Blog 10 Lake Trasimene

So over the winter the Romans had raised over 100,000 troops in order to replace the men lost at the Trebia River.[1] Furthermore there was a consul election so Longus and Scipio were out at this point. They were replaced by Gnaenus Geminus and Gaius Flaminus. Flaminus was under the threat of being recalled because he did not complete rituals. It’s kind of like if the president just decided he was skipping his inauguration and just started to rule. Flaminus was given four new legions and headed back to Rome to shore up the defenses. However Hannibal followed and marched faster and managed to pass the Roman army.

Hannibal attempted to lure out Flaminus by raiding neighboring towns.  But Flaminus kept staying in his camp. The senate, angered with a lack of progress, told Flaminus to engage Hannibal. Flaminus gave cash to Hannibals army. Now, Hannibal found a place that would make a good ambush spot called Lake Trasimene.  The lake had a narrow shore and steep forested hills surrounding it so it was here that Hannibal laid his trap[2]. He put his troops in the hills parallel to the path of the shore and had them conceal themselves. He had his cavalry and Gaelic infantry closer to the Roman camp and his heavy Iberian and African forces farther away.  Flaminus had pushed his men hard down the path on the lake. Hannibal sent a group of scouts to lure the vanguard Roman force out. The rest of the army followed them through the foggy narrow path. Then Hannibal signaled his forces. The cavalry quickly swept around the sides cutting off the Romans from retreat. Then rushing down from the hills, the Gauls and heavy infantry charged the confused Roman lines. The Romans were massacred.  They had no easy way of escape being that they faced a lake or an army[3]. Some of them drowned trying to swim in their armor.  Flaminus was slain by a Gaul during the battle.  Around 10,000 Romans managed to escape from the battle. It was theorized that because of how long Hannibal’s line were that a section of troops may have not gotten the orders for the attack and that’s how the Romans escaped their trap. 30,000 troops took to the field that day and around half were slain and about 5000 were taken prisoner[4]. Meanwhile Hannibal only lost around 2500 men. The ambush was extremely successful.

So for those keeping score at home, Hannibal had won three of three battles that he commanded. He killed 45,000 Romans and lost around 7000 men. Hannibal is most certainly winning at this point. Many Romans claimed that Flaminus skipping the rituals was a bad omen which angered the gods and had them turn on Rome and Flaminus, leading to his death. After learning from a praetor of the defeat Rome was now in a desperate state[5]. Hannibal now had access to the sea after two years. He sent word to the Carthaginian senate of his triumphs which were met with celebration. Worst of all for the Romans, the Carthaginians had promised to send Hannibal more supplies and troops.  Rome was truly in a panic now for they needed time to recuperate their losses.

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[1] Miles, 270.

[2] Polybius 3.83.

[3] Livy 22 4-6

[4] Goldsworthy 189

[5] Livy 22.7

Blog 9 Trebia

So Rome was in great alarm by the sudden realization that they were out flanked by Hannibal and rightfully so because most of their armies were in Spain or Sicily at this point of the war. Tiberius Longus, the other consul who was in Sicily planning for an invasion of North Africa, was recalled by the senate to go help his co-consul Scipio in the north[1].

So Scipio and Hannibal engaged in cavalry battle. Hannibal, having superior numbers and quality of horsemen, routed the Roman force rather quickly.  Scipio himself was wounded during the battle and was saved by his 17 year old son of the same name. Scipio Jr, later known as Scipio Africanus, will be important later in the war. There is another story that Scipio was saved by a slave which is just as possible as his son saving him[2].

Previous battle 

In December, Longus arrived with his army to help Scipio. Hannibal withdrew to the Trebia River, not wanting to face the Romans on ground that he did not choose.  The Romans followed him but little did they know that they were playing into his hands. According to Polybius, who was patron of the household of Scipio, Longus wanted to fight quickly and win glory. I don’t know if this is true because Polybius would try to make his patrons look as good as possible and shift the blame if he could.  So it’s possible that Longus was a man seeking only glory but it also possible that he honestly tried his best and that Polybius brushed him aside as a glory seeking idiot for the crime of not being a Scipio.

Anyway, Hannibal picked one side of the river banks and Romans camped on the other side. However Hannibal sent a group of 1000 cavalry and 1000 infantry led by his brother Mago where plants were overgrown on the banks. He sent 500 Numidian cavalry to the Roman camp to provoke an engagement. Like Hannibal predicted, Longus ordered his army to get ready to fight as quickly as possible. The Roman mobilized at dawn and crossed the river. So by the time they got across, they were tried, cold, wet, and hungry as they didn’t eat before they mobilized. The Carthaginian forces were well prepared and fed. Both sides had around 40,000 infantry. Hannibal’s cavalry bested the Romans due to being  quicker, better trained, and more numerous which caused the Romans to leave their flanks open. At this point Mago led his ambush and attacked the Roman army’s rear[3]. The Romans at this point were surrounded. About 10,000 Romans escaped the battle. Hannibal had won a significant victory and took out a large portion of the Roman army. With almost 30,000 Romans dead he had enough proof to bring the Gauls into his army now. Hannibal had lost around 4000 to 5000 troops by comparison.   Longus claimed that defeat came from the bad weather but few believe if.[4]

Battle of Trebia. 4 is Mago. 2 is Roman cavalry 

However the Romans had a respite with the winter.  Hannibal’s army lost a significant portion of their men to the cold including all but one elephant and spent the majority of his time trying to get food.  So the war effectively halted until the spring. This gave Rome some much needed time to prepare but would it do any good? Find out in the next blog.

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[1] Miles, 269.

[2] Livy 21.46

[3] Goldsworthy  173-181

[4] Polybius  3.68

Blog 8 The March

Now whenever I talk about Hannibal everyone gets one image, a man on an elephant leading an army through the Alps to Rome.  This is probably one of the most famous military maneuvers in history and there is a good reason for it. This march would most certainly give Hannibal the advantage of surprise but there was a huge risk to it as well.  Also it was one of the few options Hannibal had left. The days when Carthage ruled the sea were long gone now so a sea invasion would be rather difficult. 
Yeah that's the image everyone gets.

So after crossing the Rhone, Hannibal made his way towards the Alps. However, to his surprise, there was a Roman army a few miles away from him. Publius Cornelius Scipio, consul of Rome, had landed his army near Massila in order to invade Barcid Spain[1]. Numidian scouts and Roman scouts happened to run into each other. The cavalry battle was a slight victory for the Romans whose scouts returned to tell Scipio. Upon hearing their report, Scipio then followed in hot pursuit to the Carthaginian camp. However, Hannibal didn’t want to fight a pitched battle yet. Scipio found Hannibal’s camp deserted; he then left his army in the hands of his brother and they led it to Spain. Scipio returned to the northern Italy to start building up forces for the impeding invasion. 

So now Hannibal began the long march across the Alps.  You see the Alps weren’t uninhabited; no, there were several tribes that lived in the mountains. They did not take kindly to intruders in their land.  He was ambushed by Gaul tribesmen who killed many men and made off with a lot of his supplies[2]. So Hannibal had some of his troops stay hidden. When the Gauls attacked again he defeated them with an ambush and took their village getting much of his supplies back. It took nine days for Hannibal’s army to reach the top of the pass and by then the first winter snow began to fall in late October.  The conditions were awful as you can imagine[3]

According to legend there was a steep precipice that Hannibal could not get around. So Hannibal ordered his men to burn large amounts of wood. The men heated their wine and tossed it on the rock to weaken it. They were then able to carve their way through the rocks.[4] Yeah this story probably isn’t true but interesting.

Hannibal’s soldiers had made it across the Alps at this point but the damage to their ranks was high.  Hannibal had left Iberia with 50,000 infantry and 9000 horsemen. After Hannibal’s Alpine adventure he was down to 20,000 infantry and 6000 horsemen[5]. Some historians put Hannibal’s pre-crossing numbers at 94,000 total forces and by the end 26,000. So Hannibal’s crossing was extremely costly. But he gained what he wanted as he caught the Romans off guard. Many considered a crossing during winter impossible so the fact that he did and was now on the Romans’ footstep was a great morale booster for his troops. Hannibal’s last act of the crossing was an attempt to win over the Gauls in the region. Hannibal knew he needed to win against the Romans in order to impress them. But one tribe opposed him so he attacked their capitol and killed everyone within it[6]. The Gauls then started taking Hannibal’s messages for alliances far more seriously.

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[1] Miles, 262

[2] Polybius 3.50.

[3] Livy 21.35.

