First Punic War ended with Rome gaining all of Sicily and establishing itself as the new imperial power in the West. In the years after the First Punic War, Rome also wrested Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage. However, Carthage recovered and grew in strength under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca and his son Hannibal Barca. It secured Libya, expanded in North Africa and then turned its attention to Spain conquering much of the Iberian Peninsula. Silver mines of Spain provided Carthage the resources to fight against the Romans once again.

In 226 BCE Carthage and Rome had signed a treaty declaring Ebro river the boundary between their spheres of interest. However, in 219 BCE Hannibal invaded deeper inland and captured Saguntum, a long-time ally of Rome. Rome demanded that Hannibal be recalled and handed over to them for suitable punishment. Carthage refused to recall Hannibal and Rome declared war in March 218 BCE. This time Rome and Carthage enjoyed different military advantages than they had during the First Punic War. Now, Rome enjoyed complete naval superiority but Hannibal had a better trained and equipped army.

                                         Hannibal realized that defeating Romans on a foreign soil could not beat them down beyond recovery and therefore, he embarked upon a bold and audacious plan to carry the war into Italy. He decided to take the long and arduous land route as sea route was guarded by overwhelmingly superior Roman fleets. Romans presumed that Alps provided a secure natural barrier against invasion of their homeland but Hannibal surprised them by crossing it with his cavalry and war elephants. Hannibal arrived in the plain of river Po in the autumn of 218 BCE. His further advance was opposed by Roman troops but Hannibal made his position in north Italy secure by defeating them in the battle fought on the banks of river Trebbia.   

In 217 BCE, Hannibal advanced into Etruria. A rash pursuit by Roman field force led to it getting entrapped and defeated on the shore of Lake Trasimene with a loss of at least 15,000 men.  This defeat left Rome uncovered but Hannibal marched on Capua, the second largest town in Italy, hoping to incite the local populace to rebel against Rome.  Following these early losses, the Roman army under Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus adopted a policy of strategic non-engagement that sought to cut off Hannibal’s supply line and avoid the pitched battles that were his stock-in-trade.  This cautious delaying tactics of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus earned him the nickname ‘Cunctator’, meaning delayer and Fabianism or Fabian strategy has come to mean a gradual or cautious policy. This strategy worked well and gave Rome time to recover its strength. However, the more aggressive Roman senators were not happy with this strategy. They were eager to confront and annihilate Hannibal.

                         After the end of Fabius’s term, Romans once again attempted to fight and finish off Hannibal. They raised a massive force consisting of 80,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry, the largest army in Roman history up to that point. The chance for a fight arrived when Hannibal marched into southern Italy and seized a vital supply depot near the town of Cannae. Romans marched towards Cannae and Hannibal waited for them to provide him with the battle he was well prepared for, despite being outnumbered. Hannibal had around 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry at his disposal. All his war elephants had died by then. The two forces met in August 216 BCE and Hannibal won a great victory against a much larger Roman army. Battle of Cannae is considered as a masterpiece of battle tactics and it has earned Hannibal a place in the history as one of the greatest military commanders.  After this victory, Hannibal was exhorted by Maharbal, one of his commanders, to march on Rome but he declined. Maharbal is believed to have then said that Hannibal knew how to win victory but not how to use it. Instead of marching on Rome, Hannibal opted to exploit his victory to break up the Roman Confederation and then march on Rome.

The disaster at Cannae had pushed the Roman Republic to the brink of collapse but the stubborn Romans simply refused to yield even in their darkest hour. They rejected Hannibal’s peace offers and started preparing themselves for the long fight ahead. In this moment of crisis, Romans once again adopted the Fabian strategy. After the Battle of Cannae, most of the city states of southern Italy defected to the Carthaginian cause but all the Latin colonies and central Italy remained loyal to Rome. The expected break up of Roman Confederation did not happen. Rome used its naval superiority to limit reinforcements from Carthage and started rebuilding its own army by lowering recruitment age, enlisting convicts and offering slaves freedom in exchange for serving in the army. Rome displayed an unprecedented ability to absorb defeats which eventually turned the tide of war in its favor.

The Fabian strategy once again gave Romans the time to recoup and they began to wear down the Carthaginians with delaying and harassing tactics. Carthage’s mercenary forces shrank as time went on. Romans also won crucial battles in Spain to thwart Carthaginian attempts to send reinforcements through land route.  In 205 BCE Publius Cornelius Scipio was elected Consul and he convinced the Senate to allow him to invade Africa and take the war to Carthage. By the year 203 BCE, Publius Cornelius Scipio was at the doorsteps of Carthage and Hannibal was recalled from Italy to defend Carthage.   Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal and the Roman forces led by Publius Cornelius Scipio fought the decisive battle of the Second Punic War at Zama in the year 202 BCE. The opposing forces were equal in number (around 40,000 men) but the Roman cavalry was superior in number and training.  Publius Cornelius Scipio won an impressive victory at Zama forcing the Carthaginians to sue for peace. Carthage ceded Spain to Rome, surrendered most of its warships and started paying a 50-year indemnity to Rome. Scipio was awarded the surname Africanus for his victories in North Africa. Victory in the Second Punic War made Rome the unchallenged master of the Mediterranean.