Was hannibals bold plan to invade Italy a good or bad idea?

Answer 1

While Hannibal's plan did allow him to bypass the Roman army and sack the city of Rome itself, Carthage did ultimate lose the war.

It's impossible to know if there was anything that Hannibal could have done "better." It's entirely possible that Rome was always going to win the war no matter what Carthage did, simply because they were so much bigger and more powerful that Carthage had no chance to defeat them. The fact that they prevailed in spite of the capital being sacked certainly adds credence to that argument.

One should also note that following the war the Romans destroyed Carthage completely. They did not subjugate it or add it to the empire, but wiped it out of existence. You could, again, argue that they would have done that no matter what, but you could also make the case that they destroyed Carthage because of Hannibal's attack on the city of Rome.

If you take those views together, then it was certainly a bad idea, and in the long run only provoked the Romans into even greater reprisals against Carthage. Had Hannibal fought a conventional war then he would still have lost, but the Romans might not have destroyed Carthage completely after their victory.

Answer 2

no