Roman history part 9, the second Punic war 5

 In the beginning of 214 B.C, a delegation from Tarentum in the south east of Italy arrived to Hannibal to offer him an alliance. Hannibal saw this a good opportunity, as the city contains one of the most important ports offering Hannibal the ability to communicate with Philip the fifth of Macedon and Carthage. At the same time Nola sent him a letter seeking help from Hannibal to free them from Marcellus and the Roman Tyranny.

So, Hannibal responded to the latter and sent to Hanno in the south to amass an army from the southern tribes and join him in his campaign on Nola. Hearing of Hannibal’s plan, Fabius ordered Graccus to prevent Hanno from joining Hannibal at any cost. The Roman army under the command of Graccus managed to destroy Hanno’s Army and preventing him from joining Hannibal’s army. Hannibal saw that he must attack the city alone. But the habitants of Nola reneged on their deal and didn’t repel against Marcellus when Hannibal attacked the city. So for the third time Hannibal failed to capture Nola. Then Hannibal marched to Terrntum. Upon reaching the city, Hannibal found the city’s gate closed, as the Roman reached the city before Hannibal and secure the city. Meanwhile the Roman fleet learnt that Philip the fifth of Macedon had mustered 120  ships to aid Hannibal, so as proactive step, the Roman fleet attacked the Macedonian fleet and destroy most of it preventing Philip from joining Hannibal. At the same time exploiting the opportunity of Hannibal’s absence, Fabius attacked the city of Capua and captured it. In Sicily, the situation was boiling. After his declaration to take Hannibal’s side, the ruler of Syracuse was assassinated under mysterious circumstances and the people of Syracuse divided into tow groups, a group stood with Carthage and the other with Rome. Exploiting the turmoil in Syracuse, Rome sent Marcellus to capture Syracuse. The city was well fortified and the siege would take a long time, as Marcellus decided to surround the city and prevent food supply from reaching the city to force them to surrender. Meanwhile Carthage sent many ships carrying nearly 20,000 troops to invade the Roman controlled cities of Sicily managing to capture the city of Agreguntum. 213 B.C passed without significant events. In the beginning of 212 B.C, and after 2-year-brutal siege, Hannibal managed from capturing Agreguntum.