Hannibal (PARTS 1 - 5) - Rome's Greatest Enemy - Second Punic War

 

After general Hasdrubal the Fair was assassinated by a Celtic slave, 26-year old Hannibal was elected as the new Carthaginian commander.

 The young general immediately made plans to invade Rome, but he couldn't begin the campaign before strengthening Carthage's control over the Iberian peninsula.

 So Hannibal went to work...

 He launched two highly successful campaigns in 221 and 220 BC, extending Carthaginian influence beyond the Tagus river.

 But while on the return route to New Carthage, Hannibal was taken by surprise, by a coalition of Iberian tribes.

 Led by the Carpetani tribe, the Iberians assembled a large army.

 They blocked Hannibal's path and fortified their position against the Tagus river, then waited for the Carthaginian general to attack.

 Here, Hannibal showed his military genius for the first time.

 Instead of attacking the Iberians head-on, he erected his own fortified camp and waited.

 By day's end his scouts found a river crossing to the south-east.

 During wee hours of the night, Hannibal ordered a small contingent to stay in the camp and keep all campfires burning, creating the illusion that the whole Carthaginian army was still encamped.

 Meanwhile, he led his army on a swift flanking maneuver further up the river.

 By sunrise the next day Hannibal was behind the Iberian position, feigning retreat towards New Carthage.

 Thinking that the Carthaginians were retreating, Iberians rushed to intercept them.

 But once they were midstream Hannibal sprung his trap and unleashed his cavalry.

 Iberian infantrymen, chest-deep in the fast flowing river, couldn't offer much resistance and were cut down with ease by the Carthaginian cavalry charge.

 Those who managed to cross were trampled by the elephants.

 By now the Iberian army lost all cohesion and the mass of tribal warriors started fleeing.

 Hannibal ordered his army to pursue them across the river, completely routing the enemy.

 On the Tagus river, Hannibal had his first major victory.

 But Rome took notice.

 Wanting to stop Hannibal's expansion, the Romans made their presence felt.

 Already allied with the wealthy and powerful city of Saguntum, Rome declared it their protectorate - an act that Hannibal percieved as a violation of the treaty signed by the two great powers in 225 BC, which divided the Iberian peninsula along the Ebro river into Carthaginian and Roman spheres of influence.

 A sworn enemy of Rome, it didn't take long before Hannibal acted.

 He marched on Saguntum and besieged the city.

 In 219 BC, Carthaginian army reached the outskirts of Saguntum.

 The city was heavily fortified, situated atop steep slopes and cliffs, high above the surrounding plain.

 Saguntines requested aid from Rome, but the Romans were busy fighting the Illyrians.

 Nevertheless, with provisions stockpiled Saguntum was prepared.

 Besieging it would not be easy.

 Hannibal installed a blockade around the entire city and placed most of his forces at the western end.

 Saguntines

 stubbornly kept pushing every Carthaginian assault back, but the siege went on for months, and the many assaults

 gradually wore down portions of the wall.

 Eventually, the defenders had to abandon their outer defenses and form up behind the inner wall.

 Slowly and relentlessly, Hannibal's army made progress, and after 8 brutal months the Saguntines made their last stand at the citadel.

 Soon after, the city fell.

 Inhabitants that survived the siege were either killed or sold into slavery.

 After the fall of Saguntum, Rome demanded justice for what THEY perceived was the violation of the treaty and, claiming that Saguntum was in the Roman sphere of influence according to the treaty, they asked Carthage to hand over Hannibal to Rome, so he can be punished.

 But the Carthaginian senate stood by their general, and by the end of the year, the Second Punic war began.

 Hannibal wintered in New Carthage, preparing for the upcoming campaign.

 He placed his brother Hasdrubal in charge of Iberia with 15,000 troops and 21 elephants, along with a fleet of ships to protect the coastline.

