Second Punic War

Did You Know?

• The most reliable source for the war is the historian Polybius, a Greek sent to Rome as a hostage in 167 BC, whose work is considered broadly objective.
• In 213 BC the Numidian king Syphax declared for Rome, prompting Carthage to send troops from Spain to North Africa.

Opposing forces

Most male Roman citizens were liable for military service, serving as infantry, with wealthier equites providing cavalry. Traditionally, Rome raised four legions in wartime, each of 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. About 1,200 of the infantry, poorer or younger men, served as javelin-armed skirmishers called velites, carrying several javelins, a short sword, and a 90 cm shield. The rest were heavy infantry with body armour, a large shield, and short thrusting swords, divided into three ranks: the front rank carried two javelins, while the second and third ranks used a thrusting spear.

Legionaries fought in relatively open order. Each year two consuls were elected, each leading an army typically formed by combining two Roman legions with two similarly sized and equipped Latin allied legions, which usually had more cavalry. Carthaginian citizens only served if the city was directly threatened, fighting as well-armoured heavy infantry with long thrusting spears, though they were notoriously ill-trained and ill-disciplined. Carthage mostly recruited foreigners, many from North Africa, referred to as Libyans.

These included close-order infantry with large shields, helmets, short swords, and long spears; javelin-armed light infantry skirmishers; heavy cavalry carrying spears; and light cavalry skirmishers, usually Numidians, who threw javelins and avoided close combat.

Background

The Roman Republic had expanded aggressively in southern Italy for a century, conquering peninsular Italy south of the Arno River by 270 BC after the Pyrrhic War. Carthage, with its capital in modern Tunisia, dominated southern Iberia, much of North Africa's coast, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, and western Sicily. By 264 BC Carthage was the dominant external power on Sicily, and both states were the preeminent powers in the western Mediterranean, with good relations and strong commercial ties.

According to classicist Richard Miles, Rome's expansionary attitude after controlling southern Italy and Carthage's proprietary approach to Sicily caused them to stumble into war more by accident than design. The immediate cause of the First Punic War was control of the independent Sicilian city state of Messana. That war, fought mainly on Sicily and its waters, included a failed Roman invasion of North Africa in 256 BC. After 23 years, Carthage was defeated in 241 BC, ceding its Sicilian possessions under the Treaty of Lutatius. Rome later annexed Carthaginian Sardinia and Corsica in 238 BC while Carthage was distracted by the Truceless War.

Italy

In 218 BC there was naval skirmishing around Sicily; the Romans repulsed a Carthaginian attack and captured Malta. In Cisalpine Gaul, major Gallic tribes attacked Roman colonies, forcing settlers to flee to Mutina, where they were besieged. A Roman relief force broke the siege but was ambushed and itself besieged. The Roman Senate detached one Roman and one allied legion from an army intended for Iberia to send north, delaying that army's departure until September.

Meanwhile, Hannibal assembled a Carthaginian army in New Carthage and led it north along the Iberian coast in May or June, entering Gaul via an inland route to avoid Roman allies. At the battle of the Rhône Crossing, he defeated local Gauls. A Roman fleet carrying the Iberian-bound army landed at Massalia, but Hannibal evaded them and continued to Italy. The Carthaginians reached the Alps by late autumn and crossed in 15 days, overcoming climate, terrain, and Ligurian guerrilla tactics.

Hannibal arrived in Cisalpine Gaul in November with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and an unknown number of elephants—survivors of the 37 he left Iberia with. His surprise entry into Italy cancelled Rome's planned invasion of Africa for that year.

Iberia

In the autumn of 218 BC, the Roman fleet dropped off its army in northeastern Iberia after leaving Massala. Local tribes sided with them. This foothold between the Ebro River and the Pyrenees cut off the land route from Iberia to Italy, making it tough for Hannibal to get reinforcements. Later that year, the Romans beat back a Carthaginian attack at the battle of Cissa.

In 217 BC, a Roman and Massalian force of 35 ships defeated 40 Carthaginian and Iberian warships at the battle of the Ebro River, sinking 29 of them. In 216, Carthage ordered Hasdrubal to march into Italy and link up with Hannibal to pressure Rome at home. Hasdrubal hesitated, saying his control over the Iberian tribes was shaky and the Roman army there was too strong. In 215, he finally moved, laying siege to a town loyal to Rome and then fighting at Dertosa.

He tried to use his better cavalry to sweep the Roman flanks while his infantry closed in from both sides on the center. But the Romans punched through the middle of the Carthaginian line, then crushed each wing separately, hitting them hard. That ended any chance Hasdrubal had of reaching Hannibal in Italy. After that, many Celtiberian tribes abandoned Carthage for Rome.

Roman commanders took Saguntum in 212 BC and hired 20,000 Celtiberian mercenaries the next year. Seeing the Carthaginian forces split into three separate armies, the Romans divided their own troops. This led to two defeats in 211, together called the battle of the Upper Baetis, because Hasdrubal bribed the mercenaries to switch sides. The surviving Romans fell back to their coastal stronghold north of the Ebro. Claudius Nero arrived with more troops in 210 BC and steadied the front.