[4] Polybius 3.55

[5] Livy 21.38

[6] Polybius 3.60

Blog 7 Rhone River

 Now Hannibal’s army was a diverse one to say the least. The Carthaginian army was made up of several different groups of soldiers including Carthaginians, Numidians, Libyans,  Balearic Islanders, three different ethnic groups of Spanish origins, many different tribes of Gauls and, later in the war, Italians and Greeks. So Hannibal’s forces came from many lands but they specialized in different forms of war.  The Balearic Islanders used slings and were feared throughout the world for their skill. The Numidians used small maneuverable horses to fight with agility and fought with javelins[1]. The Gauls used large swords, sometimes stripped naked before battle and fought in single combat to settle disputes[2].  Libyans fought with short swords and oval shields. The Iberians favored traditional garb but eventually adopted Roman arms and armor[3]. The Carthaginians fought in phalanx formations. So there was a wide variety of troops that all fought differently. In addition there were also elephants which weren’t new to ancient warfare. Also depending who you ask they were either really effective or not really at all.[4]  Alexander had encountered them in India and one of his general’s kingdoms fielded over 400 at one point. Furthermore Pyrrhus had used them on the Romans during the Pyrrhic War.  So Hannibal knew that Romans had experience with them. However they still were a terrifying sight on the battlefield. The average Roman troops was a subsistence farmer whom probably didn’t travel much. Elephants would probably be considered monsters by them.

            Now Hannibal was ready for his long march to the Alps and beyond. His mercenaries were loyal to the Barcid family after years of warfare. So with a loyal army at his heels, Hannibal began his move towards his great enemies.  However the Gauls of southern France viewed this as a major threat. They rallied  together ready to fight Hannibal but he managed to avert a war by  giving them gifts of money and goods.

Iberian

            After dealing with the first set of Gaul tribes, he ran into a new problem: the Rhone River.  The Rhone was a large river so crossing it would be a difficult task as is. Adding further headaches to Hannibal was the fact there were hostile Gaul tribes ready for war on the other side.  Hannibal’s plan was to send his nephew Hanno with a detachment of Spaniards upstream to flank the hostile Gauls when his forces were ready to cross.  So the next day Hannibal’s flotilla of small rafts and ships crossed the river.  Then Hanno troops attacked the Gauls’ flank and drove them off the field[5].  However the crossing of the rest of his army and, most difficultly, the elephants was still an issue to his success.  According to legend Hannibal built rafts and laid dirt and soil on them to fool the elephants into believing they were on solid land. Apparently this idea worked and got the majority of the elephants across the river. However some got spooked and jumped into the river and if the ancient accounts are to be believed used their trunks as snorkels to get the rest of the way[6]. I have my doubts about the second story but the first seems pretty plausible.

            So Hannibal had conquered two large obstacles with relative ease. The campaign was going pretty well at this point for young Hannibal but ahead of him he had two far larger tasks: Crossing the Alps and then fighting the Romans with whatever he had left.  Both were going to be very difficult.

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[1] Goldsworthy, 178

[2] Goldsworthy, 169

[3] Goldsworthy 189

[4] Charles, Michael. "Elephants at Raphia: Reinterpreting Polybius 5.84-5." The Classical Quarterly 57, no. 1 (May 01, 2007): 306-11. Accessed November 30, 2014.

[5] Polybius 3. 42

[6] O'bryhim, S. "Hannibal's Elephants and the Crossing of the Rhône." The Classical Quarterly 41, no. 1 (January 01, 1991): 121-25.

Blog 6 The War Starts

Now it’s time to get to the real subject of this blog, the Second Punic War. So for a bit of additional set up, the Romans were most likely troubled by the Carthaginian expansion into the Iberian Peninsula. Hamilicar told them the truth that he was conquering Spain to pay the Romans back. Hamilcar later signed a treaty with Rome stating that Carthage would not expand beyond the Hiberus River (the river this refers to is up to debate) in the Iberian Peninsula[1]. This is where Carthaginian influence would stop. Hasdurbal the Fair passed away from disease but Hannibal was now old enough to lead. He was elected as the leader of their Spanish forces[2].  This further cemented the fact that the Iberian Peninsula belonged to the Barcid family. Having grown up with his father’s armies, Hannibal seemed to have a firm grasp on military tactics and strategy. So for the next two years he fought against the Celtiberians in the northwest.  With numerous successes he kept moving ever northward towards the Hiberus River.

Always make sure you set clear bounders in treaties and life.

