Hannibal Ad Portas: Second Punic War at the Carthage Senate, 218 BCE
The loss of Sicily, the Mercenary War, and crippling debt are only a few of the misfortunes to have befallen Carthage since the humiliating conclusion of the First Punic War, and have threatened to the republic apart from within. The Carthaginian Senate has grown fractious and divided, trapped between the grasping ambition of the Barcid clan and a fearful merchant class craving economic stability and good relations with Rome. Even worse, the Iberian territories — the lifeblood of the Carthaginian treasury and military recruitment — remains contested. Neither they nor Carthage’s Numidian allies can be trusted to remain loyal.
Furthermore, Hasdrubal the Fair, one of Carthage’s foremost generals, was recently assassinated, thrusting the Iberian command into the hands of the young and untested Hannibal Barca. Yet the recklessness for which he was dismissed by many bore fruit: Hannibal's audacious siege of Saguntum has succeeded. However, it has shattered the fragile peace with Rome, and war is now inevitable.
Beginning in the immediate aftermath of Saguntum's fall and on the eve of Hannibal's daring march toward Italy, delegates in this committee will reckon seriously with the political and military realities facing the Carthaginian republic. They must balance bitter rivalries within the Senate with the pressing need for a coordinated war strategy in the face of a united Roman front, while weighing the consequences of bold alliances with Macedon, the Numidian kingdoms, as well as the disaffected Italian peoples disgruntled at their imposed Roman rule. Balancing military ambition with political pragmatism, they will prove themselves worthy of a Carthage reborn, or watch the republic crumble beneath the Roman eagle.
Anik Bora
chair
Anik is a second-year from South Florida majoring in Mathematics and Economics with a minor in Computer Science. He was most recently involved in competitive research and quantitative modeling projects ranging from drought prediction using convolutional neural networks to sports analytics for a state championship football team, and has been immersed in STEM competitions and research since middle school.
Outside of academics, he is heavily involved in quantitative finance, market structure, and computational mathematics, spending an unreasonable amount of time thinking about options pricing, probabilistic models, and how underdogs somehow keep winning. He is also involved with initiatives focused on expanding access to STEM education and has taught students through both local and international outreach programs.
In his free time, Anik enjoys sim racing, watching Formula 1, golfing, and attempting to explain everything in life through either Bayesian inference or Monte Carlo simulations. He also insists his Clash account is statistically superior to yours
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via email: anikbora@uchicago.edu.
Laura Nielsen
crisis director
Laura is a second-year from Denmark and Hong Kong majoring in Philosophy. She was most recently an AC for Sengoku Jidai, the Japanese succession Crisis committee in ChoMUN XXIX, and has been doing MUN competitively since freshman year of high school. Outside of MUN, she is heavily involved with UC Rationality, a society dedicated to rationalist ideas, and X-Lab, UChicago’s existential risk research lab, where she researches AI safety threats.
In her free time, Laura enjoys solving non-issues in real life with her friends by applying set theory and plays a lot of Clash. She probably has more trophies than you.
Feel free to reach out to her at lauramairandrup@uchicago.edu.
Sarah Michelene Wright
crisis director
Sarah Michelene is a second-year from rural Kansas majoring in Archaeology. She was most recently an AC for ADHOC in ChoMUN XXIX, and has been doing MUN competitively since freshman year of college.
Outside of MUN, she is involved with the University Wind Ensemble. In her free time, Sarah enjoys spending time outside with her friends discussing existential problems, politics, economics, and climate issues can always get her going. She also spends a lot of time practicing clarinet or working on her Stardew empire as any joe-shmoe would.
Feel free to reach out to her at sarahmichelene@uchicago.edu.
Secretariat oversight:
ahmed bransi, Under-secretary-general