There are so many coincidences in the history.Fortunately, I happened to find one!

Hannibal Barca £¨247-183BC£©and Xiang Yu í—Óð£¨233-202BC£©, two military genius that lived in the same epoch and separately played a key role in the history of Rome and China, actually have similar destinies. Let¡¯s see in this historian magic.

In case some freinds here don¡¯t know much about their background, first let me give you some link

Hannibal: http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/hannibal/hannibal.html - http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/hannibal/hannibal.html

Xiang Yu: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/chu-han.html - http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/chu-han.html

1.       They both belonged to military aristocrat and were descendants of a famous general in their country.

2.       They both grew up in a passion of national enmity and hatred.

For Hannibal, it came from the bitterness of Carthage¡¯s shameful loss at the 1^st Punic War.

For Xiang Yu, it hailed from the conquest of his motherland, Chu, by Qin during the Unification War.( http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/qin.html - http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/qin.html )

3.       They emerged to be a noticeable figure as early as they were still at their twenties. Hannibal succeeded his father¡¯s post as the Commander of Spain through election when he was 26.

The 24 years old Xiang Yu followed his uncle Xiang Liang rising up against the Qin regime and gained his fame by killing the Governor of Kuai Xi County at the beginning of their operation.

4.       They both had accomplished the impossible missions and created military wonders in history. In most circumstance, the quantity of enemies was meaningless to these geniuses in battlefield. They were able to achieved the brilliant victory even they were badly outnumbered by their enemies. Their achievements are second to none in their times:

 >>

Battle of Ju Lu ¾Þ¹֮‘ð http://www.oxford.com.cn/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=1547 - http://www.oxford.com.cn/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=1547 ), Xiang Yu¡¯s troops less than 20,000 men defeated the so called tiger-and-wolf-like Qin army of 200,000 men. It has alway been a classical example of battle in Chinese History.

 >>

Battle of Peng Cheng Åí³ÇÖ®‘ð: Xiang Yu deployed his cavalry to launch a surprise attack to his rival of emperor crown, Liu Bang and his allies¡¯ troops that was at advantage of number. Though it was a 30,000 Vs 560,000 fight, yet incredibly, Xiang was the winner.

 >>

Battle of Trasimene lake: Despite the exhaustion and big loss during the long march across the Alps, Hannibal managed to annihilated the Roman Legion that two times larger than his army and killed the commander.

 Battle of Cannae: Hannibal got his respectable status after this campaign. His 50,000 mixed troops almost destroyed all the Roman elite force (80,000 plus men) at a time, pushing the Roman Republic to the edge of collapse. The word ¡°Cannae¡± even became a military term after the event. This battle is also a case-study subject in the western military textbook.

To be continued

5.       They finally met their match in the battlefield. It is Scipio Vs Hannibal and Han Xin Vs Xiang Yu. With no doubt, Scipio and Han Xin had played the role of ¡°hero terminators¡±, which entitled them to list among the greatest generals in the Roman and Chinese history. However, I personally don¡¯t think the talent of Scipio and Han Xin¡¯s were really superior to their foes. Their triumph should owe to the tremendous support back home.  Liu Bang¡¯s leading team, in which Han Xin was the head of the Han army, are widely recognized by historians as the best political and military leadership in the Chinese history. Rome, as known to all of us, was a sophisticated war machine. It was their tragical fate that Hannibal and Xiang Yu had to challenge an indefectible enemy by individual gift.

6.       First midst the last, they failed to win over a reliable alien, while their counterpart had done much better. It was one of the critical factors leading to their ultimate loss.

7.       The two great men fell in the same year. (What a coincidence!)  Xiang Yu committed suicide after his force was completely destroyed in the Battle of Gai Xia ÛòÏÂÖ®Õ½ in 202BC. Meanwhile at the other side of the world, Hannibal was defeated in Zama, the decisive battle of the 2nd Punic War. Afterward, his fate was inevitably dooming.

8.       However, the failure of these two tragical heroes, Hannibal and Xiang Yu, had paved the way for the rising of two great powers in the human history, the Roman Empire and Han Empire.

Your comment is always welcomed.