            Now there was a Hellenistic colony in northern Spain called Saguntum. The city was an ally of Rome and was most likely informing to the Romans about Hannibal’s activities. However there were a few pro Barcid supporters. The pro Roman government executed them.  Hannibal sent his sights on the territory around Saguntum. Alarmed, they sent envoys to Rome asking for assistance.  Now if the river in question was the Ebro River then Hannibal was most likely in the right. If it was Jucar River, well, Sagnuntum would have been well passed that.  But Hannibal laid siege to Sagnuntum after talking to a Roman delegation that may have insulted him[3]. Another delegation was sent to speak to Hannibal, who didn’t even talk to them claiming that he couldn’t guarantee their safety and that he was too busy commanding a siege.[4]

I really like maps.

            Sagnuntum fell without the Romans acting after the walled city was starved out. The survivors were sold into slavery as was the norm for ancient sieges. Both the Romans and Carthaginians were split between wanting to go to war or trying to discuss peace. A Roman envoy came to the Carthaginian senate and after hearing their justification for the war said, “We offer you here, war or peace: choose which you please.” The Carthaginians told them it was their choice[5]. The envoy by the name of Fabius replied that would be war. And so it began the Second Punic War.

            Now you would think after something as dramatic as that what would immediately follow would also be dramatic. However that’s not the case[6]. Rome’s armies were not mobilized at this point and Hannibal was planning for the future.  Hannibal sent a decent portion of this army to North Africa. They were supposed to protect the region but the council and Hannibal didn’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things so they could have been sent as a threat. Carthage sent a force to Spain roughly the same size as the group in Carthage including elephants and Numidian Calvary, two types of units that would be a great deal of help in the future to Hannibal.  551 words

IT HAS BEGUN!

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[1] Livy, History of Rome, 26.2.

[2] Livy, 26.3

[3] Polybius 3.15.

[4] Polybius, 3,17.

[5] Livy, 21,18.

[6] Miles, 235. 

Blog 5 The Set Up

So at this point things are not going particularly well for Carthage due to being in massive debt due to fighting a large scale war and with the additional burden of a massive tribute. Furthermore, they lost their profitable lands and ports in Sicily. When Hamilcar returned to Carthage with his army of mercenaries Carthage couldn’t pay them.  So roughly 20,000 mercenaries, disgruntled with a lack of pay and not trusting Carthage anymore, were now in open revolt. Hanno the Great and Hamilcar Barca were given joint command of the army. They bought more mercenaries to help fight the new threat and decided to pay them up front this time (to avoid making previous mistakes). Along with new mercenaries, citizen soldiers joined the Carthaginian army. However the Libyans joined with the rebels.[1]

Now this was a truly brutal war. Carthage executed and tortured most of the prisoners they took. The rebels followed suit.  This was rather uncommon and Polybius said it was most brutal war to ever happen. After some military defeats, Hanno gave full command to Hamilcar who destroyed the majority of the mercenary forces who were trapped in a ravine. He starved out the rebels when they were trapped.  He later crucified two of the mercenary leaders just to make a point[2]. Even when Carthage was significantly outnumbered they managed to beat this new threat. After two years the war was over. But Rome saw an opportunity in Sardinia where they claimed that it was ruled by rebels and they forcibly annexed it. Carthage was going to retake the island but Rome declared war on them. After being weakened by  two consecutive wars the Carthaginians gave in. The new treaty called for further payment to the Romans.

So Carthage was in a pickle at this point. With two major trade hubs down, they were basically crippled in an economic sense now.  So to get more money Hamilcar proposed raising an army to expand their African holdings. Although Hamilcar had to intention to do this, instead he sailed to Spain without permission[3]. But before going he did a traditional sacrifice where his young son Hannibal swore to never be a friend to Rome. It’s open to interpretation but I believe it meant that Rome will always be Hannibal’s enemy. So after eight years of fighting and diplomacy the Carthaginians now controlled a large portion of the Iberian Peninsula. Hamilcar died, but under what circumstances historians aren’t really sure. One story involved him sacrificing himself so his sons could escape. After that command went to Hamilcar’s son-in-law Hasdurbal the Fair who further expanded the Barcid Spanish territory[4].  Before long, silver started to come back to Carthage and they managed to pay off their debt quicker than the Romans anticipated.

But after years of fighting across the Iberian Peninsula, the mercenary force that came with Hamilicar became loyal soldiers to the Barcid family. See, although this land was Carthaginian territory it really belonged to the Barcid family. This was their territory and it was in Spain that the Second Punic War would start.

509 words

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[1] Miles, 204.

[2] Polybius, Book 1, 235.

[3] Appian, History of Rome: The Hannibalic war, 7.2.

[4] Polybius, 1, 239.