So at this point Rome is
losing on all fronts besides Spain. Now
Rome had a major shift in strategic thinking. Rome decided that in order to
defeat Hannibal they could only score minor victories at best. So by adopting
the Fabian strategy, they tried to only fight Hannibal when they had the advantage.
They continued to attack his scouts and foraging parties. Slowly over the years
they weakened Hannibal’s numbers and total strength. The Roman army was moving in much smaller
numbers but overall they had more troops. They kept denying Hannibal the fight
that he wanted so badly and keep blocking his movements.
Another morale booster came from Sicily. Not only had the
Carthaginian army in the region been utterly destroyed by disease but the siege
of Syracuse was going well.[1] The Roman army had broken
the walls of Syracuse and were now slaughtering its people.[2] According to ancient
accounts, Archimedes was doing a math proof in the dirt when the Romans came up
to him. He simply told them, “Don’t disturb the equation.” The Romans killed poor Archimedes even though
they were under strict orders from their commander that he was to be sparred. So
with that, the Sicilian front was finished and Rome was victorious. All the
remaining Carthaginian forces left the island to North Africa.
Archimedes is so cool.
Archimedes is so cool.
Hannibal needing more forces after years in Italy so he
asked for his brothers Mago and Hasdrubal to come with reinforcements. However young Scipio Jr. had defeated Mago’s
army and delayed Hasdrubal. Mago managed to sail back with a small force but
Hasdrubal was taking the Alpine pass that Hannibal had taken to get to northern
Italy. He got there significantly faster because the Gauls feared Hannibal now
and the engineering projects used a decade earlier by Hannibal were still there.
So Hasdrubal arrived in north Italy and
Hannibal must have been pretty happy. With the combined might of Hannibal and
Hasdrubal’s forces the Romans most likely couldn’t have defeated him. Hasdrubal sent Hannibal a message saying that
their armies would met in south Umbria. However the messenger was captured by the
Romans and they learned of Hasdrubal’s plan.
Claudius Nero, who was the consul at this time, found the battle plans
and he marched up north to help his co-consul Marcus Salinator that was in
northern Italy.[3]
Hasdrubal was camped close to the Roman army when he heard trumpets sounding
that an important person had arrived. He concluded that he was fighting two Roman
armies now. Hasdrubal retreated to the Metaurus River.[4] There he and the Romans
clashed. Unfortunately many of the Gauls in the Carthaginian camp were drunk so
they were no use. Initially Hasdrubal’s
elephants spread chaos through the Roman ranks but the Roman cavalry defeated
the Carthaginians. The cavalry rode into the Hasdrubal’s ranks and he was
forced to retreat. Hasdrubal, not wanting to be captured, charged into the Roman
forces and met his end fighting his sworn enemies[5].
Died in cool way at least.
Died in cool way at least.
And with that Hannibal’s hopes of defeating the Romans
died with his brother. He no longer had the forces to fight the Romans. The
Carthaginian navy couldn’t supply him with new forces. Hannibal was now the one
that was on his knees. The Greek and Italian cities in the south of Italy were
either retaken by Rome or rejoined. The Romans managed to defeat Carthage on
three fronts now but there was one to go.
580 words
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