Beginning of the Second Punic War

After losing territory in the First Punic War, Carthage expanded in Africa and in 238 BC into Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula).  In 226 BC Hamilcar’s successor Hasdrubal made a treaty with the Romans which set the border between them at the river Ebro.  However, the Romans made an alliance with the city of Sagentum which was nearly 100 miles into Carthaginians.  Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar and the successor of Hasdrubal, at last attacked and captured Sagentum.  The Romans demanded that Carthage hand Hannibal over to them, and when Carthage refused, Rome declared war.

The Second Punic War

In 218 BC Hannibal left Carthage Hispania and fought his way through the Pyrenees by an inland route.  He left 11,000 unreliable mercenaries to garrison the newly conquered region and went through Gaul.  He fought a large battle against natives when crossing the Rhone River and then evaded a Roman army.  He then entered and successfully traversed the Alps, despite natural disasters and native opposition.  He at last entered Italy with only 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 3 elephants, approximately half the force he started with.  Publius Scipio’s Roman army met Hannibal’s army at Battle of Ticinus in which the Romans were driven away by the Carthaginian cavalry.  Meanwhile the consul Sempronius Longus joined with Publius Scipio and fought again at the Battle of Trebia.  The Romans were caught between the main Carthaginian force and a hidden force and were forced to retreat with heavy casualties.  The next spring the two new consuls, Servilius and Flaminius, blocked the routes south with their armies.  However, Hannibal led his forces between them over the Apennines and through a marsh (where he lost the last elephants).  Hannibal provoked Flaminius into a pursuit and destroyed both Flaminius and his army on the edge of Lake Trasimene.  After this defeat Rome appointed a dictator, Fabius, for 6 months.  Fabius altered Roman strategy by refraining from having Roman forces engage Hannibal.  He instead kept armies near Hannibal to restrict his movement and attempted to limit the supplies that Hannibal could secure.  When winter was approaching, Hannibal wanted to move his soldiers out Campania, which his troops had largely destroyed.  Fabius had put armies in all of the passes out of Campania.  Hannibal had his soldiers put torches on cattle which were used as a decoy to let his soldiers escape.  However, the Roman people were frustrated by his appearance of cowardliness and wished for a quick end to the war.  Therefore at the end of his 6 month term Fabius was removed from his position.  In 216 Hannibal seized Roman supplies, and the Roman consuls Varro and Paullus took a force close of close to 90,000 soldiers to engage Hannibal at Cannae.  Hannibal drew up his forces into a semicircle with his weakest infantry in the center.  When the Romans attacked, the center of the Carthaginian line bowed backwards, and then the Libyan mercenaries on the flanks closed on the Romans flanks.  Meanwhile the Carthaginian cavalry defeated the Roman cavalry and attacked the rear of the Roman army with the Carthaginian infantry reserves.  The Romans were encircled and sustained between 50,000 and 70,000 casualties and both consuls were killed.  Shortly afterwards Hannibal became allied with Phillip V of Macedonia and Hieronymous of Syracuse while Capua defected and Tarentum was conquered.  After Cannae the Romans reelected Fabius and returned to his strategy.  Hannibal was unable to bring the Romans into pitched battles except for twice in 212 BC (he destroyed both armies).  Though the Romans would not attack Hannibal, they besieged Capua and Syracuse and took both them and Tartentum back.  Phillip V of Macedon was defeated by Rome and Greece.  Additionally the Romans sent an army to Hispania.  Although Hasdrubal was able to defeat Publius Scipio and Gnaeus Scipio in the Battle of the upper Baetis, the war there diverted the few reinforcements that Carthage sent away from Hannibal.  The Romans also sent Scipio (Africanus) to Spain where he conquered New Carthage after the battle of Baecula.  Hasdrubal followed Hannibal’s inland path through the Alps to Italy but was defeated soon after entering Italy at the battle of the Metaurus River.  The rest of Hispania fell to Scipio (Africanus) after the battle of Illipa in 206 BC.  The next year Scipio (Africanus) was elected a consul and led 2 legions to Africa.  Hannibal was recalled from Italy and returned to Carthage.  After a failed peace attempt Hannibal and Scipio Africanus fought each other in the battle of Zama.  Scipio’s superior soldiers were barely able to defeat Hannibal’s force, and Carthage sued Rome for peace.

Results of the Second Punic War

Carthage lost Hispania and had to pay 10,000 talents to Rome.  Additionally the Carthaginian fleet was limited to 10 ships, and Carthage had to receive permission from the Roman senate to raise an army.  Hannibal survived the battle of Zama and lived in Carthage until Rome forced him into exile where he helped Antiochus of Syria against Rome.  Since his advice was ignored, Antiochus lost.  Soon afterwards he was about to be given up to the Romans by Prusias of Bithynia so he took poison.  He died in 183 BC, the same year as Scipio Africanus.