Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A cikin 219BC Hannibal ya kewaye, ya kama kuma ya kori birnin Saguntum mai goyon bayan Roman, wanda ya haifar da sanarwar Romawa game da Carthage a cikin bazara 218BC. A wannan shekarar, Hannibal ya ba wa Romawa mamaki ta wajen tura rundunarsa ta ƙasa daga Iberia, ta ƙasar Gaul da kuma Alps
zuwa Cisalpine Gaul (yanzu arewacin Italiya). Da aka ƙarfafa shi da abokan gaba na Gallic, ya sami nasara a kan Romawa a yaƙe-yaƙe na Trebia (218) da Lake Trasimene (217). Da yake tafiya zuwa kudancin Italiya a shekara ta 216, Hannibal ya sake kayar da Romawa a Yaƙin Cannae, inda ya hallaka rundunar sojojin Romawa mafi girma. Bayan mutuwar ko kama fiye da sojojin Roma 120,000 a cikin ƙasa da shekaru biyu, yawancin abokan Italiya na Roma, musamman Capua, sun yi hijira zuwa Carthage, suna ba Hannibal iko a kan yawancin kudancin Italiya. Yayin da Syracuse da Makidoniya suka shiga ɓangaren Carthaginian bayan Cannae, rikicin ya bazu. Tsakanin 215 da 210 BC Carthaginians sun yi ƙoƙari su kama Sicily da Sardinia da Romawa ke riƙe, amma ba su yi nasara ba. Romawa sun ɗauki matakai masu tsanani don su tara sababbin sojoji, suna ɗaukan bayi, masu laifi, da kuma waɗanda ba su cika farillan mallakar dukiya ba, kuma hakan ya ƙara yawan mutanen da suke riƙe da makamai. A cikin shekaru goma da suka biyo baya yaƙin a kudancin Italiya ya ci gaba, da sojojin Romawa da sannu-sannu suka ci yawancin biranen Italiya da suka haɗa kai da Carthage.