The Second Punic War

The Second Punic War

Hispania was a name, given by Romans, for today's Iberian Peninsula. On its territory many battles have been fought. It was invaded by Roman armies during the Second Punic War due to the fact that it was a part of Carthage which Rome was at war with.

Second Punic War is famous for two great battles between Carthaginians and Romans. It lasted for 18 years. It was initiated by Hannibal, military commander and tactician, when he attacked Saguntum in 219 B.C. It was a coastal city in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula which was under special protection of Rome. Carthaginian commander knew that and attacked it on purpose to make Romans angry and make them fight him.

Hannibal was son of Hamilcar Barca who was a Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War. Just as his son, he was a successful tactician, thanks to whom Carthage expanded its territory to Spain after the loss of Sicily. He hated Rome so much that he wanted his son to inherit this hatred so that he could defeat it someday. Hannibal was intelligent and he knew that Romans had capability of gathering huge armies due to having such an enormous territory. So the only way to defeat them was by strategy. It consisted of attacking Rome in Italy instead of defending themselves in Hispania. But the only way to Italy which was not threatened by the army or Rome's allies, was through Alps. It must have been a crazy idea for everybody who had heard that but Hannibal was confident about his decisions.

In 218 B.C. the Carthaginian army left from New Carthage. It is said that the starting number of soldiers was 90 000 infantry, 12 000 cavalry and many war elephants. Although the most difficult part of the journey seemed to be the Alps, they still needed to pass the territory of today's France without any greater damage. When they reached Pyrenees many soldiers refused to leave land of Spain and stayed to protect newly acquired territory. While resting at Rhone river, the Roman army found out that Hannibal's army was staying quite close. It was a big surprise for Roman commander - Publius Cornelius Scipio. He was marching with his army to Spain to battle Hannibal meanwhile his opponent had his own plan of attacking Italy. Scipio, with desire of knowing Carthaginian camp's location, sent his scouting troop to follow Hannibal's scouting party back to their camp. Eventually he did not succeed because of Hannibal's earlier setting off to Alps. He was supported by Celtic tribes, which were Roman rivals since a lot of time, and Gaulish allies from Italy.

Knowing that Carthaginians were crossing Alps Scipio could not continue his journey to Spain as he was forced to go back to Rome to prepare army and strategies for inevitable battles with Hannibal. He sent his brother, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, to continue his invasion on Iberia. He situated headquarters in Cissa, the territory between