This answer is a good write-up to why Hannibal couldn't take Rome despite his massive wins in Italy: https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-Hannibal-take-Rome-after-v

This answer is a good write-up to why Hannibal couldn't take Rome despite his massive wins in Italy: https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-Hannibal-take-Rome-after-virtually-annihilating-the-Roman-army-at-Cannae https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-Hannibal-take-Rome-after-vir... The odds were against him from the beginning, with one of the most important factors being that Rome had a large conscriptable population while Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries.