Road to Rome 221 - 218 BC Hannibal (Part 1) - 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...