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