Hannibal's Effect on Roman History
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- Date Submitted: 01/29/2015 08:59 PM
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Apart from his notable achievement on crossing the Pyrenees and the Alps from Iberia to northern Italy, Hannibal is remember for other impacts that he had on the history of Rome.
One of these was the impact on the Italian economy. After Hannibal’s defeat in the Second Punic War, many Italian peasants lost their small holdings, either due to the ravages of war or from neglect due to long military service. These peasants moved to the Rome to find employment and their influx was instrumental in the urbanization of the city. Hannibal affected traditional Roman society in other ways, one example being the laws regarding woman’s moral behavior which were introduced around this time.
Carthaginians, and some Greeks captured in the War were utilized as slaves by wealthy aristocrats who, now having at their disposal large numbers of slaves, bought up the devastated countryside at low prices, and used the slaves to farm it. The presence of slaves from other countries also provided increased interest by the Romans in foreign cultures.
Hannibal’s impact on Roman military tactics was twofold. Carthage’s military dominance at sea forced the Romans to learn new ways of fighting. In an attempt to improve on Carthage’s naval strategy, which they had copied, the Romans invented the corvus, a boarding device used in naval warfare. However, the boarding platform proved very unstable in rough seas, and after the loss of two entire Roman fleets (Wallinga, 1956) in 255BC and 249BC, the device was abandoned. However, the Roman’s burgeoning adeptness as a sea power, opened up to them the possibility of trade all over the Mediterranean, something they were not able to do before.
2.
The fear engendered by Hannibal’s campaign ensured changes to the Roman Senate, giving military leaders a greater voice, and ensuring Senators’ increased prestige, wealth and power because of Hannibal’s defeat. The Romans had such a fear of Hannibal as a military leader that, seven years after...
Apart from his notable achievement on crossing the Pyrenees and the Alps from Iberia to northern Italy, Hannibal is remember for other impacts that he had on the history of Rome.
One of these was the impact on the Italian economy. After Hannibal’s defeat in the Second Punic War, many Italian peasants lost their small holdings, either due to the ravages of war or from neglect due to long military service. These peasants moved to the Rome to find employment and their influx was instrumental in the urbanization of the city. Hannibal affected traditional Roman society in other ways, one example being the laws regarding woman’s moral behavior which were introduced around this time.
Carthaginians, and some Greeks captured in the War were utilized as slaves by wealthy aristocrats who, now having at their disposal large numbers of slaves, bought up the devastated countryside at low prices, and used the slaves to farm it. The presence of slaves from other countries also provided increased interest by the Romans in foreign cultures.
Hannibal’s impact on Roman military tactics was twofold. Carthage’s military dominance at sea forced the Romans to learn new ways of fighting. In an attempt to improve on Carthage’s naval strategy, which they had copied, the Romans invented the corvus, a boarding device used in naval warfare. However, the boarding platform proved very unstable in rough seas, and after the loss of two entire Roman fleets (Wallinga, 1956) in 255BC and 249BC, the device was abandoned. However, the Roman’s burgeoning adeptness as a sea power, opened up to them the possibility of trade all over the Mediterranean, something they were not able to do before.
2.
The fear engendered by Hannibal’s campaign ensured changes to the Roman Senate, giving military leaders a greater voice, and ensuring Senators’ increased prestige, wealth and power because of Hannibal’s defeat. The Romans had such a fear of Hannibal as a military leader that, seven years after...