Hannibal was a general from Carthage, a city on the northern coast of Africa. He thought the ancient Romans and won great battles at a time when the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. His army was small, but it was made up of soldiers from many countries that didn't want to be ruled by the Romans.

Before Hannibal could fight the Romans always had thought would protect them from enemy armies. When winter came, the Romans did not think Hannibal could possibly cross the mountains. Hannibal surprised them. With some of his soldiers riding huge strong elephants—where no elephants had to walk slowly without resting through the mountain snow-storms and howling(怒号)winds. The enemies rolled rocks down to try to stop them. Even raging rivers couldn't stop them. Hannibal's soldiers built rafts(木排)strong enough to carry the elephants across. At last, half of them never reached the end of their journey. But the other half of the army and some of the elephants did finish the journey.