Fabius's victory
Hannibal, one of the greatest general in the history, ruined the Italia peninsula slaughtering the Roman troops at Punic wars. His battle was ended when Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus defeat him at the Battle of Jama. But have you know how can the Roman tolerate the Hannibal in 10 years? It was the effort of Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman politician I think you probably don't heard about it.
He became the Roman dictator when Romans were defeated last 2 battles in Lake of Trasimeno. Roma was afraid of being conquered by the Hannibal and he was Roman's almost final choice at that time. What he chose at that time astonished the Roman citizens. Rather than fight with Hannibal, he choose not to fight. He ambushed Hannibal's food supply and made the war long. And it worked.
However he got lots of blame to Roman citizens who were not accustomed to this type of fighting. They blamed the Fabius that he is coward. Someone even claimed that he was communicating secretly with Hannibal. But he tolerated that kind of rumor. Rather he chose to justify the troops who ran after the battle was lost. Finally he was replaced by the hardliners who tried to fight with the Hannibal.
After the hardliners lost at the Battle of Cannae, they lost more than 70 thousand troops and the total battle's casualty was more than 20% of man in Rome. Now their only way is to depend on the Fabius. For more than 10 years, he tolerated the Hannibal with his strategy and finally he sent Africanus to Cartago for attacking their base, making Hannibal left the Italian peninsula. In his term, he was ridiculed that his name means the 'slow person' and his political opponent continuously attacked his position. But he restrained all these things by only the patriotism in his mind.
There is a word 'Fabius's Victory'. It means the situation that losing at the battle but winning at the war. He knew how to win against the famous general and he had passion to tolerate the citizens during his career. After the years, people knew he was right and started to praise him. Although he is not as famous as Hannibal, he saved the Roma from him and gave a chance to the Roma into the greatest county as every in western European country.
Fabius’s victory
ReplyDeleteThe general who lost the battle but won the war
201002416 Lee Sejong
Hannibal, one of the greatest general in ancient history, ruined the Italian peninsula slaughtering the Roman troops. His battle was ended when Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus defeated him at the Battle of Jama. But do you know how could the Roman tolerate the Hannibal for almost 10 years without prevent Roma from him? It was the effort of Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman politician also a general who was not as famous as Hannibal, but efforts as much as him.
He became the Roman dictator after the Romans were defeated in last 2 battles. Romans were afraid of being conquered by the Hannibal and he was the Roma’s final choice at that time. What he chose at that time astonished the Roman citizens. Rather than fight with Hannibal, he chose not to fight with him. He ambushed Hannibal’s food supply and made the war long. And it worked.
However, he was blamed critically to Roman citizens who were not accustomed to this type of fighting. They blamed Fabius that he was coward. Someone even claimed that he was communicating secretly with Hannibal. But he tolerated that kind of rumor. Rather he chose to justify the troops who ran away after the battle was lost. Finally he was replaced by the hardliners who tried to fight with the Hannibal.
After the hardliners lost at the Battle of Cannae, they lost more than 70,000 troops and the total battle’s casualty was more than 20% of men in Rome. Now the only way to fight against Hannibal is to depend totally on Fabius. For more than 10 years, he tolerated the Hannibal with his strategy and finally he sent Africanus to Cartago for attacking their base, making Hannibal left the Italian peninsula. In his term, his name was ridiculed for the ‘slow person’ and his political opponent continuously attacked his position. But he restrained all these things by only the patriotism in his mind.
There is phrase saying ‘Fabius’s Victory’. It means the situation that losing at the battle but eventually winning at the war. He knew that to win against the famous general, he should tolerate even if the citizens were blaming, distorting his career. After the years, people knew his plan was right and started to praise him. Although he is not as famous as Hannibal, he saved the Roma from Hannibal and gave a chance to the Roma into the greatest county as every in western European country.