 To break possible tribal allegiances, around 15,000 Iberian infantry were swapped for 15,000 African infantry who were more reliable, sending the Iberians to Carthage and Lybia to bolster defenses against a possible Roman landing.

 And in the spring of 218 BC, with the full support from the senate, Hannibal marched out of New Carthage with 54,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry, dividing his army into three columns.

 But beyond the Ebro, tribes allied to Rome were hostile to the Carthaginians and it took Hannibal about 2 months to pacify the region.

 He placed around 10,000 troops under the command of Hanno, ordering him to establish a line of defense on the Ebro against possible incursions into Carthaginian territory.

 With 38,000 infantry, 7,000 cavalry and 37 elephants left at his disposal, Hannibal crossed the mountains and encamped on the other side of the Pyrenees.Meanwhile, the Romans divided their forces.

 Their plan was to send consul Publius Cornelius Scipio to intercept Hannibal in Iberia.

 Simultaneously, consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus sailed to Sicily, with the intent of attacking Carthage itself if Scipio managed to stop Hannibal's advance.

 Additional Roman forces were left to guard the recently conquered Gallic lands in the Po valley, a region the Romans called Cisalpine Gaul.

 Back at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains, Hannibal laid the groundwork for the invasion.

 Rather than fighting his way towards Rome, he did everything to avoid conflict with the Gallic tribes, mostly paying them for free passage through their territory, promising that his only interest is to fight Rome.

 Moreover, Carthaginian messengers returning from the Po valley assured Hannibal that the Gallic tribes there would welcome him, and that they already began hostilities against Rome in anticipation of his arrival.

 This was welcomed news for Hannibal because he knew the Po valley could provide more manpower and act as a staging point for operations into Roman territory.

 As Hannibal approached the river Rhône, Scipio's army disembarked at Massalia to resupply while on their way to Iberia.

 The Roman general knew that Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees, but he wrongly estimated that the Carthaginian general was still far from the Rhône.

 In truth, Hannibal's army was only 4-days march away from Massalia.

 Hannibal rested his army for 3 days in hostile territory and began preparations to cross the Rhône.

 With the Roman army just 4 days away, Hannibal wanted to avoid a set-piece battle with the Gauls, eager to press on towards the Italian peninsula as soon as possible.

 But on the opposite riverbank, encamped was the army of the Cavares tribe, a Roman ally.

 They gathered all their boats and built a barrier on the riverbank in preparation to contest the Carthaginian crossing.

 But Hannibal devised a cunning plan.

 On the third night, under the cover of darkness, he sent a flanking detachment under the command of Hanno, son of Bomilcar.

 Some 40km (25mi) north, Hanno crossed the river and rested his troops for 1 day.

 On the second night after leaving the Carthaginian camp, Hanno's detachment again moved during the night, eventually deploying behind the Cavares camp at dawn.

 The trap was set.

 Early next morning Hanno used smoke to signal Hannibal to start crossing the Rhône.

 As the Carthaginian vessels were lowered into the massive river, Cavares army formed a line on the opposite riverbank.

 Hannibal was one of the first to cross, to the roars and cheers from his men on the western bank.

 As the Carthaginians started disembarking on the eastern riverbank, Hanno sent a part of his force to loot and destroy the Cavares camp, while he proceeded to charge at the Gauls near the river.

 The Cavares were stunned by the flanking maneuver and they began fleeing the field in panic, unable to cope with

 Hannibal's perfectly synchronized attacks.

 With the Gauls scattered, the battle was soon over and the Carthaginians hastily proceeded to cross the river.

 Most of Hannibal's troops crossed the Rhône by the end of the day, while it took another day to get the elephants across the river.

 While the Carthaginian army gathered on the eastern bank, friendly Gallic messengers from the tribes in the Po valley arrived, warning Hannibal that a Roman fleet is anchored nearby.

 Hannibal sent his scouts to locate Scipio's army and incredibly, not long after, his Numidian scouts stumbled into a Roman-Gallic scouting party.

