Hannibal spends the winter.
You have changed History! This time, you may have even improved it.
By choosing to cross the Apennines, Hannibal made one of his few bad decisions.
Winter had come so heavily that these mountains were worse to cross than
the Alps. He lost all but one of his elephants, and eventually ended
up turning back. Had he not gone here, he would have had more men
and elephants for the spring assault. This is what he should have
done, but instead... Scroll down. You made the
same decision that Hannibal did, and it cost you both. Because of
the terrible winter in the Apennines, he lost many men and all but one
of his elephants. He ended up having to return to the Po valley and
spend his winter there anyway, so it was all for naught. It was an
uneasy season, and emotionally taxing on Hannibal and his men. When
the spring of 216 BC came 'round, the Carthaginian army was not as powerful
as it might have been, and future events may have been foreordained.
216 was an interesting year, as you shall see from his next choice. Having survived
the winter, Hannibal moved south to pressure Rome itself. He found
a morass of swamps below the Arno River that made his progress slow.
He labored forward, always with one thought on his mind: Destroy Rome. The Romans had held another election,
and the consul now assigned to pursue Hannibal was named Flaminius.
Here was another individual with unfulfilled ambitions. Often, in
Rome, a high-ranking official might become wealthy and powerful, but feel
less of a man if he had not led the army to some glorious victory.
The triumph that followed was a great celebration that placed the
hero in the contemporary history books, and was often considered the pinnacle
of a man's career. Flaminius greatly desired such glory, and so he
moved north with his army in eager anticipation. Hannibal had reached Lake Thrasymene.
Here was a narrow pass where the lake comes directly to the foot of the
mountain. From his camp on the north side of the pass, Hannibal could
clearly see the approaching Roman army. Once again, his heart leapt
with the anticipation of battle. His excitement was heightened by
the knowledge that Flaminius would probably jump at the wrong opportunity
for attack, and once again leave Hannibal victorious. All he had
to do, was make the right decision. Would you?