The Brutal Tactics of this Roman General Helped Beat Hannibal

Through cunning strategies, Roman general Scipio Africanus began to carve out victories against the powerful armies of Hannibal. But new evidence suggests a third, far more unsavory approach.

[jonsteiner]

There's no context here whatsoever. This was common practice at the time (and in fact for centuries afterward). If a city didn't open its gates to an invading army and instead forced that army to besiege the city, if the army breached the walls, the city would be sacked. That meant the inhabitants would be killed and/or sold as slaves. Alexander and Hannibal did the exact same thing. You can be sure that if Hannibal had ever been able to get his army into Rome, he would have killed everyone in the city and burned Rome to the ground.

Here's an interesting fact about Scipio Africanus. After defeating Hannibal at the battle of Zama, he could have besieged Carthage and ultimately destroyed it and its inhabitants, but he decided not to do it and instead imposed harsh terms on Carthage. It's true that Rome destroyed Carthage in the third Punic War, but Scipio decided not to do it when he had the opportunity.

[TheTrolloman]

I know its not her fault as she probably didn't write the documentary, but I swear the tone of this whole show is that of someone who has never heard of Rome, Its culture, or that of the wider ancient world.

[SIMONP]

I learned a lot about Roman Cleavage.. I mean tactics.. Roman Tactics..

[alfrdo]

If Roman history isn't depicted with squares then I don't care

[MA-vwpl]

Unfortunately, mechanically, destroying the enemy's supply base and lines is the most effective way to weaken and/or destroy and/or eliminate the enemy altogether. Its extremely brutal yet brutally effective...

[philhayhoe]

Shocking how she handled these treasures of antiquity.

[UlpianHeritor]

Genocide, massacres and slavery were common atrocities in the ancient world. This was done not out of malice but out of logistical necessity. People did not have the technology to care for and stabilize masses of people after a conquest. The Romans never took prisoners of war, it was impractical for them to do so, thus they killed them.

[elgeneral]

Every nation has its passage into manhood. America had Yorktown, Canada had Vimy ridge, Britian had waterloo. Rome had the invasion of Carthage. When the carthaginian empire fell, Rome was left to it's own destiny. That's when Rome became Rome.

[bushwhakked]

He was just paying Hannibal back in kind.

[jukeboxhero]

Are her chichis going unnoticed? No, Señor,

[grauchomarx]

Firstly, the Romans did not pronounce the letter C like the Greeks. British historians should really consider consulting Italian sources; the last time I checked Rome is in Italy and Greek and Latin are totally unrelated. Secondly, Scipio did not behave in a manner that was unusual for the age. To somehow argue otherwise is to judge Scipio by the standards of our age rather than the standards of antiquity. I might add that the commentator conveniently forget Hannibal's siege and destruction of Saguntum, which was just as horrible and bloody.

[hfredydl]

Yeah you don’t build an empire like Rome without a little genocide

[-subscriberswithahammerad]

I always loved Roman history, so much info

[josephfarrugia]

Clickbait titles, wild interpretations of archaeological evidence, clueless meanderings....how low have Smithsonian Channel stooped over the years.

[Mark_nobody]

Ancient Hannibal - “They are killing our town!”
Modern Hannibal - “Do you what its time for, History time

[Otter-Destruction]

I always wondered what happened if we brought all of histories greatest generals back from the dead and gave them all modern equipment and see how they would of fared against each other.

[southpaw]

Let’s see- Hannibal invades Italy unprovoked, and politely kills about 100, 000 soldiers while marching south, and doesn’t lay a hand on a single civilian. He asks his government for more money and soldiers so he can politely and humanely destroy Rome.
Later Rome seeks revenge by invading Carthaginian land and they’re committing genocide. Somehow the history here seems a bit lopsided, or possibly missing some details about a bitter war between 2 rivals to make one side seem like they’re minding their own business, and are reluctantly dragged into raising an invading force to obliterate (but nicely) their enemies.

[DirtTherapyDownUnder]

Not sure about Roman weapons but Brit is wielding a couple of weapons i'd like to get hold

[kRobot]

It felt a little disrespectful to come to that site and put on that ring. There was a massacre there by Roman forces, ooh a ring! Let me try it on. Idk, it’s probably just me.

[z]

I don't see how they surmise there was a massacre. Maybe the locals were enlisted in the Roman army or moved out of the town.