 Both generals now knew of each other's whereabouts.

 Scipio quickly moved north to confront Hannibal, but by the time Romans reached the crossing point a few days later, only an empty Carthaginian camp was left behind - Hannibal had no time to waste, he had to reach the Alps before the winter.

 But as Hannibal's army began their journey over the Alps, trouble was brewing in Iberia.

 Scipio placed his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus in charge of leading the army into Iberia, while he headed back to the Po valley to assume command of Roman troops there and prepare for the Carthaginian invasion.

 Scipio Calvus, now in charge of the invasion force, disembarked at Emporiae.

 The Greek trading cities and the Iberian tribes in the region welcomed the Romans.

 But even prior to the arrival of Roman troops, the Carthaginians began to lose control over the conquered region, as Hanno's force wasn't large enough to conduct offensive operations.

 What's worse, Hanno only learned about the Roman arrival when Scipio Calvus was well on his way towards the Ebro river.

 He sent word to Hasdrubal who began marching north with 8,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry.

 But, instead of waiting for Hasdrubal, Hanno marched out with 10,000 troops to meet the 20,000-strong Roman army.

 Unsurprisingly, Scipio Calvus easily crushed the Carthaginians, killing 6,000 and capturing 2,000 troops along with Hanno himself.

 Once Hasdrubal arrived, he didn't have enough troops to meet the Romans in battle, so he launched fast moving raids along the coast.

 Carthaginian raiders killed many Roman sailors as they were foraging, reducing the effectiveness of the Roman fleet by half.

 Nevertheless, Rome now had full control over Iberia north of the Ebro river - a serious blow to the Carthaginian war effort.

 Moreover, northern Iberia would become a base of operations for Roman incursions into Carthaginian territory south of the Ebro river.

 Meanwhile, having marched his forces over the Alps, Hannibal would soon turn the Italian peninsula into a war zone, in a campaign that would elevate him to a general of legendary status...

 It is the year 218 BC.

 As Roman legions under consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus sail south to invade Carthage itself, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus is consolidating Rome's position in Iberia, while his brother, consul Publius Cornelius Scipio rushes back to the Po Valley to take command of the Roman army there and  stop Hannibal.

 Both sides are confident of victory.

 Although the Carthaginians are faced with serious setbacks in Iberia, in Gaul Hannibal speeds up his approach to the Alps when he befriends the Allobroges tribe by adjudicating in a dispute between two royal brothers over who should rule.

 The seemingly grateful new ruler of the tribe, Brancus the elder, provides the Carthaginians with supplies, warm clothes, food, and guides.

 And so begins Hannibal's perilous journey through the Alps.

 But as the ascend begins, Brancus' "friendly"

 guides turn home.

 Here, Hannibal shows he is as skillful in mind games as he is in generalship.

 Sensing an ambush, he sends scouts ahead who report that the tribesmen are indeed mustering their forces just ahead on higher ground near their settlement, waiting to attack the passing Carthaginian column.

 With a select group of experienced troops Hannibal sneaks up to a position overlooking the tribal settlement and plans his next move.

 As night falls he signals his army to proceed marching.

 Spotting the movement, tribal sentries raise the alarm and, just as Hannibal had hoped, an attack begins on the Carthaginian column.

 Expecting the impending attack, Carthaginian troops below stand fast on the precipice.

 A swarm of tribal warriors smashes into their solid defensive line, the initial push throwing many over the cliff's edge.

 But the Carthaginians hold their ground and the tribesmen soon realize that they have fallen into a trap.

 Hannibal rushes downhill while Carthaginian troops from below simultaneously begin pushing uphill.

 Many tribesmen are cut down in a matter of minutes, their morale broken by the lightning fast Carthaginian counter attack.

 With the enemy driven off, Hannibal and his men turn their attention towards the village.

 They storm the tribal settlement and seize all of their winter provisions.

 At dawn, the Carthaginian march resumes.

