Hannibal of Carthage

My hero is Hannibal of Carthage. He is my hero for many reasons, but they mostly fall into a few categories. First of all, he is willing to do anything in order to achieve his goals. Second, he is unimaginably intelligent, even to this day, he is viewed as the greatest military tactician ever. And lastly, because his leadership inspired thousands to face impossible odds.

Hannibal's determination is truly unmatched. From childhood, his goal had been to destroy the powerful Roman Empire and throughout his life, he did everything in his power to achieve that goal. Hannibal commanded his army into the territory of the greatest power the world had ever seen, and still managed to fight and besiege them for nearly sixteen years. Everything about the Second Punic War points to his determination; he faced impossible odds throughout, and won battle after battle, with only moderate backing from his home country.

Hannibal Crossing the Alps (Wikipedia (Gottlob Heinrich (Henrik) Leutemann))

When someone thinks of intelligence or ingenuity, they more than likely do not picture Hannibal. However, he is among the best examples of both traits. His ingenuity is first shown when Hannibal crossed the Alps into Rome. No leader before him would have even considered crossing the inhospitable terrain. His efforts were only partially rewarded; he did attack the empire by surprise, but lost nearly half his army crossing the Alps. His intelligence is shown in his military tactics. He defeated over one hundred thousand Roman soldiers, and never had over fifty thousand himself. To this day, he is referred to as the greatest Military Tactician that ever lived.

Hannibal is the leader everyone else should aspire to be. He not only convinced his soldiers to fight under nearly impossible odds, but did so over the course of a sixteen year campaign. The most notable instance of his ability to command an army is the Battle of Cannae, which is one of the greatest military victories of all time. Hannibal had only fifteen thousand to the Romans' eighty-six thousand units. Hannibal lost only six thousand, while killing or capturing nearly ninety thousand. This kind of victory had never been achieved before, and hasn't been since. He is truly the greatest leader that ever lived.

The Battle of Cannae

I hope you can see how Hannibal is my hero. He is one of the best examples of many traits. If there is a phrase to capture his essence I believe it would be "Hannibal's tactics and strategies changed the way wars were fought, and ultimately, history itself, but lost his own battle. If there is a measure of a man, this is it" - a quote from William Weir.