Hannibal's march on Italy
military campaign · 218 BC–216 BC
At the start of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal marched an army with war elephants from Spain over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Italy, and destroyed three Roman armies at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae. Polybius and Livy are the sources for the march. Which pass he crossed the Alps by has been argued over since antiquity; the Col de la Traversette shown here is one of several candidates.
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Recorded boundaries
| Period | Control | Confidence | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 218 BC | — | low confidence | no observation date recorded | Set out from New Carthage. Reached Pyrenees → Rhône crossing → Alpine pass → Taurasia → Ticinus → Trebia. Set out in spring 218 BC with, Polybius says, about 90,000 foot, 12,000 horse and 37 elephants. Floated the elephants across on rafts disguised with earth. The crossing point is uncertain. Crossed in autumn snow, losing many men and animals. The pass is unknown; the Col de la Traversette is one of several candidates. Took the chief town of the Taurini, near modern Turin. First great victory over a Roman army, in December. |
| 217 BC | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Lake Trasimene. Ambushed and destroyed the army of the consul Flaminius in the morning mist. |
| 216 BC | — | high confidence | no observation date recorded | Reached Cannae. Encircled and annihilated a Roman army far larger than his own. |
Each row is a snapshot the source recorded, not a continuous history. The period between two observations is an inference this atlas shows rather than hides.
Sources
- Livy; translated by B. O. Foster, History of Rome, Books XXI–XXII, (1929)
- Polybius; translated by W. R. Paton, The Histories, Book III, (1922)