 Over the following three days the marching column continues unopposed.

 But all that changes on the fourth day as the Carthaginians enter a narrow gorge where they are met by several tribal chiefs who offer friendship, hostages and guides.

 Suspecting that the Gallic tribes from these parts are no friendlier, Hannibal accepts their offer but takes precautions by secretly moving the vulnerable baggage train and cavalry to the front of the column, and positions his heavy infantry in the rear.

 As the Carthaginian march continues through the extremely narrow pass, the 200m vertical cliffs ominously tower over them.

 And they are not alone... the Gallic warriors are watching from above.

 Having set up an ambush further up the gorge, the tribesmen bide their time, shadowing Hannibal's army for two days.

 But suddenly, at a very narrow point in the gorge the Carthaginian column gets blocked from the front, as the tribesmen unleash their attack.

 Rocks and projectiles rain down from the cliffs above onto the Carthaginians below, killing many in the process.

 Animals panic and trample over soldiers who hopelessly look for cover.

 The main Gallic force appears behind the Carthaginian column and charges their rear, expecting weakest resistance there as they hope to loot and destroy their supply train.

 But again, Hannibal proves he is one step ahead of his opponents, as the heavy Carthaginian infantry he previously placed in the rear pushes back the Gallic charge and inflicts heavy losses on the enemy, forcing them to retreat after a brief battle.

 Hannibal then urges his men to push foward out of the killing zone, as the barrage of rocks from above continues.

 It is not until one day later that the Carthaginians finally reach safety on the other side of the gorge.

 The last of the Allobroges attacks is beaten off but the remorseless fighting against the Gallic tribes took its' toll on Hannibal's army.

 To make matters worse, the weather soon turns as winter comes early.

 Hannibal's troops find themselves battling heavy snowstorms.

 Traversing through rocky gorges and steep mountain slopes, many are swallowed by treacherous voids lurking just under the snowfall.

 Men, animals and wagons slip and slither on the ice towards precipitous ravines and treacherous chasms.

 Finally, nine days into the march, the Carthaginians set up camp just below the top of the pass as they wait for stragglers to catch up.

 Two days later Hannibal rallies his troops at the top and points to the panorama of Italy below.

 There, he vows to his men: "You will have the capital of Italy, the citadel of Rome, in the hollow of your hands", and with that they begin descending towards the Po Valley.

 But the slopes on the way down are far steeper and largely covered in ice.

 The treacherous terrain claims the lives of many more troops and animals.

 Adding to the hardship, a collapsed stretch of road forces the Carthaginian column to stop for three days amidst freezing conditions, while the road is repaired.

 But finally, after braving these horrific conditions the Carthaginians reach the foot of the Alps.

 Having lost nearly half of his army, Hannibal takes stock of his troops who suffered terribly during the crossing.

 Of the 45,000 that set off through the Alps just 16 days ago, only 26,000 made it to the other side.

 There, the Roman army awaits...

 In late 218 BC, Hannibal marched his forces over the Alps.

 But before he can confront the Romans he first tackles his three immediate priorities: He resupplies and rests his exhausted men.

 Begins rebuilding his army by recruiting new contingents of Gallic troops from the Po valley, as his current army is only barely equal in size to a single Roman consular army.

 And as soon as his troops are rested he quickly moves to secure the loyalty of Gallic tribes.

 Aware that loyalty, or at least compliance, cannot be guaranteed by flattery and gifts alone, Hannibal asserts his authority by making an example of the Taurini tribe, who resisted the Carthaginian advance.

 After a three-day siege, he orders his troops to storm the main town of the Taurini.

 All of the inhabitants, men, women and children... are massacred.

 This calculated display of ruthlessness serves to show the Gallic tribes what is the price of hostility to the Carthaginian cause.

 Meanwhile, on the waves off the coast of Sicily, the Carthaginians strike the first blow.

