Editing Punic Wars (section)

===Italy===
====Hannibal crosses the Alps, 218–217 BC====
[[File:Map of Rome and Carthage at the start of the Second Punic War Modified.svg|upright=1.45|thumb|alt=a map of the western Mediterranean region showing the territory and allies of Rome and Carthage in 218 BC|{{center|The territory and allies of Rome and Carthage immediately before the start of the Second Punic War.}}]]
In 218{{spaces}}BC there was some naval skirmishing in the waters around Sicily; the Romans [[Battle of Lilybaeum|defeated a Carthaginian attack]]{{sfn|Briscoe|2006|p=61}}{{sfn|Edwell|2015|p=327}} and [[Capture of Malta (218 BC)|captured the island of Malta]].{{sfn|Castillo|2006|p=25}} In [[Cisalpine Gaul]] (modern northern Italy), the major [[Gauls|Gallic]] tribes attacked the Roman colonies there, causing the Roman settlers to flee to their previously established colony of Mutina (modern [[Modena]]), where they were besieged. A Roman relief force broke through the siege, but was then ambushed and itself besieged.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=151}} A Roman army had been assembled to campaign in Iberia; one Roman and one allied legion was detached from it and sent to northern Italy. Raising fresh troops to replace these delayed the army's departure for Iberia until September.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=151–152}}

Meanwhile, Hannibal assembled a Carthaginian army in New Carthage (modern [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]]) in Iberia and led it northwards along the coast in May or June. It entered Gaul and took an inland route, to avoid the Roman allies to the south.{{sfn|Briscoe|2006|p=47}} At the [[battle of the Rhône Crossing|battle of the Rhône crossing]] Hannibal defeated a force of local Gauls which sought to bar his way.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=161–162}} A Roman fleet carrying the Iberian-bound army landed at Rome's ally Massalia (modern [[Marseille]]) at the mouth of the Rhône,{{sfn|Fronda|2011|p=252}} but Hannibal evaded the Romans and they continued to Iberia.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=291}}{{sfn|Edwell|2015|p=321}} The Carthaginians reached the foot of the Alps by late autumn and [[Hannibal's crossing of the Alps|crossed them]] in 24 days, surmounting the difficulties of climate, terrain{{sfn|Erdkamp|2015|p=72}} and the [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]] of the native tribes. The Carthaginians arrived in what is now [[Piedmont]], northern Italy, in early November. They comprised 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and an unknown number of elephants{{snd}}the survivors of the 37 with which they left Iberia. The Romans were still in their winter quarters. The Carthaginians' surprise entry into the Italian peninsula led to the cancellation of Rome's planned campaign for the following year: an invasion of Africa.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|pp=283–284}}{{sfn|Erdkamp|2015|p=71}}{{sfn|Hoyos|2015b|p=107}}

====Roman defeats, 217–216 BC====
[[File:Hannibal Slodtz Louvre MR2093 (cropped2).png |left|upright=0.75|thumb|alt=a photograph of a marble head depicting Hannibal|{{center|Hannibal, as envisaged in 1704}}]]
The Carthaginians captured the chief settlement of the hostile [[Taurini]] Gauls (in the area of modern [[Turin]]) and seized its food stocks.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|p=171}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=168}} In late November the Carthaginian cavalry routed a Roman force of cavalry and light infantry at the [[battle of Ticinus]].{{sfn|Fronda|2011|p=243}} As a result, most of the Gallic tribes declared for the Carthaginian cause and Hannibal's army grew to 37,000 men.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=177–178}} A large Roman army was lured into combat by Hannibal at the [[battle of the Trebia]], encircled and destroyed.{{sfn|Fronda|2011|pp=243–244}}{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=175–176}} Some 10,000 Romans out of 42,000 were able to fight their way to safety; most of their comrades were killed or captured. Gauls now joined Hannibal's army in large numbers.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=175–176, 193}}{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=270}} The Romans stationed an army at [[Arretium]] and one on the [[Adriatic]] coast to block Hannibal's advance into central Italy.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=285}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=182}}

In early spring 217{{spaces}}BC the Carthaginians crossed the [[Apennine Mountains|Apennines]] unopposed, taking a difficult but unguarded route.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=184}} Hannibal attempted to draw the westernmost of the two Roman armies into a pitched battle by devastating the area it had been sent to protect.{{sfn|Fronda|2011|p=244}} This provoked its commander into ordering a hasty pursuit without proper reconnaissance. Hannibal set an ambush and in the [[battle of Lake Trasimene]] completely defeated this Roman army, killing 15,000 Romans, including their commander, and taking 15,000 [[Prisoner of war|prisoners]]. A cavalry force of 4,000 from the Roman army based at Arretium was also engaged and wiped out.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=189–190}}{{sfn|Fronda|2011|p=244}} The prisoners were badly treated if they were Romans, but released if they were from one of Rome's allies. Hannibal wished to stir up disaffection in the states which made up many of Rome's allies in Italy.{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=270}} These allied states provided more than half of Rome's military manpower.{{sfn|Rawlings|2015|pp=311–312}} The Carthaginians marched deeper into Italy, hoping that the ethnic Greek and [[Ancient peoples of Italy|Italic]] states of southern Italy in particular could be persuaded to [[Defection|defect]].{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=86}}

The Romans, panicked by these heavy defeats, appointed [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus|Quintus Fabius]] as [[Roman dictator|dictator]], with sole charge of the war effort.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|p=183}} Fabius introduced the [[Fabian strategy]] of avoiding open battle with his opponent, but constantly skirmishing with small detachments of the enemy. This was not popular with parts of the Roman army, public and Senate, since he avoided battle while Italy was being devastated by the enemy.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=285}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=195–196}} Hannibal marched through the richest and most fertile parts of Italy, hoping the devastation would draw Fabius into battle, but Fabius refused.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=184–188}}

