Great Roman Generals of the 2nd Punic War

[Derek522055]

It is a common belief to say that Scipio Africanus, or Publius Cornelius Scipio "the Younger" was the greatest general of the 2nd Punic War. I believe otherwise and Authors of books on the Subject also do not believe so. Let me go into detail about who i believe were Romes Saviors during the war with Hannibal.


Scipio conducted his campaign in Spain with the mind of a brilliant general, not a great one. After Scipio defeated Hasdrubal Barca in Southern Spain, he allowed Hasdrubal to escape. This was a mistake which made him unpopular in Rome and he could have caught Hasdrubal too.

Hasdrubal re-formed his forces and moved into Italy. At this time in the war Rome was as afraid of Hasdrubal as it was Hannibal. This was Scipio's mistake. He had allowed Hadrubal to re-form and march into italy full of African, Spanish, and Gallic forces. These were the men Hannibal had used to defeat the Romans and truly, were the best of the Carthaginian Army.




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This concludes my session about the Greatest Roman Generals of the 2nd Punic War.

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Good post, I enjoyed reading it..."The Sword and Shield of Rome" (Fabius/Marcellus) are always very interesting to research, compare and contrast. And like you stated Rome had capable generals that deserve recognition for what they did, particularly the speed of which Nero accomplished destroying Hasdrubal Barca, and then being the first to tell Hannibal about it.

I just want to address this point mainly of Scipio. Hasdrubal, Mago and Hasdrubal Gisgo were all in Spain at the time with full strength armies. Scipio realized that to chase Hasdrubal Barca would be to potentially lead himself into the full force of the Carthaginian armies and ultimately be crushed by their weight. This fear was realized mere days later when Gisgo and Mago converged on Scipio's position. Scipio beat up Hasdrubal Barca to the point that it took 2 years in Gaul recruiting before Hasdrubal Barca was even able to attempt to link up with Hannibal in Italy. Scipio's ability as a strategist also made him realize leaving his base of operations in Spain in Cartagena would be a huge mistake. Since he was resupplying himself and not the Senate it was his only means of conducting war.

Despite popular modern historians looking for a way to discredit the move, Scipio's move was extremely shrewd and calculated. For had he chased Hasdrubal he risked being totally enveloped by the bulk of the Carthaginian armies in Spain. While Nero is deserving of his credit for utterly destroying Hasdrubal Barca's relief army, let us not pretend that it included the same 25,000 veterans Hannibal's employed at Zama against Scipio, or the same amount of African regulars Hasdrubal had in Spain when facing Scipio. They were not "the best" of the Carthaginian armies, a great quantity were new Gallic levies.