 In preparation for a full scale invasion to take back the important port cities that they once held, their ships begin raiding strategic islands around Sicily.

 In the west, the operation is successful.

 But further east, while raiding the Vulcan islands, few Carthaginian ships are blown off course in a terrible storm.

 Not far from the Straits of Messina they are eventually spotted and attacked by the Syracusian navy.

 The Roman ally captures three Carthaginian ships and their crews.

 Under torture, the seamen reveal details about the Carthaginian plan to attack Sicily.

 The Syracusian King informs his allies of this, and the Roman praetor in Sicily reacts promptly.

 The Romans learned that the Carthaginians have a larger fleet in the area, but that their ships are not packed with many soldiers.

 The Roman praetor decides to exploit this by packing each of his ships with twice as many legionaries - effectively enabling each Roman ship crew to fight off two Carthaginian ships.

 With look out posts set up along the shore, the Roman ambush is set.

 The Carthaginians close in unpposed.

 But as they approach their intended target, the Romans go on the offensive.

 They direct their ships towards one part of the Carthaginian fleet, rushing to board the enemy.

 In this 1 v 1 situation, the more numerous Roman crews overwhelm the Carthaginian ships and quickly pick them off one by one.

 Eventually the Carthaginian naval attack is defeated and their attempt to gain a foothold on the island of Sicily in 218 BC fails.

 By this time, Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus arrives and launches a counter offensive along the south coast of Sicily and manages to capture Malta.

 He then turns back to intercept Carthaginian ships that are raiding the Vulcan islands, Vibo and Bruttium.

 But Longus' mission is cut short by news that Hannibal arrived in the Po Valley, and he gets summoned to bring his legions back north to help Scipio.

 Meanwhile, Scipio is eager to meet Hannibal in battle.

 With his 17 year old son at his side, also named Publius - who will later become known as Scipio Africanus - Scipio crosses the river Po at Placentia and promptly continues west along the northern bank of the Po.

 Under his command are mostly less experienced troops, but Scipio is confident of defeating Hannibal. After all, in Scipio's view he challenged Hannibal on the Rhone, and the Carthaginian general ran away.

 Hannibal on the other hand is quite surprised to learn that Scipio made it back to the Po valley so quickly.

 He thinks that Scipio returned with his entire army, but he has no way of knowing that in fact Scipio's troops continued on to Iberia.

 Thinking that the Romans now have two whole armies in the Po valley, the Carthaginian general fears that this force is now strong enough to deter Gallic tribes from joining him, and he wants a victory... fast.

 Hannibal knows that the Gallic tribes will not rally to his banner if he doesn't seem confident of defeating Rome.

 Not wasting any time, he marches his army downstream along the northern bank of the Po river to meet Scipio.

 Still unaware of each other's exact whereabouts, the two generals send scouting parties well ahead of their respective armies as they march towards each other.

 Each army's scouts soon report the enemy's presence, and both Hannibal and Scipio proceed with caution.

 The Romans build a pontoon bridge over the Ticinus river and set up camp on the western bank.

 Meanwhile, some 15km west the Carthaginian column also stops and encamps for the night on the flat plain.

 A day later, both Hannibal and Scipio ride out in force to scout the area in person, each of them eager to gain a crucial early victory, which would inspire the rest of their troops and win support of the Gallic tribes.

 Hannibal rides with the bulk of his horsemen, while Scipio has all of his cavalry and a small force of velites with him.

 As the two contingents move through the flat plain they soon spot each other because of the clouds of dust thrown up by the hooves of their horses.

 Both generals decide to deploy their troops for battle.

 Hannibal arrays his close order Spanish cavalry in the front and forms the Numidian light cavalry in two groups behind the first line.

 Scipio places his velites in the front, aiming to soften up Hannibal's cavalry with javelin throws.

 Gallic allies form the second line, while the Roman cavalry is in reserve.

 As both contingents begin closing the distance, Hannibal sees that the Roman cavalry is fewer in number and makes a split second decision not to engage in skirmishing with the Roman velites.

