Hannibal began his historic march in 218 BC over the Alps to conquer Rome because it threatened Carthage's position as a major trading power in the western Mediterranean. Sixteen years later, despite early military successes, he had still not achieved his purpose. In Hannibal's War, John Peddie reexamines the purpose of the campaign and suggests that rather than the destruction of Rome, his aim was the reconquest of Sicily. He examines the doubtful role of the war elephant, throws new light on the factors which influenced Hannibal's choice of route over the Alps and casts a critical military eye over the prolonged campaign he pursued in Italy directed at Rome's vulnerable grain supplies. He argues that Hannibal's war was lost at sea, not on land, and examines the Carthaginian's generalship. 
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