User blog:Goddess of Despair/Season 4 battle 1 Hannibal Barca vs Spartacus



Utter noob's season 4 begins as two of Rome's greatest enemies face off. Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian commander who's army of elephants terrorized Rome, takes on Spartacus, the fearless gladiator rebel. Who will win? Who will die? Who is deadliest? To find out our wikians are testing history's most lethal weapons. No rules, no safety, no mercy. Its a duel to the death to decide who is the deadliest warrior!

Backround
Origin-Carthage.

Activites-Trying to take down Rome.

History-Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca[n 1] (247–183 or 182 BC)[n 2] was a Carthaginian military commander and tactician. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest military commanders in recorded history. His father, Hamilcar Barca, was the leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War, his younger brothers were Mago and Hasdrubal, and he was brother-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair. Hannibal lived during a period of great tension in the Mediterranean, when the Roman Republic established its supremacy over other great powers such as Carthage, the Hellenistic kingdoms of Macedon, Syracuse, and the Seleucid empire. One of his most famous achievements was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy. In his first few years in Italy, he won three dramatic victories — Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae — and won over many allies of Rome. Hannibal occupied much of Italy for 15 years, but a Roman counter-invasion of North Africa forced him to return to Carthage, where he was decisively defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama. Scipio had studied Hannibal's tactics and brilliantly devised some of his own, and finally defeated Rome's nemesis at Zama having previously driven Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother, out of the Iberian Peninsula. After the war, Hannibal successfully ran for the office of suffete. He enacted political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome. However, Hannibal's reforms were unpopular with members of the Carthaginian aristocracy and in Rome, and he fled into voluntary exile. During this time, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as military adviser to Antiochus III in his war against Rome. After Antiochus met defeat at Magnesia and was forced to accept Rome's terms, Hannibal fled again, making a stop in Armenia. His flight ended in the court of Bithynia, where he achieved an outstanding naval victory against a fleet from Pergamum. He was afterwards betrayed to the Romans and commited suicide by poisoning himself. Often regarded as the greatest military tactician and strategist in European history, Hannibal would later be considered one of the greatest generals of antiquity, together with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Scipio, and Pyrrhus of Epirus. Plutarch states that, when questioned by

Scipio as to who was the greatest general, Hannibal is said to have replied either Alexander or

Pyrrhus, then himself, or, according to another version of the event, Pyrrhus, Scipio, then himself. Military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge once famously called Hannibal the "father of strategy", because his greatest enemy, Rome, came to adopt elements of his military tactics in its own strategic arsenal. This praise has earned him a strong reputation in the modern world, and he was regarded as a "great strategist" by men like Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington.

Backround
Origin-Ancient Rome.

Activities-Leading slaves in the Thrid Seville war.

History-Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator, who along with the Gauls Crixus, Oenomaus, Castus and Gannicus was one of the slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable. All sources agree that he was a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader.

Voting/battle information
The battle will be a 7 on 7, no elephants or horses will take part in the battle. The battle will take place in a meadow. Voting is in the form of points, 2 points for edges or a descriptive paragraph. 1 point for a decent paragraph and 0 for one word or one sentence. Voting ends 2/16/2013.