Hannibal and the Punic Wars

On the afternoon of Saturday 8th June 2013 I'm coming to London! I'll be hanging out in The George Inn and I'd love for you to come out and talk about history, podcasting, or anything else really. Hannie Kirkham, our guest on Let's Talk episodes, is going to be there, as is Roifield Brown of the How Jamaica Conquered the World podcast (provided he is in the country), and possibly Peter Adamson of The History Of Philosophy podcast. I'll hopefully see you there!

This week we cover Cannae. Need I say more?

This week we see Rome raise her largest military force to date, 8 legions, we see Fabius give some advice to Paullus on how to deal with Varro and Hannibal and we see Hannibal almost trick the Romans. There is a sense of looming disaster, a disaster we shall meet next week at Cannae.

This week sees what happens with two dictators in power at the same time. Hint - it doesn't go well for Rome. Minucius almost gets his army completely destroyed before Fabius saves the day. Fabius then steps down as dictator, the consuls Servillius and Regulus return to power. Elections are then held and Varro and Paullus are announced as consuls for 216.

This week sees Rome get sick of Fabius' defensive strategy. Furious with the lack of progress made in the war, and with reports of a great victory by Minucius Rome appoints Minucius Fabius' co-dictator.

This week we have our second 'Let's Talk' episode; this time our guest is the host of the Twilight Histories Podcast, Jordan Harbour. Jordan and I venture into Alternative History and imagine what would happen if Carthage had won the Punic Wars. We muse over the fate of Italy without Rome, civil war at Carthage, a Carthaginian monarchy with Hannibal as king, the effects of Carthage meddling with the Jews, who would win a fight between Hannibal and Philip V of Macedon, how Europe would cope against the Huns without Rome, and of course the inevitable Buddhist Europe. Want to know how we get there, you have only to listen!

This week we are finished with breaks for the moment and get back into the action. We look at what happened when Mancinus tries to kill some Numidian horsemen and when Fabius manages to trap Hannibal in Campania. Hint: neither goes well for Rome. I also give a lengthy explanation of why Fabius was not a great general, as well as announce the creation of the TheHistoryOf Podcast Store!

Happy new year everybody! This week we look at what happened after Trasimene. We see the reaction at Rome to the news and watch Quintus Fabius Maximus be appointed Dictator and Minucius his Master of Horse. We then see Fabius's plan for the war; to avoid battle.

This week we bring the narrative up to the second great battle of the Second Punic War, the Battle of Lake Trasimene. We look at Gaius Flaminius Nepos, evaluate whether he was perhaps competent, follow the crossing of the Arno and examine how Hannibal executed one of the most successful ambushes in world history. We also close out the podcast for 2012, I'll see you next year!

This week we mostly go back to the norm. We have a round up of last week, going over future plans for 'Let's Talk' episodes and the book. After this we take a look at what happened after the Trebia, the sacking of Victumulae, Hannibal's use of wigs and his abortive attempt to cross the Apennines.