Independent Study Fair Project Reports
Oberlin, Ohio

 
Graham
Hannibal the Conqueror

(click the title to see a sampling of Graham's Powerpoint presentation.
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Independent Study Project Experience: 3rd

Project Description: my isp is the study of Hannibal the conqueror a great war leader who lead the Carthaginians to victory over the romans. He did great things as a leader

Primary Product: Powerpoint Presentation

Define your project: a power point presentation is a slide show about your isp topic it is full of information

Objectives I did:
1 - I wrote a report
2 - I read a book
3 - I looked up lots of information on the internet

Other objectives I will do:
1 - I plan to draw a picture of Hannibal
2 - I plan to make a back drop
3 - I plan to make a Powerpoint
4 - I plan to make a poem about Hannibal

 

This year for my independent study project I chose Hannibal the Conqueror. Hannibal the Conqueror was the man that had his army cross the impossible river to cross and he crossed the Alps one of the highest mountains in the world. That was a little background about Hannibal. I think I selected this topic because I was told about Hannibal a few years ago. I never really thought about him much until this year in social studies. Now that I think about he was a great leader and I wanted to learn a lot more about him. So I chose him for my project.

As time went on I hoped to learn where Hannibal was from and how he crossed the Ebro River. I also would like to learn how he crossed the Alps with his army of 33,000 soldiers and 37 elephants. I actually didn't learn all I wanted to. I just wasn't satisfied with the information I got. I don't know why. All of the things turned out as I expected them to.

To gain the information I had to research. I did very productive research. I read books. I read articles on the internet. Whenever or whatever I learned I wrote down on a fact card. I think the information I gained was helpful to me. The things that were difficult were finding good web sites. Most of the web sites were about the Hannibal the Conqueror movie coming out soon.

Hannibal had a good life. He was the king's son so he had riches and even from a young age he was taught to hate the Romans. His father Hamilicar Barca taught him this. At Hannibal's age he did not think about delivering Carthage his homeland from the Romans. When Hannibal was 18 his father Hamilicar died in a battle. So Hannibal's brother in law became king. Then 3 years later Hasbrudal was assassinated. Finally Hannibal became the king of Carthage. Hamilicar was in a war with the Romans. The war was called the First Punic War. For Hannibal's whole life he was a warrior. The men who served him loved him not because he was he was their king. They loved him because he was a good leader and he cared about them not just himself. Him and his father were both even by their enemies unmatchable leaders. He acted with feelings about his men not his own self like so many other leaders did. He really cared about how his men were taken care of because they were going to win the war for Carthage not him.

The First Punic War ended when Hasbrudal died. Then Rome and Carthage had seven years of peace. When Hannibal built his forces he had a great navy but later on in the war the Romans matched the navy of Carthage. The treaty was called the treaty of the river of Ebro. The main enemies of Carthage were the Romans but there were also some African tribes that were allied with Carthage. Others were not with Carthage but with Rome. Rome was in a thirteen year war with Carthage. Then they had the seven years of peace. Hannibal then attacked a Spanish city allied with Rome to break the peace. They seized the Spanish city for eight months. Then they won it over. The year was 218 B.C. and that was when the two great forces were getting nowhere by fighting at sea so Hannibal decided to take a stand on the ground. To get to Rome Hannibal and his men had to overcome great obstacles like crossing the river of Ebro and crossing the Alps - one the highest mountains in the world. He and his men had courage and faith that they could overcome both of these great obstacles. In Hannibal's army the soldiers had a uniform but some may not have but anyway all the soldiers were great fighters.

Hannibal had to get to the other side of the river of Ebro. When he got to the crossing point he met a hostile tribe. He could have fought the tribe and taken their boats but he didn't. He bought the boats at a full price which is very smart. So the tribe allied with Hannibal and help Hannibal cut down and make boats. The tribe also told them of a secret crossing farther up the river. So in the night Hannibal told Hanno to hand pick soldiers to cross the river and then when he give a signal came to are crossing point. Since the elephants were afraid of the water and it was in flood season they needed rafts. Everybody said the river was impossible to cross in flood season. The elephants were afraid so they covered the rafts with moss and dirt so when the elephants stepped on it they thought it was ground. Then they cut the rope and the elephants floated across the river. Right before they started a fire so Hanno and his men came. When Hannibal's men came near to the other side the barbarians started laughing at them and thought Hannibal was the stupidest general ever. In the middle of all this Hanno had him and his men kill the barbarian army without them even knowing they were being slaughtered. Then Hannibal fought skirmishes gaining ground slowly. When he finally reached the Alps he had 33,000 men and 37 elephants. I am about to tell you how Hannibal crossed the alps. You probably think that Hannibal had a great way to cross the Alps but he didn't he just when up went over and came down. It took him 14 days and 15,000 men and 20 elephants to cross the Alps.

This was in October. He defeated P. Cornelius Scipio at the Ticinus river and also defeated Sempronius Longus at the Trebbis river in December. Then in Central Italy Hannibal defeated the Romans led by Flaminus. Hannibal had a smaller army then Flaminus. Hannibal led 3 scouts up to the Roman camp where the army was staying. The scouts got the attention of the army. The scouts acted like they were really scouting but they were just really get the armies attention and they did. Hannibal hid his soldiers in the cliffs and the trees and brush. When the Roman army came by Hannibal had his archers fire 3 or 4 arrows to lower their numbers. Then the infantry came out and fought the Romans who didn't know what the heck was going on but they still put up a good fight. The Romans lost 15,000 soldiers including their leader Flaminus. Hannibal had his men search the field and bury Flaminus's body. When the Romans heard they replaced him with Fabius Maximum. The new dictator avoided Hannibal because he had fear of him.

There were other things that I think are pretty amazing. You have heard this before but I still can't believe that Hannibal crossed the great river of Ebro with 33,000 men and 37 elephants. Hannibal lost 15,000 men in 14 days not even fighting but just trying to get to the place to fight. Hannibal was a very great war leader. Hannibal and his father were very respected war leaders. Even by their enemies they were known to be the greatest.

There are some jobs related to my independent study project. One of the jobs is a battle strategist because Hannibal was a great battle strategist. You would have to study very hard to become a battle strategist. Another job is a historian because you learn and research about events happening in the past like the story of Hannibal. You would have to go to college for about 3 or 4 years to become a historian.

I really had a good time doing this project. I had bad times and good times but over all it was fun. Well for one thing it helped me to learn about Hannibal and the First and Second Punic Wars. I learned some cool facts too. I don't think I could do more. If I haven't found it yet I probably won't find it. This project was a cool experience.

 

Glossary

Alps: Mountain system extending from France through Switzerland, Italy, SW Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogineva into Yugoslavia

Carthage: A ancient civilization city in the northern region of Africa now known as Tunisia

Nation: A stable historically developed community of people with territory economic life distinctive culture and language in common. The people of a territory united under one government.

Navy: A fleet of ships The entire sea force of a nation

Seige: the encircle ment of a fortified place by an opposing armed force.

Strategist: One using strategy one skilled in strategy

Strategy: Generalship directing large scale military operations. A maneuvering of forces into most advantageous positions prior to actual engagement.

Uniform: always the same not changing or varying known throughout the nation

 

Bibliography

Hagedorn, Herman. (unknown year). Eleven Who Dared. Unknown city.

Unknown name. (unknown year). [Online] Available http://www.Hannibal and the punic wars.com.

Unknown name. (unknown year). [Online] Available http://www.Free ancient and medieval history of Greek and Byzantium emperors.com.

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