Hannibal is for many people the only thing of Carthage that people are familiar with, for most the great city state of Carthage is completely unknown, it is forgotten, lost in the mists of time. By the time of Hannibal's birth, Carthage had fallen on hard times. They had been defeated in the First Punic War against the Roman Republic. The loss devastated the Carthaginians who before the war had being the dominant force in the Western Mediterranean. The Romans imposed harsh terms upon Carthage, including seizing the provinces of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca was the Carthaginian general who was charged with the task of restoring prestige by invading the Iberian peninsula in 237 BCE. Hannibal, at the tender age of eleven accompanied him and began learning the trade of war. In 221 BCE. Hannibal assumed command of the Carthage armies in Hispania, made ground and rose the old enemy, Rome, thus beginning the Second Punic War in 218 BCE. Hannibal was in no mood to sit around waiting for the onslaught, he brought the war to Rome, fighting his way through the Pyrenees, subduing the local tribes there.
