Tom Holland

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.

So, you know, a brilliant catch for Hannibal.

It effectively becomes his capital.

But by 211, the Romans feel that they are ready to advance on Capua and to try and take it back.

And they start the siege at a time when Hannibal is distant, besieging another city in the south of Italy.

And the news comes to him that the Romans are besieging Capua.

Rather than march directly to the rescue of Capua, he decides instead that he's going to adopt a diversionary tactic.