Editing Hannibal (section)

===Hannibal's retreat in Italy===
[[File:ScipioAfricanusSulla.jpg|thumb|upright|A bust of doubtful provenance, possibly of [[Scipio Africanus]], and originally from the [[Tomb of the Scipios]]]]
In March 212&nbsp;BC, Hannibal [[Battle of Tarentum (212 BC)|captured]] [[Taranto|Tarentum]] in a surprise attack but he failed to obtain control of its harbor. The tide was slowly turning against him, and in favor of Rome.

The Roman consuls mounted a [[Battle of Capua|siege of Capua]] in 212 BC. Hannibal attacked them, forcing their withdrawal from Campania. He moved to Lucania and destroyed a 16,000-man Roman army at the [[Battle of the Silarus]], with 15,000 Romans killed. Another opportunity presented itself soon after, a Roman army of 18,000 men being destroyed by Hannibal at the [[Battle of Herdonia (212 BC)|first battle of Herdonia]] with 16,000 Romans dead, freeing Apulia from the Romans for the year. The Roman consuls mounted another [[Battle of Capua (211 BC)|siege of Capua]] in 211&nbsp;BC, conquering the city. 

Hannibal's attempt to lift the siege with an assault on the Roman siege lines failed. He marched on Rome to force the recall of the Roman armies. He drew off 15,000 Roman soldiers, but the siege continued and Capua fell. In 212 BC, Marcellus [[Siege of Syracuse (213–212 BC)|conquered]] Syracuse and the Romans destroyed the Carthaginian army in Sicily in 211–210 BC. In 210 BC, the Romans entered into an alliance with the [[Aetolian League]] to counter [[Philip V of Macedon]]. Philip, who attempted to exploit Rome's preoccupation in Italy to conquer [[Illyria]], now found himself under attack from several sides at once and was quickly subdued by Rome and her Greek allies.

In 210&nbsp;BC, Hannibal again proved his superiority in tactics by inflicting a severe defeat at the [[Battle of Herdonia (210 BC)|Battle of Herdonia]] (modern [[Ordona]]) in Apulia upon a [[proconsul]]ar army and, in 208&nbsp;BC, destroyed a Roman force engaged in the siege of [[Locri]] at the [[Battle of Petelia]]. But with the loss of Tarentum in 209&nbsp;BC and the gradual reconquest by the Romans of [[Samnium]] and [[Lucania]], his hold on south Italy was almost lost. 

In 207&nbsp;BC, he succeeded in making his way again into Apulia, where he waited to concert measures for a combined march upon Rome with his brother [[Hasdrubal Barca|Hasdrubal]]. On hearing of his brother's defeat and death at the [[battle of the Metaurus]], he retired to [[Calabria]], where he maintained himself for the ensuing years. His brother's head had been cut off, carried across Italy, and tossed over the palisade of Hannibal's camp as a cold message of the iron-clad will of the Roman Republic. 

The combination of these events marked the end to Hannibal's success in Italy. With the failure of his brother Mago in [[Liguria]] (205–203&nbsp;BC) and of his own negotiations with Phillip V, the last hope of recovering his ascendancy in Italy was lost. In 203&nbsp;BC, after nearly fifteen years of fighting in Italy and with the military fortunes of Carthage rapidly declining, Hannibal was recalled to Carthage to direct the defense of his native country against a Roman invasion under [[Scipio Africanus]].

{{anchor|Conclusion of the Second Punic War}}