The 2nd Punic War

Part Two

By Terry Gore

Part One: Second Punic War: Preliminaries
Part Two: Second Punic War: Spain to the Alps
Part Two: Second Punic War: First Battles in Italy

The First Battles

Hannibal's army had been decimated by the ordeal of crossing the Alps. Barely 25,000 men and two dozen elephants remained of the massive army that had begun the march. Yet only the hardiest, strongest, most dedicated remained. The best had survived. Expecting the Celtic tribes of northern Italy to join him, Hannibal quickly realized that his diminished army did not give them confidence in his ability to defeat Rome. He did put out the word that all Gauls were now free from roman rules, but few rallied to him. They needed to be convinced that Hannibal could win.

The unfortunate town of Taurini became the first victim. Refusing to immediately surrender, the town was taken, looted and the populace killed. Many tribesmen thereafter joined the Punic army. A victory over Roman troops, however, would really give proof to the Celtic tribes that Carthage was the faction to support.

Roman intelligence brought word of the Carthaginian invaders quickly to Rome, and the Senate wasted no time in sending Scipio north into the Celtic lands to confront the Punic army. The Roman force, mounted for maximum mobility, met Carthaginian cavalry at the Ticinus River. The Numidian and Carthaginian cavalry were far and away superior to that of the Romans, and Scipio escaped the battle wounded, only his son of the same name, who would become the most famous man in Rome by the wars end, saved him.

This victory, though not a decisive one, did show the Gallic tribesmen that the Carthaginians were for real. Not only did it bring more recruits to Hannibal, the Celtic Roman allies defected as well, so Scipio prudently took his remaining forces south to join together with the other Roman consul, Sempronius. It would not be until December when the Romans finally joined together and made their camp on the banks of the Trebbia River. Facing them across another river, the Luretta, assembled the Carthaginian army.

Hannibal, apprehensive about crossing two freezing rivers in the face of an army twice the size of his own, decided to outwit the Romans. He took the majority of his army with him while leaving a few thousand behind in his camp to make the Romans believe that he had not left. Marching upstream, the army crossed the Luretta River with no opposition and formed into battle formation in an open area between the two rivers with little terrain to impede his own cavalry. The movement was made in full sight of the Roman camp. Sensing that the Roman commanders could not let him simply maneovre past their own army, he enticed them to go move to the attack. As insurance, Hannibal sent his youngest brother, Mago and 1,000 cavalry into cover before dawn, with orders to attack the Romans when ordered.

As daylight broke, the Numidian cavalry attacked the Roman camp, whereby Sempronius had his own cavalry attack them. They made such a noisy demonstration, however, that the entire Roman army soon charged out of the protection of the fortified camp in pursuit of the enemy cavalry. This happened to be a fatal mistake. The Romans had not eaten and were forced to make a hard march through snow squalls, cross the cold waters of the Trebbia, and form up in the face of the polyglot Carthaginian army. Fully 36,000 Roman and allied foot, with 4,000 cavalry, faced 20,000 enemy foot, 10,000 horse and a handful of elephants.

The battle began with the Punic cavalry destroying the Roman horse. This left the flanks of the Roman army exposed. Hannibal had his Punic foot, Numidians and skirmishers assault the open Roman flanks, with the elephants also edging around toward the Roman rear. This effectively destroyed the Roman allied troops on the right and left flanks.

At this point, Mago and his cavalry arrived, hitting the distraught Romans in the rear. As the center of the Roman army dealt severely with the Celtic warbands in front of them, the rest of the Roman army died. Fighting through the encirclement, Sempronius and his survivors made it to Placentia along with Scipio and others who managed to escape. Fully half of the Roman army lay dead on the field.

The Next Steps

The Romans had been embarrassed by Hannibal and Sempronius sought revenge. Wintering in the Po River valley, Hannibal relied on his numerous Celtic allies to bring supplies to his army, which they dutifully did, deciding that the Punic army did indeed have the generalship and will to defeat the hated Romans. Hannibal now began to focus on his ultimate goal - to drive a wedge between Rome and her allies. To do this, he would have to march his army into southern Italy, crossing the Appenine Mountains in the process. The Romans could block the passes over the range, but Hannibal felt he could fight his way through. Choosing the more difficult of the two routes, probably figuring the Romans would be less apt to apportion large numbers of troops there, instead heavily defending the easier route, the Carthaginian commander led his army into Etruria.

The Romans were also figuring that melting snows would seemingly prevent Hannibal from making the passage in the early spring, but Hannibal's superior scouts led him through marshland and low water. Once again the Carthaginian army came though and surprised the Romans. Hannibal did lose sight in one of his eyes during this week of travail.

The new Roman consul, Flaminius, confident in his own generalship after defeating Gallic armies, wasted no effort in attacking Hannibal, whose own army wreaked havoc throughout Etruria. But the Roman avoided coming to battle! Content with dogging Hannibal's footsteps, Flaminius simply followed the Carthaginian army at a safe distance. Hannibal wanted a decisive victory and worked on getting one. He marched his army past the Roman camp in an insulting rebuke to Flaminius' ego. That did the trick. Ignoring counsel to the contrary, Flaminius broke camp and began to pursue the Carthaginains in earnest, expecting to catch the Punic army between his own army and that of his pro-consul, Geminus.

Hannibal, aware of his vulnerability if caught between two consular armies, sought out a place from which to deal with Flaminius. He soon found it.

Lake Trasimene

On June 20, 217, Hannibal made his camp in the low hills above Lake Trasimene. Only a single road ran along the lake, and Hannibal quickly began to deploy his army at nightfall, hiding his troops in shrubland, behind low hills and in ravines. When morning came, Flaminius broke camp and began to follow the road through a deep mist which not only restricted visibility, but also deadened sound. Foolishly, the Romans traveled along the shoreline, not bothering to send out scouts to check out the nearby hills. Before too long, the Roman advance guards walked right into the Carthaginian foot blocking their advance. Trying to warn the rest of the army, the advance guards signaled the situation, but Hannibal used it as his own signal…to attack.

The Carthaginian army swarmed downhill into the shocked Romans. Only the advance guards escaped. With a ferocity terrible to behold, the Celtic forces avenged themselves upon their oppressors. Flaminius' bodyguard could not prevent the death of their commander. Thousands of Romans tried to flee into the lake and drowned. After three hours, the Roman army had been destroyed. Rome no longer had a field army between the Carthaginian army and the capital city.

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© Copyright 2000 by Terry Gore
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