A buddy of mine asked what I thought of History Channel’s latest depiction of Hannibal Barca in their docu-drama series Barbarians Rising.
First, let’s cover the good stuff. Visually, the show is beautiful. The maps and computerized battles are striking. The depiction of Hannibal’s army slugging it over the Alps during winter is appropriately gruesome. The despair and sacrifice is real.
The historians available for commentary are superb, especially Barry Strauss who has written extensively on ancient warfare and Hannibal. While I initially found it odd that they included commentary from people like Jesse Jackson and Robert Herjavec from Shark Tank fame, I guess this is the History Channel’s attempt at relevancy. Sure, they’re not historians, but they’re leaders talking about the difficulty of leadership and it works for the most part.
The emphasis on Hannibal’s victory at Cannae being so unlikely and remarkable is accurate. If anything, the emphasis on Hannibal’s influence throughout history was understated. For example, the German invasion of France during World War I (1914) was based on a plan concocted after years of study of Cannae. Schwarzkopf also cited Cannae when he talked about his own invasion of Iraq (1991). To name a few others—Machiavelli, Napoleon, Frederick the Great, Rommel, and Eisenhower all studied and discussed Cannae.
But there’s so much more to Hannibal
While I appreciate that the History Channel dedicated anything at all to Hannibal, the sad truth is that the History Channel has spent 11 seasons on Ancient Aliens (so far!) and barely 30 minutes on Hannibal.
There is a lot of skimming. There’s no mention of Hamilcar’s strategy to spread Carthaginian influence into Hispania with the goal of gaining manpower. Hannibal’s uncle is nonexistent and instead Hannibal is just suddenly the leader one day. There is nothing about the Carthaginian politicians that fought against Hannibal during his entire war nor is there mention of the ever-changing strategies in Rome to deal with Hannibal. Roman careers were seemingly made in weeks and crushed in a day.
After the program finishes with Cannae, 14 years go by like nothing with no mention of the wars in Hispania. There is no mention of the city-by-city struggle throughout the Italian Peninsula for the hearts and minds of the people. Suddenly, Scipio somehow uses Hannibal’s tactics against him and then Hannibal kills himself. They also misstated when they claimed Hannibal never made it to the gates of Rome. He did, twice!
History Channel mainly focuses on the two popular tales of Hannibal—crossing the Alps and Cannae.
The worst part is that the History Channel spent so much time and commentary on how difficult it was to cross the Alps during the winter, but they said nothing on how Hannibal succeeded. The show has modern historians, commanders, politicians, and executives all emphasizing how leadership finds a way to prevail in difficult times. Yet, there is no mention how Hannibal adopted the gods of the region and depicted himself in their image. There is no mention how Hannibal evoked his own dreams to inspire his troops, a common ploy among Hellenistic leaders of the time.
Instead, as my friend pointed out, the History Channel gave us a dramatic Hannibal giving up, a white guy encouraging him, and suddenly it was spring.
I’m not exaggerating.
If you’re interested in knowing more about Hannibal’s story including how he managed to wage a war on the Italian Peninsula for 16 years, then I highly recommend Eve MacDonald’s Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life (2015). I reviewed it and loved it. No single book could do Hannibal justice, but it comes the closest.
In summary, the History Channel has provided a sliver of the Hannibal story, but they left way too much on the table.