Tom Holland

In the immediate wake of Cannae, they lack the manpower to actually to do anything more than that.

But I think also it reflects an entirely understandable sense that this man is a genius.

You know, you meet him in battle, he will destroy you.

And the consequence of this is that Hannibal is able to do what he likes to the orchards, to the vineyards, to the estates that cover Italy.

Why don't they defect now, because he's going to win?

Quite a lot do.

Quite a lot think, as you say, they're backing a winner.

They see Hannibal as a winner.

And so in the wake of Cannae, you start to see an Italian league of the kind that the Romans...

had been at the head of start to emerge that is pledged to support not the Romans any longer but Hannibal and to supply Hannibal with what he so desperately needs because he's a long way from home namely you know troops to reinforce his army supplies accommodation and yet that said the Romans do still have some advantages don't they so if you're a betting man you're looking at this the Romans are still on home turf Hannibal is a long way I mean you said he didn't have siege equipment

And so although there are defections, although Hannibal does manage to set up a kind of Punic League, most of the cities, certainly a majority, stay loyal to Rome because the Italians have experience with the Romans.

I mean, you know, they're like cockroaches.

They just keep coming back.

And so as the years pass, Rome starts to recapture its energy, to replenish its manpower,

start flexing its muscles to start to go on the offensive.

And by 211, so that's five years after Cannae.

So he's been hanging around in the fields for five years.

Well, he hasn't been hanging around in fields because he now has cities that will support him.

Right.

And the most famous, the most richest, the most prosperous of cities that supports him is a place called Capua, which is the kind of the leading city in the Bay of Naples.