Second Punic War: Encyclopedia II - Second Punic War - The war in Italy

Second Punic War - The war in Italy

Hannibal anticipated that a consular army would move along the coast towards Hispania, and so took a combined army of 40,000 North Africans and Iberians across southern France by an inland route and crossed the Alps over the winter. His invasion of Italia came as a surprise to the Romans, for he had constructed no fleet, and it was believed his army could not possibly make it through the mountains. Indeed, it sustained very heavy casualties, including all but three of his 37 war elephants. Nevertheless, that spring he came into Northern Italy, then known as Gallia Cisalpina, with a still-formidable force of 26,000 men. The Romans tried to attack him while he was still unready, but he defeated them at the river Ticinus in a skirmish in which consul Publius Cornelius Scipio was severely wounded, and then again at the Battle of Trebia, where more than a third of Roman forces were killed. The Romans then retreated, leaving Hannibal in control of Northern Italy. His support from a few of the Gallic tribes and Italian cities was not what he had hoped for, and many Roman landholders burned their estates to prevent Hannibal's army from plundering them (indirectly later giving rise to the latifundia). Despite this resistance, Hannibal was able to strengthen his army to a force of 50,000 men.

The next year the Romans elected Gaius Flaminius consul in hopes that he could defeat Hannibal. Flaminius set up an ambush at Arretium. However, Hannibal was warned of the attack and so bypassed the Roman army, allowing him a free march on Rome. Flaminius had to pursue him, but the Roman forces were ambushed and utterly defeated at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. However Hannibal, despite the urgings of his generals, did not proceed to besiege Rome, as he lacked siege equipment and he had no supply base in central Italia. Instead he proceeded to the south in hopes of stirring up rebellion amongst the Greek population there.

Meanwhile, the veteran Fabius Maximus had been appointed dictator, and he decided that it would be best to avoid any further field battles. Instead, Fabius tried to cut off Hannibal's supplies by devastating the countryside and harassing his army. Such operations are now called Fabian tactics after him, and earned him the nickname of the Cunctator (delayer). Fabius' tactics were very unpopular in Rome, and the following year he was replaced by two consuls who promised to end the war quickly.

These consuls jointly fielded the largest Roman army ever, which met Hannibal at Cannae (216). The Romans outnumbered the Carthaginians 70,000 (some reports have the Roman forces between 88,000 and 100,000 men, but neither number can be fully proven) to about 50,000, but by allowing his center to retreat and using his superior cavalry to rout the Roman cavalry guarding the Roman flanks, Hannibal was able to encircle their forces, and completely annihilated them. Only 16,000 Romans survived. This number can also be called into question, seeing as the amount of troops they began with isn't known, and because the number of troops who survived would have included deserters as dead. As the story goes, Rome declared a national day of mourning as there was not a single person in Rome who was not either related to or knew a person who had died. The Romans became so desperate that they resorted to human sacrifice, the last recorded human sacrifice that the Romans would perform, killing a few slaves and burying them in the forum.

The battle of Cannae led to some of the support Hannibal had hoped for. Over the next three years Capua, Syracuse, and Tarentum went over to his side. Philip V of Macedonia also allied with Hannibal in 217 BC, starting the First Macedonian War against Rome. Philip's fleet, however, was unable to stand up to Rome's, so he was never able to provide any direct help in Italy.

However, Rome had come to understand the wisdom of Fabius' delaying tactics. Fabius Maximus was reelected consul in 215 BC and again in 214 BC. For the rest of the war in Italy, Rome employed Fabian tactics, dividing their army into small forces at vital locations, and avoiding Carthaginian attempts to draw them into field battles.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The war in Italy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki