Hannibal the Great On Hannibal's Trail


Hannibal the Great

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We're on a ten-week journey...

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cycling 3,500km

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on the trail of the great Carthaginian warrior, Hannibal.

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Over 2,000 years ago, Hannibal marched his army from the south of Spain,

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across the Alps and into Italy.

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He launched a spectacular assault on the heart of Roman power.

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Hannibal's brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, were his generals.

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I'm Danny Wood, I'm a journalist.

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And like Hannibal, I'm travelling with my brothers.

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Ben, a computer expert,

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and Sam, an archaeologist.

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Hannibal marched with over 100,000 soldiers...armed with swords,

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spears...and 37 elephants.

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ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

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-We're armed with three bikes...

-Three tents...

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And a bike cam.

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In the last 29 days, we've cycled 1,600km

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from Cartagena in Spain through southern France and across the Alps.

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Now we're heading for some of the bloodiest battlefields in history

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and following Hannibal's trail on the long, hard road to Rome.

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Week five of our journey, and we're having an easy ride through Piacenza in northern Italy.

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But for Hannibal, in 218 BC, this was hostile territory.

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He knew he was about to face the Romans in battle on their home turf.

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And the Carthaginian army was far from fighting fit.

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Hannibal's men were exhausted and emaciated with hunger

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and they were about to confront a disciplined, well-equipped and highly motivated professional army.

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The Romans would fight to the death to defend their homeland.

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Before his first battle with the Romans, Hannibal gathered his entire army together.

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He wanted to spur them on with a vivid lesson about bravery and the rewards of victory.

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Hannibal lined up all the prisoners he'd taken in battle and offered them the chance to win their freedom.

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All they had to do, he said, was fight each other to the death in single combat.

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The victors would be given a horse and arms and set free.

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Hannibal's men cheered on hundreds of raw and bloody struggles for survival.

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After the slaughter, the winners rode away in freedom.

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Those who refused to fight had chosen slavery.

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They were forced to bury the dead.

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When the bloody spectacle was over, Hannibal turned to his men and hit his message home.

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Hannibal was one of history's great communicators.

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If his men fought well and triumphed, he said liberty, Rome and all its riches would be theirs.

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If they died heroically in battle, they would be spared further suffering.

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But if they refused to fight, then they too would spend the rest of their lives in slavery.

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We're cycling along the river Trebbia.

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The ancient Greek and Roman historians Polybius and Livy

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tell us that Hannibal's first major battle with the Romans

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took place in 218 BC on 21st December -

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the winter solstice.

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Hannibal set up camp on this bank of the river.

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The Romans, on the other side.

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The Carthaginians had fewer troops but Hannibal's strategic genius would give them an advantage.

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The night before the battle, Hannibal sent his brother Mago

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along with a small troop to hide along the banks of the Trebbia.

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His battle plan was already unfolding.

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Early the next morning, long before the Romans even had time to have breakfast,

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Hannibal sent his crack troops, the Numidian cavalry, across the river to provoke them.

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The Romans took the bait and chased the Numidian cavalry back to the river.

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They were unprepared for battle, but now the Roman infantry

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started to wade across the freezing river in full armour.

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Back then it would have been much deeper.

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They'd have been up to their armpits in icy water.

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When they got to the other side, the Romans were frozen to the bone,

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almost incapable of holding their weapons.

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Hannibal had already reduced his enemy to shivering wrecks and the battle hadn't even started.

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Unlike the Romans, the men in Hannibal's camp had eaten breakfast and were well rested.

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They'd been sitting by campfires and warming up their muscles with olive oil and grease.

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When the Romans emerged from the river, the Carthaginians were ready for them.

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Hannibal arranged his foot soldiers in a vast line of 20,000 men.

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10,000 cavalry and 37 elephants took their places at the sides.

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This must have been an impressive sight. An army formation three miles long.

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The Romans faced Hannibal with a similar formation.

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36,000 infantry in the centre and 4,000 cavalry on each wing.

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Then...

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battle began.

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It was a battle of thrusting swords, flying javelins,

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pounding hooves and terrifying elephant charges.

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The Roman cavalry was quickly crushed

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and the Carthaginian cavalry started charging the Roman infantry.

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Now, Mago and his men sprang out from their hiding places by the river.

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No chance to retreat, the Roman infantry found themselves surrounded.

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THEY LAUGH

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That got him.

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Urrgh...

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Hannibal won the Battle of Trebbia using the terrain and the weather to his advantage.

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He'd also came up with a perfect combination of strategy and tactics,

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using both provocation and surprise and clinching his plan with an ambush.

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This was Rome's first real taste of Hannibal's military genius.

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30,000 Roman soldiers were slaughtered at Trebbia.

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News of the crushing defeat was soon sending waves of panic around the Roman Republic.