 Instead he orders a full-blooded charge against the Roman front line.

 Scipio quickly responds by leading his cavalry forward, as the velites withdraw through the gaps to form a second line, without even managing a single javelin volley due to the onrushing Carthaginians.

 Few moments late the cavalry clashes in the center.

 A fierce bloody-static melee develops, unlike the usual mobile cavalry encounters of the time.

 The horses panic in the chaotic close-quarters fighting, and many horsemen dismount in order to fight more effectively on foot.

 For a while the fighting seems indecisive, but this was another ruse by Hannibal.

 He waits until most of the Roman cavalry is fully commited and then sends his Numidians on a flanking maneuver.

 This catches the Romans totally by surprise.

 Velites on the flanks spot the envelopement and some of them panic and flee.

 The fast Numidian cavalry quickly flows around the Roman flanks and tramples over the scattered light infantry.

 And then the noose begins to tighten around the Roman contingent.

 In the melee Scipio is struck down from his horse.

 Carthaginian troops close in to finish off the wounded general, but at the final moment he is rescued.

 One early account of his rescue holds that a Ligurian slave saved the Roman consul, but the more popular version claims that his 17 year old son Publius charged to rescue his father with a small group of Roman cavalry that clustered around the consul, before retreating back towards the Roman camp.

 As word of Hannibals victory spreads, Gallic tribes send emissaries to pledge their support.

 But despite their promises the Gauls deliver little in the way of reinforcements and supplies during this early stage of the war.

 This forces Hannibal, who's army goes critically low on food in late 218 BC, to send a cavalry contingent to capture a Roman grain depot at Clastidium, guarded by a Roman garrison.

 Luckily for Hannibal, the garrison commander is from Brundisium in southern Italy, and when confronted he willingly surrenders the depot and, in return for 400 gold pieces, joins the Carthaginian ranks together with the entire garrison.

 These troops become the first of the "Italian allies" to defect and join Hannibal.

 Meanwhile, the Roman army retreats to Placentia where they plan to wait for Sempronius and his consular army.

 Although the defeat at the river Ticinus is far from a major loss, it nevertheless reinforces the apprehension with which the Romans would view Hannibal from now on, and it sets a psychological tone which would be felt in the much larger battles to come.

 After the defeat at Ticinus, the Roman senate looks to save face by blaming Gallic allies for being "ineffective".

 Taking comfort in the fact that Hannibal has yet to face the vaunted Roman infantry, Longus'

 Longus' arrival to northern Italy restores confidence.

 Hannibal now faces armies of both Roman consuls.

 It's early December 218 BC.

 Publius Scipio's life still hangs in the balance due to wounds he sustained at Ticinus.

 But, ironically, his troubles are only just starting.

 His defeat at Ticinus has major consequences for Rome:

 It directly caused the garrison at Clastidium to surrender the town's massive grain depot.

 This strips his army of food reserves and disrupts his supply lines, making any advance into enemy territory a risky venture.

 At the same time, Hannibal finally replenishes his own reserves, which were dwindling eversince he descended from the Alps, right until the clash at Ticinus, just a few days ago.

 The damage to Roman prestige raises the danger of further defections.

 What's worse, Gallic tribes are flocking to join Hannibal, enthused by his ability to defeat the Romans and his softer administrative touch.

 Scipio has no option but to retreat, realizing he is deep in hostile territory.

 He marches to Placentia and makes camp across the Po river.

 Hannibal pursuits and catches up two days later.

 Learning of his arrival, over 2000 Gauls allied to Rome rise up in the camp and attack Roman soldiers, killing many in their sleep.

 Before sunrise they cross the Trebia to join Hannibal, bringing with them the severed heads of slain Romans.

 Using the Gallic defection as propaganda, Hannibal makes sure to spread the word that Rome's allies are joining him en masse, thereby boosting his popularity among the tribes.