Consul Flaminius gives the signal for battle After having seen many men and mules perish in a terrible way, Hannibal, finally out of the marshes, encamps on the first dry ground which lends itself to it, and learns with certainty, by the scouts sent ahead, that the Roman army is under the walls of
Through the Etruscan Swamps (March 217) While the consul was busy in Rome appeasing the gods and raising troops, Hannibal left his winter quarters; and as the consul Flaminius was said to have already arrived at Arretium, though Hannibal is shown a longer but easier way, he takes a less remote rout
Book XXII:The events of the years 217 and 2161st part:[22,1-18] Beginning of a new year of war (217) Already spring was approaching; so Hannibal left his winter quarters, after having previously tried in vain to cross the Apennines in intolerable cold, and having remained in his camp at the cost
This check caused such profound terror in Rome that it was already believed that the enemy was marching on the city with banners unfurled. More hope, more resources to repel the assaults he would deliver at the gates and the ramparts. A consul had been defeated on the banks of the Ticino, the other
Rout of the Roman army near Trebia At the moment when, in their terror, they were about to fall back on the Carthaginians themselves, Hannibal ordered them to pass from the center towards the extremities, and to direct them on the left wing, against the auxiliary Gauls:the rout was not not for a m
The Carthaginians have the advantage Meanwhile Hannibals soldiers, who had lit fires in front of their tents, limbered up their limbs with the oil distributed to each battalion, and quietly ate their meal, at the news that the enemy had crossed the river, seized their arms, full of ardor and streng
The Romans accept the fight (end of December) Between the two armies flowed a stream, enclosed on all sides in deep banks and covered with marshy grasses, bushes, brushwood, as all uncultivated places usually are. One could even hide cavalry in this dark place:Hannibal noticed it, after having reco
Consul Tis impatience. Sempronius Longus However, more than any other, the consul had found great and deserved success. He was transported with joy, to have been victorious in a kind of fight where his colleague had been defeated. He had just revived, revived the courage of the soldiers; all, excep
Scipio receives the Carthaginian ambassadors Immediately after the fight, Scipio forced the enemy camp, plundered it and returned to the coast, to his ships, with immense booty. There he learned that Lentulus had landed at Utica with fifty spurred ships and a hundred transports, laden with provisio
The Battle of Zama (October 19, 202). Troop layout He did not form his line in close cohorts, each arranged in front of his ensigns; but he arranged small intervals between the maniples, so that the elephants of the enemy could enter the ranks without causing disorder. Laelius, who had been his lie
Battle foreplay Back in their camp, both ordered their soldiers to prepare their weapons and their courage for a last battle. If they had the happiness to triumph, their victory would not be ephemeral, but definitive. (2) They would know before the night of the following day if it would be Rome or
Meeting of Hannibal and Scipio Already Hannibal was in Hadrumetum, he granted only a few days to his soldiers to recover from the fatigues of the crossing. The alarming news brought to him on the occupation of all the surroundings of Carthage by the enemy army decided him to move quickly towards Za
State of minds in Rome and Carthage However, hopes and anxieties grew more lively day by day:it was unclear whether to rejoice that Hannibal, evacuating Italy after sixteen years, had left possession of it in peace to the Roman people, or rather to alarm that he had crossed into Africa without havi
Sagunto sends a delegation to Rome (218) The war had not yet begun with Sagunto; but already disputes, germs of war, were caused to him with his neighbors especially with the Turdétans. The very author of the dispute presented himself as arbitrator; it was clear that force, and not right, would pre
The first Spanish campaign (221-219) From the very day on which he was made general, it seemed that Italy had been assigned to him for a department, and that he was to wage war against Rome. Convinced that hemust not lose a moment lest, if he hesitated, he would succumb, like Amilcar, his father, l
Hannibals debut in Spain (224) (1) A few senators, almost all of them more sensible, shared this opinion; but, as too often happens, the more numerous party prevailed over the wisest. Hannibal, as soon as he entered Spain, attracted all eyes to him. (2) Its Amilcar in his youth returned to us, c
The estate of Hasdrubal (221) After the death of Hasdrubal, no one doubted that the initiative of the soldiers who had immediately carried the young Hannibal into the praetorium and proclaimed him general with a unanimous cry and voice, was confirmed. by popular vote. He had barely reached the age
Death of Hamilcar (229); Hasdrubal replaces it Agitated by worries and regrets, he had barely concluded peace with Rome when, to restore the power of Carthage, he waged war in Africa for five years, then in Spain for nine years. There is no doubt that he was planning an expedition of greater import
In this part of my work, allow me, following the example of most authors who place a preface at the head of their history, to announce that I am going to write the most memorable of all wars, the one that the Carthaginians, under the leadership of Hannibal, did to the Roman people. Never did two cit
Syphax (? - 202 BC) (in Tifinagh:ⵙⵢⴼⴰⴽⵙ) was a king of Western Numidia, whose capital was Siga (current Aïn Témouchent in Algeria), from 213 to 202 BC. During the Second Punic War, he first allied himself with the Romans, thus opposing Gaïa, king of eastern Numidia, and his son Massinissa, allies o
The fighting around the city of Caen in Normandy began immediately after the landing of the Allied forces. British and Canadians attempted to capture the city immediately but failed. However, the Germans also failed to expel the opponents from the territory that the latter had occupied. Despite t
Antikythera , the island in front of Kythera, today it has only 44 inhabitants on an area of 20 km2. In 1902 it was some sponge fishermen who found the wreck of an ancient sailing ship that was carrying a load of precious objects, statues, vases of fine workmanship and silver coins. They soug
Although it may seem surprising, the truth is that the The Spanish Armada has had one of its most fertile nurseries inland, in the territory of the ancient kingdoms of Castilla y León. As often happens in this forgetful country, which ostracizes its great men, even its most famous heroes, most of th
On the Mediterranean coast of France, almost on the border with Italy, there is a town sadly famous for being the place where Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, died in a traffic accident in 1982. It is called La Turbie, a term that derives from Latin tropea And what does trophy mean? . But the place