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And Hannibal's great victory also persuaded more local tribes to rally to his cause.

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This was a disaster for Rome.

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But Hannibal had suffered losses too.

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And according to the Greek historian Polybius,

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all but one of Hannibal's elephants perished in the cold weather that followed the battle.

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Right at the start of Hannibal's campaign in Italy, he'd lost his mighty weapons of terror.

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Hannibal's victory has never been forgotten by the people of this region.

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-Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

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Buongiorno.

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So why is your wine named after Hannibal?

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HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

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And is it a popular name in Italy?

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-Great.

-Yes!

-Yes!

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To Hannibal!

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-Buono?

-Si, buono. Very good.

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Could I have two bottles, please?

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Va bene. Non c'e' problema.

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Le do due bottiglie!

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Perfect. Thank you.

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As he marched deeper into Roman territory,

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Hannibal liked to gather intelligence by travelling incognito.

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He used to dress up in a range of disguises to avoid being spotted.

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Polybius tells us that Hannibal even had a number of wigs made and kept constantly changing them.

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He also changed his clothes so that even his troops found it difficult to recognise him.

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The Romans were now desperately trying to predict Hannibal's next move.

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They sent legions to block the two main roads heading south.

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But Hannibal never did anything predictable.

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He decided to take the road nobody would ever expect.

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Across the marshes.

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We've been given special permission to continue our journey through

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one of the last surviving areas of ancient marshland in Italy.

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HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

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And is it dangerous?

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-We're going to try this on our bikes, I think.

-Hmm.

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We'll see you when we're drowning.

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-Good luck.

-Thanks.

-Ciao.

-Bye.

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You go first, Danny.

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Yeah. Sending big brother first when the going gets tough.

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Hurry up, Danny.

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This was one of the hardest stretches for Hannibal's army.

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For four days and three nights they had to force their way through reedy marshes.

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This must have been hard on the troops.

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Their feet constantly wet and no chance of sleep or rest.

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After only a few minutes in these conditions, I'm knackered.

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And these men didn't stop for days.

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Hannibal himself got sick and caught an eye infection here.

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He had to be carried for much of the journey by the sole surviving elephant.

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Hannibal had outwitted the Romans again.

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But it came at a huge personal cost.

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He lost the sight in one of his eyes.

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Lake Trasimene in central Italy.

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About 200km from Rome.

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When Hannibal arrived here in 217 BC, he knew he was

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being followed by two legions, led by a general called Flaminius.

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So Hannibal decided to catch him out.

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The approach to the lake was a gorge that led to a very narrow path

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that went alongside the shore for two or three kilometres.

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The shore of the lake has changed so much since Hannibal's time

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that today it's very hard to imagine that it was a thin trail.

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On 20th June, the Carthaginian army marched along the side of the lake.

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Hannibal then took up position here on top of this hill to ensure that Flaminius would see him.

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Flaminius set up camp just outside the entrance of the gorge, ready to attack the following day.

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During the night, Hannibal quietly divided his men into several troops

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and ranged them on the hills above the lake.

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Hannibal's men hid in the bushes, waiting for the signal to attack.

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The next day was the summer solstice.

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At dawn, the Roman army advanced into the gorge.

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A thick mist was rising from the lake, obscuring the shoreline.

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The Roman army started making its way through the gorge while Hannibal's troops silently waited.

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When the bulk of the Roman army was on this path by the shore, Hannibal gave the signal.

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The Carthaginian infantry swept down the hill.

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At the same time, the cavalry closed off the escape route at the entrance to the gorge.

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The Romans didn't know what had hit them.

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Attacked on all fronts, many tried to escape to the lake.

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But, weighed down by their armour, they drowned or were massacred by Hannibal's men.

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The battle was so fierce that the soldiers didn't even notice

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a violent earthquake that hit as the lake turned the colour of blood.

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In the space of three hours, the Romans lost 15,000 men,

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including Flaminius himself.

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The memory of the battle lives on to this day.

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-Buongiorno, senora.

-Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

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HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

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As the first rumours of the defeat at Trasimene reached the city of Rome,

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the people gathered in panic on the streets.

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The senior magistrate addressed the masses in the Forum and conceded,

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"There has been a great battle, but we have been defeated."

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Hannibal's next stop would surely be Rome.

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The Roman Senate took extreme measures.

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For one of the rare times in the history of the Republic,

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they appointed a political leader with unlimited powers,

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a dictator - Quintus Fabius Maximus.

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Fabius was an experienced general and a clever politician.

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He devised a completely new strategy for beating Hannibal.

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He decided to play a long game.

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Fabius decided that if the Roman army avoided meeting Hannibal in full combat,

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he wouldn't have the chance to defeat them again.

