Changes

==Early life==

==Early life==

In 241 B.C. when Hannibal was only 6 years old, in the [[Battle of the Aegates Islands]] the First Punic War came to a close. After 23 years of fighting, the war ended in a [[peace]] treaty that both sides knew was more or less "made to be broken." [[Rome]] now stood squarely facing Carthage, neither city could place any real trust in the other. [[Carthage]] spent the next decade recuperating from the First Punic War. Hamilcar was dispatched to [[Spain]], taking with him his nine-year-old son. The Carthaginian government was seeking compensation for the loss of Sicily in the last war, and Hamilcar personally saw Spain as a potential base to wage a war of vengeance against the Romans. Hannibal was brought up to succeed his father's position as general of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, and like his father, was filled with a deep hatred of Rome. At the age of 19, Hannibal lost his father in a battle against one of the Hispanic tribes in an attempted, but unsuccessful, revolt in Spain. Young, but already a somewhat seasoned soldier from traveling with his father on his campaigns as a boy, Hannibal rose to command all of the forces in Spain. He was a favorite of the soldiers; very charismatic and determined. Over the next ten years, 228-219 B.C. Hannibal prepared for a second war on Rome.

In 241 B.C. when Hannibal was only 6 years old, in the [[Battle of the Aegates Islands]] the First Punic War came to a close. After 23 years of fighting, the war ended in a [[peace]] treaty that both sides knew was more or less "made to be broken." [[Rome]] now stood squarely facing Carthage, neither city could place any real trust in the other. [[Carthage]] spent the next decade recuperating from the First Punic War. Hamilcar was dispatched to [[Spain]], taking with him his nine-year-old son. The Carthaginian government was seeking compensation for the loss of Sicily in the last war, and Hamilcar personally saw Spain as a potential base to wage a war of [[vengeance]] against the Romans. Hannibal was brought up to succeed his father's position as general of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, and like his father, was filled with a deep hatred of Rome. At the age of 19, Hannibal lost his father in a battle against one of the Hispanic tribes in an attempted, but unsuccessful, revolt in Spain. Young, but already a somewhat seasoned soldier from traveling with his father on his campaigns as a boy, Hannibal rose to command all of the forces in Spain. He was a favorite of the soldiers; very charismatic and determined. Over the next ten years, 228-219 B.C. Hannibal prepared for a second war on Rome.

==Military career==

==Military career==