while he was actually in arms near the walls of Rome a force had marched out fully equipped, under their standards, to reinforce the army in Spain. The other incident, which he learnt from a prisoner, was the sale by auction of the spot on which he had fixed his camp, and the fact that, in spite of his occupation of it, there was no abatement in the price. That any one should have been found in Rome to buy the ground which he was holding in possession as spoil of war, seemed to Hannibal such an insulting piece of arrogance that he instantly summoned a crier and made him give notice of the sale of the silversmiths' shops round the Forum of Rome.
I always thought Sparta had the right idea of no walls. They basically trap you inside as much as keeping the enemy out.
Also Rome had a real weakness in the aqueducts.
The most surprising thing to Hannibal was the Roman will. The Romans had suffered stunning losses at the hands of Hannibal. The normal response, the Grecian way, was surrender.
Instead, the Romans raised another Army and kept fighting. Hannibal was doomed from the start and eventually the Romans beat Carthage in Carthage.
Good article and apt analogies.
Unfortunately, after escaping from Rome, he gave in to poor advice from those who wanted to return to Rome for the simple act of revenge. You know the rest.
The Vulnerability of Peripheries of Eurasia
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