Hankow

han'kow', a Chinese city. It is situated on the Yang-tse-Kiang River, at the head of deep water navigation, 688 miles from the sea. It is near the center of China proper and is noted for its tea trade. The annual exportation of tea is not far from 120,000,000 pounds. The Chinese government has granted permission to the British, Germans, French, and Russians to form settlements within the city, the inhabitants of which are exempted from the laws of China, being governed by their own consuls. The population is estimated at 800,000.

Hannibal (247-183 B. C.), a Carthaginian general. He was the son of Hamilcar Barca, the hero of the First Punic War. At the age of nine, standing at the family altar, he swore eternal hatred to the Romans. He followed his father in his campaign in Spain, using his leisure in the meantime to read Greek literature. AT the age of twenty-six he took command of the Carthaginian army in Spain and carried on his father's work. He extended the Carthaginian frontier to the River Ebro. The ancient Greek colony of Saguntum was situated near the coast. This city he proceeded to besiege with a large army. Saguntum applied to the Romans for aid. Rome sent a demand to Carthage that Hannibal and his army be recalled from Spain. Upon a refusal Rome declared the Second Punic War. One Roman consul was sent toward Spain, the other was dispatched leisurely to wrest Sicily from the Carthaginians. Hannibal surprised his enemies by an audacious invasion of Italy. He crossed the Ebro with 80,000 troops, forced his way over the Pyrenees, traversed the valley of the Rhone, and scattered the Gallic tribes that attempted to impede his progress. He entered the valley of the Po by way, it is thought, of the Little St. Bernard. This march is considered one of the military feats of history. Only 26,000 of his troops reached Italy. "Emaciated scarecrows" they were called. The bones of the remainder were scattered over the plains of southern France or lay amid the snows of the Pyrenees and the Alps. With this small force of soldiers, each man a trained fighter, Hannibal fell upon and destroyed one Roman army at the ford of the Ticinus and another at the Trebia. His former opponents, the Gauls, now came to his standard.

The next spring Hannibal surprised a Roman army at Lake Trasimene; 40,000 Romans, caught in a blinding mist, were annihilated. Then Hannibal proceeded to devastate Italy with fire and sword. He was inventive. He was the first person to use the African elephant in European warfare. The Romans were utterly unable to stand before a charging line of these huge animals. At one time he won a victory by binding masses of wild grape vines between the horns of oxen. The vines were then set on fire, and the infuriated animals were driven charging through a pass into the ranks of the Romans. The Carthaginian soldiers followed in their wake, gaining an easy victory. He maintained a large army for years without help from home, living entirely on the plunder of the enemy. For an account of the way in which his movements were delayed, rather than impeded, the reader is referred to the article on FABIUS. The Romans called Fabius "Laggard," but he was not to be turned from his policy "to wear out Hannibal and to gain breathing time for Rome."

The next season, the Romans raised an army of 90,000 men. New consuls were put in command. Hannibal met them in a pitched battle at Cannae. It is described as "a carnival of cold steel-a butchery, not a battle." Sixty thousand Romans fell; 20,000 were taken prisoners. To their credit, be it said, a fourth of the senate perished in the ranks. Hannibal sent home a bushel of gold rings taken from the hands of Roman nobles who fell on the field of battle.

Hannibal's famous march and his early campaigns in Italy have won for him the reputation of being one of the greatest soldiers the world has known. Able as he was, the trend of events was against him, however. Carthage did not give him sufficient support by sea, while the Romans put forth almost superhuman efforts. An army of 250,000 Roman troops was put into the field. While yet carrying on the struggle with Hannibal the invasion of Sicily was pressed forward. Syracuse was besieged and captured. Through Roman diplomacy, the tribes of Italy failed to rally around Hannibal. The people of the Mediterranean refused to overthrow Rome.

Although at one time Hannibal's forces were at the very gates of Rome, his fortunes began to wane. Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal, the second son of Hamilcar Barca, was expected to bring assistance from Spain. He followed the route of Hannibal's march, and appeared in northern Italy with 56,000 recruits and eleven elephants. By the capture of a messenger, the Romans learned of his approach before it was known to Hannibal. Leaving a small force in front of the latter, the Romans fell upon Hasdrubal's army and crushed it. It is said that the first positive information that Hannibal had of Hasdrubal's approach was the bloody head of his brother hurled with contempt into his camp.

The Romans now sent Scipio "to carry the war into Africa." Hannibal was recalled from Italy to defend his native city. He fought and lost the battle of Zama, the only battle, it is said, in which he was ever worsted. The Carthaginians now sued for peace. This series of campaigns, known as the Second Punic War, lasted from 218 to 202 B. C., a period of sixteen years. It resulted most disastrously to Hannibal's ambition. Carthage was forced to surrender Spain, the islands of the western Mediterranean, all of her war elephants, all but ten of her warships, and agreed to pay an enormous war indemnity.

Hannibal went to Ephesus to the court of Antiochus the Great. He is accused of stirring this monarch up to hostilities against the Romans. However that may be, Antiochus was defeated. The Romans stipulated that Hannibal should be surrendered. He fled from one court to another, ever pursued by Roman gold and Roman hate. Finally, in order to prevent his betrayal into the hands of his lifelong enemies, this great soldier committed suicide, taking poison which he had long concealed in a ring for the purpose.

Hannibal was a man of learning and ability-a military genius. Although our chief sources of information are the colored estimates left by Roman writers who hated him above all men, his character appears to have been singularly generous and noble, free from the petty vices and spites of his time. Carthage was corrupt and decadent. Hannibal, with all his patriotism and genius, could not revive the fortunes of a sinking city. Cruel as the Romans were, we cannot wish that Carthage had prevailed. Hannibal's career is a pathetic example of a noble life and magnificent energies expended in a declining cause.

See Carthage