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It is not fashionable these days to assign much importance to the role of individuals in history. Hannibal was determined to avenge the death and defeat of his people in the First Punic War. He was determined like his family to defeat Rome and it became an obsession. From his earliest childhood, he was raised by his father to hate Rome and to seek his destruction .<ref> Bickerman, Elias J. (1952). "Hannibal's Covenant". American Journal of Philology. 73 (1): 1–23</ref>. This was not typical of all or many in the Carthaginian elite. A story is told of how Hannibal became the life-long enemy of Rome. Once in Spain is father brought him to an altar. There Hamilcar ‘commanded the young Hannibal to lay his hand on the body of the sacrificial victim and to swear that he would never be a friend to Rome." <ref> Polybius, 3.11</ref>. Hannibal was bound by this oath and he never wavered from it and he became the Republic’s greatest enemy. The personality of Hannibal, his genius , and his hatred of the Romans were was crucial in the outbreak of the war. However, even without Hannibal, many historians argue that another war between the two greatest powers in the Western Mediterranean was inevitable .<ref>Bickerman, p 22</ref>.