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Instead, Fabius would send his troops to follow Hannibal

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and prevent him from getting at food and supplies.

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Fabius's strategy earned him the nickname Fabian the Great Delayer.

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But he also ordered a scorched earth policy wherever Hannibal was likely to pass looking for food.

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This tactic was known as kicking the enemy in the stomach.

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-Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

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-We're very hungry. We were wondering if we could have some pizza?

-Si, si.

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Thank you.

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OK. OK.

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THEY LAUGH

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Oh, that's stretched it.

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Do I just shove it in and shove it out? Basically pull it? OK.

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Don't throw my pizza in the fire.

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Here it comes.

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It's quite a good shape.

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How to get it off?

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So which pizza is the best, do you think?

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HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

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Oh, your one. Of course.

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Of course.

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Seriously good.

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-Much better.

-Yeah.

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Fabius played cat and mouse with Hannibal month after month,

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always keeping him on the move

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but never openly challenging him in battle.

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Hannibal decided to strike out for the Adriatic coast

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to find shelter and security for the winter.

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But his plans were discovered by Fabius's spies.

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The quickest way to get across the mountains to the Adriatic coast

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was through a valley known as the Valley of Callicula.

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Fabius decided to adopt some of Hannibal's own tactics.

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Fabius posted 4,000 men at the entrance to the Valley of Callicula.

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They waited to ambush Hannibal's army.

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But Hannibal was always two steps ahead of the Romans.

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He anticipated the trap and devised his own plan to outmanoeuvre Fabius.

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Hannibal ordered his men to collect dry sticks and bind them into torches.

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These torches were then attached to the horns of 2,000 oxen,

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and late that night the torches were lit

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and the oxen were driven up here, to the high ground above the pass.

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When the Roman soldiers saw the passing flames,

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they thought the Carthaginian army was escaping to the hills - so they charged after them.

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Down in the pass, the way was now clear.

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Hannibal's army passed through the Valley of Callicula with no opposition.

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Once they arrived at the Adriatic coast, Hannibal and his troops settled down for the winter.

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We know a great deal about Hannibal's tactics in battle, but next to nothing about his private life.

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But it's said that at this time he had a winter love affair with a woman from this area.

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It must have been quite a passion as people were still talking about it centuries later.

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While Hannibal was falling in love, his troops were taking a well-earned rest.

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We've been on the road for six weeks now and we're ready for a bit of a break ourselves.

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It's like being in a Wild West movie.

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I'm going to be an Italian stallion.

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The best thing is I can't see myself. I might be in for a shock.

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-Very good?

-Very good.

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-OK.

-Nice.

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-Bene?

-Si. Va bene. Grazie.

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-Thank you.

-OK.

-Grazie.

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It looks quite nice. A different style.

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Looks a bit like Mum's.

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LAUGHTER

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-Goodbye.

-Goodbye. Thanks. Ciao.

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In the summer of 216 BC, the Romans were ready to go into battle with Hannibal once again.

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They'd recruited the largest army they'd ever had - about 80,000 soldiers.

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They now outnumbered Hannibal's forces by almost two to one.

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On 2nd August, the two armies faced each other here, at Cannae.

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To avoid another Carthaginian ambush, the Romans decided to fight on this huge open plain.

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They arranged their troops in a formation which would have stretched

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all the way from the river, over there, for almost four kilometres.

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Hannibal could see that the Roman army was much bigger than his,

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so to avoid any risk of being surrounded, he stretched his troops

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into a long, thin, curved line protruding towards the enemy.

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Then battle commenced.

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After hours of fierce fighting, Hannibal's thin front line began to give in the centre.

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The Romans thought they had the upper hand at last.

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But this was exactly what Hannibal wanted them to believe,

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because just either side of his front line, he placed his crack troops - his African heavy infantry.

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The Roman army had been drawn into a trap yet again.

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As the Roman legionaries struggled to fight off the heavy infantry,

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Hannibal's cavalry charged them from behind.

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Now the Romans were completely surrounded.

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What followed was a massacre

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and the Roman army was annihilated.

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Thousands of Roman soldiers were hacked down and left to bleed to death.

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This field was soon covered with mutilated corpses in a sea of blood.

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Cannae is one of the bloodiest battles ever fought.

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Rome lost around 70,000 men.

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It was the largest loss of life in a single day of battle in the history of the world.

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Hannibal had been terrorising Rome for two years now.

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In that time, he'd slaughtered about 100,000 Roman soldiers and one third of the Roman Senate.

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Every Roman household was in mourning.

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Unlike any other enemy in its history, Hannibal had brought Rome to the brink of destruction.

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In the next programme...

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..we make a sacrifice to the gods,

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Hannibal reaches the gates of Rome,

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and the fate of an entire civilisation is decided in one final battle.

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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