Second Punic War

The Reason for the Second Punic War

  • After losing control of Sicily during the First Punic War (264-246 BCE), Carthage decided to consolidate her possessions in Iberia.
  • In 226 BCE, Rome and Carthage signed a Treaty where the River Ebro marked the Frontier between their spheres of control.
  • However, Rome also made a Treaty with the city of Saguntum, located south of the River Ebro.
  • In 219 BCE, Hannibal sacked Saguntum and the Roman Republic declared war on Carthage.

The Three Main Theatres of the War with Carthage

  • The three main theatres of operations were Italy, Spain and Africa.
  • Rome and her Allies controlled Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. They captured Malta in 218 BCE.
  • Carthage and her Allies controlled all of North Africa and most of Iberia.

1. The War in Italy

Hannibal's Crossing of the Alps (218 BCE)

    • In 218 BCE at the start of the War, Hannibal raised an Army at Cartagena in Spain and famously decided to invade Italy by marching through a Pass in the Alps.
    • With his army he took 37 Elephants. The Pass is not known, but it has been suggested that Mont genevre Pass was the most likely route he took.
      The last surviving War Elephant was named ‘Surus’, meaning ‘the Syrian’, as narrated by Plautus (254-184 BCE). Surus may have carried Hannibal on a seat on his back.

Hannibal defeats the Roman Armies (218-217 BCE)

    • Between 218-216 BCE, Hannibal crushed the Roman Armies in a series of defeats.
    • Rome appointed Fabius as Dictator, who resorted to a strategy of avoiding pitched battles against Hannibal.
    • However, in 216 BCE when Varro and Paulus were elected Consuls, they reversed Fabius’ policy, raised the largest army in Roman history and marched to confront Hannibal.

Battle of Cannae (216 BCE)

    • 216 BCE Aug 2nd, the Battle of Cannae, Apulia, where Hannibal defeated the larger army of the Roman Consuls, Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro, by using the Tactic of Double Envelopment.
    • Carthaginian Forces: 35,000 troops. 10,000 cavalry.
    • Roman and Allied Forces: 80,000 troops. 6,000 cavalry.
    • Roman Losses: 70,000 Roman troops killed. 10,000 captured. 3,000 escaped. 370 cavalry survived.
    • Hannibal had 200 Roman aristocrats’ gold rings collected from the battlefield and sent to the Punic Senate in Carthage as Tribute.
    • Source: Polybius

First Macedonian War (214-205 BCE)

    • In 216 BCE, Philip V of Macedonia allied himself with Hannibal and in 214 BCE he attempted to invade the Illyrian Coast.
    • The Romans placed a Fleet of 50 warships at Taranto, created the Aetolian League against Philip V and sent a Legion to Illyria to eject Philip V’s army.
    • This prevented the Carthaginians from uniting with Philip V during the Second Punic War.

Sicily

    • In 215 BCE, Syracuse in Sicily was persuaded to join Hannibal in an alliance, where he hoped to retake the whole of Sicily and reopen the sea route to Italy from Carthage.
    • The Roman Army successfully besieged Syracuse which fell in 212 BCE. Archimedes, who had successfully invented various war machines to defeat the Roman siege, was killed by a Roman soldier.
    • In 210 BCE, after the Roman army successfully besieged the city of Agrigentum, Sicily returned to Roman control.

Hannibal remains in Italy until 203 BCE

    • After Cannae, the war in Italy consisted of a series of skirmishes, with cities falling to Hannibal, then being retaken by the Romans as soon as his army had left.
    • At first many of Rome’s Allies changed sides and joined Hannibal, including the port city of Locri in 215 BCE. This allowed Carthage to ship supplies and war elephants by sea to Hannibal for the first and last time.
    • Rome managed to raise 12 legions by conscripting everyone they could including slaves, but this army could not confront Hannibal in open battle. Instead, they provided a skirmishing force that prevented Hannibal from holding onto territory and any cities that he had won.
    • In 207 BCE, Hasdrubal crossed into Italy with his army of 30,000 men. The Roman Armies prevented him uniting with his brother, by deceiving Hannibal into thinking they had remained in their camp. Instead the army marched in secret and met Hasdrubal at the Battle of Metaurus where he was defeated and killed.
    • In 205 BCE, Mago landed near Genoa with his army from Iberia. He was unable to unite with Hannibal and was met by a large Roman army and defeated at the Battle of Insubria in 203 BCE.
    • Once Scipio Africanus had landed in Africa during 204 BCE and defeated two Carthaginian armies there, Hannibal was recalled to Carthage in 203 BCE.

2. The War in Iberia

    • In 218 BCE, a Roman Fleet landed a Roman Army in northeastern Iberia where they met with success.
    • The Carthaginians were beaten at the Battle of Cissa in late 218 BCE.
    • The Roman Navy won the Battle of the Ebro River in 217 BCE.
    • This blocked Iberian supplies via Gaul into Italy to reinforce Hannibal.
    • In 215 BCE, Hasdrubal, Hannibal’s brother and Commander of the Armies in Iberia, was defeated at the Battle of Dertosa.
    • After this success the Celtiberian Tribes defected to the Romans.
    • However, in 211 BCE at the Battle of the Upper Baetis, Hasdrubal defeated the Roman Armies and their allies.
    • In 210 BCE, Scipio Africanus arrived in Iberia and in 209 BCE, he captured Cartagena, the main Carthaginian supply base.
    • In 208 BCE, Scipio defeated Hasdrubal at the Battle of Baecula, after which Hasdrubal retreated across the Pyrenees into Gaul and Italy, intending to join Hannibal.
    • In 206 BCE, at the Battle of Ilipa, Scipio defeated the Carthaginian Army in Iberia and captured Cadiz, ending Carthaginian rule in Iberia.

3. The War in Africa

    • In 213 BCE, the Romans formed an alliance in with the Numidian King, Syphax, but after a brief skirmish, the Carthaginians made him their ally again.
    • However, a Numidian Prince named Masinissa lost his territories and instead became a Roman ally. His Numidian Cavalry would later change the course of the war.
    • In 204 BCE, Scipio Africanus landed his Legions from Iberia and Sicily and joined forces with Masinissa’s Numidian Cavalry.
    • In 203 BCE, two Carthaginian armies were defeated along with King Syphax, and his kingdom was taken over by Masinissa.
    • Although a Peace Treaty was drawn up it was repudiated when Hannibal returned from Italy with his Army.

Battle of Zama (202 BCE)

    • In 202 BCE Hannibal was defeated by Scipio Africanus using Masinissa’s Numidian Cavalry that had formerly been allied to Carthage.

The Outcome

    • This defeat marked the end of the Second Punic War.
    • Carthage had to accept a Peace Treaty with War Reparations, loss of her War Elephants, a Fleet restricted to 10 vessels and the loss of most of her Empire. This left Carthage too weak to defeat Rome in another war.

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