I've been reading about the Second Punic War recently. As I imagine many people do when learning of it for the first time, I had asked myself the question of why Hannibal didn't attack Rome after the crushing victory at Cannae. After learning a little more, I found out the consensus is that he knew, for a number of reasons, he wouldn't be able to take it, and his time would be better spent ravaging the countryside and trying to cut Rome off from its allies.
But that led me to another question. I know why Hannibal didn't attack Rome, but why did Carthage not? After Cannae, the things I've read say that Rome had 2 legions left to protect her. While 2 legions and the city walls may have been too much for Hannibal's field army, with Rome's offensive strengthen virtually wiped out at Cannae, it seems like it would have been an opportunity for Carthage to consolidate the strength it had in Ibera, Africa, and Hannibal's army in Italy and launch a single attack on Rome.
Is there a reason that Carthage never marched on Rome?
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!