In the 216{{spaces}}BC elections [[Gaius Terentius Varro|Gaius Varro]] and [[Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 219 BC)|Lucius Paullus]] were elected as consuls; both were more aggressively minded than Fabius.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=286}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=199–200}} The Roman Senate authorised the raising of a force of 86,000 men, the largest in Roman history to that point.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=191, 194}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=198–199}} Paullus and Varro marched southward to confront Hannibal, who accepted battle on the open plain near [[Cannae]] in south-east Italy. In the [[battle of Cannae]] the Roman legions forced their way through Hannibal's deliberately weak centre, but Libyan heavy infantry on the wings swung around their advance, menacing their flanks. Another Carthaginian commander named [[Hasdrubal, commander of the service corps|Hasdrubal]]{{snd}}not the same man as Hasdrubal Barca, one of Hannibal's younger brothers{{sfn|Carey|2007|p=64}}{{snd}}led the Carthaginian cavalry on the left wing which routed the Roman cavalry opposite. It then swept around the rear of the Romans to attack the cavalry on the other wing, before charging into the legions from behind. As a result, the Roman infantry was surrounded with no means of escape.{{sfn|Fronda|2011|p=245}} At least 67,500 Romans were killed or captured.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=192–194}}

The historian Richard Miles describes Cannae as "Rome's greatest military disaster".{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=279}} Toni Ñaco del Hoyo considers the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae to be the three "great military calamities" suffered by the Romans in the first three years of the war.{{sfn|Ñaco del Hoyo|2015|p=377}} Brian Carey writes that these three defeats brought Rome to the brink of collapse.{{sfn|Carey|2007|p=2}} Within a few weeks of Cannae a Roman army of 25,000 was ambushed by [[Boii]] Gauls at the [[battle of Silva Litana]] and annihilated.{{sfn|Roberts|2017|pp=vi–1x}} Fabius was elected consul in 215 BC and re-elected in 214 BC.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=227}}{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|pp=94, 99}}

====Roman allies defect, 216–207 BC====
Little survives of Polybius's account of Hannibal's army in Italy after Cannae and Livy is the best surviving source for this part of the war.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=87}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=222}}{{sfn|Sabin|1996|p=62}} Several of the city-states in southern Italy allied with Hannibal or were captured when pro-Carthaginian factions betrayed their defences. These included the large city of [[Capua]] and the major port city of Tarentum (modern [[Taranto]]). Two of the major [[Samnium|Samnite]] tribes also joined the Carthaginian cause. By 214 BC the bulk of southern Italy had turned against Rome, although there were many exceptions. The majority of Rome's allies in central Italy remained loyal. All except the smallest towns were too well fortified for Hannibal to take by assault and blockade could be a long-drawn-out affair, or, if the target was a port, impossible. Carthage's new allies felt little sense of community with Carthage, or even with each other. The new allies increased the number of places that Hannibal's army was expected to defend from Roman retribution, but provided relatively few fresh troops to assist him in doing so. Such Italian forces as were raised resisted operating away from their home cities and performed poorly when they did.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=222–226}}{{sfn|Rawlings|2015|p=313}}

[[File:Second Punic war (cropped).png|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=a map of southern peninsular Italy showing the maximum extent of Carthaginian control|{{center|Hannibal's allies in southern Italy {{circa}} 213{{spaces}}BC, shown in light blue}}]]

When the port city of [[Locri]] defected to Carthage in the summer of 215{{spaces}}BC it was immediately used to reinforce the Carthaginian forces in Italy with soldiers, supplies and war elephants.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=98}} It was the only time during the war that Hannibal received reinforcements from Carthage.{{sfn|Erdkamp|2015|p=75}} A second force, under Hannibal's youngest brother [[Mago Barca|Mago]], was meant to land in Italy in 215{{spaces}}BC but was diverted to Iberia after the Carthaginian defeat there at the [[battle of Dertosa]].{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=98}}{{sfn|Barceló|2015|p=370}}

Meanwhile, the Romans took drastic steps to raise new legions: enrolling slaves, criminals and those who did not meet the usual property qualification.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=226}} By early 215{{spaces}}BC they were fielding at least 12 legions; two years later they had 18; and a year after that, 22. By 212{{spaces}}BC the full complement of the legions deployed would have been in excess of 100,000 men, plus, as always, a similar number of allied troops. The majority were deployed in southern Italy in field armies of approximately 20,000 men each. This was insufficient to challenge Hannibal's army in open battle, but sufficient to force him to concentrate his forces and to hamper his movements.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=227}}

The war surged around southern Italy as cities went over to the Carthaginians or were taken by subterfuge and the Romans recaptured them by siege or by the support of pro-Roman factions.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=222–235}} Hannibal repeatedly defeated Roman armies; in 208{{spaces}}BC both consuls were killed in a cavalry skirmish. But wherever his main army was not active the Romans threatened Carthaginian-supporting towns or sought battle with Carthaginian or Carthaginian-allied detachments; frequently with success.{{sfn|Lazenby|1996|p=158}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=236}} By 207{{spaces}}BC Hannibal had been confined to the extreme south of Italy and many of the cities and territories which had joined the Carthaginian cause had returned to their Roman allegiance.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=237–238}}

====Greece, Sardinia and Sicily====
During 216{{spaces}}BC the Macedonian king, [[Philip V of Macedon|Philip V]], [[Macedonian–Carthaginian Treaty|pledged his support]] to Hannibal,{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=199–200}} initiating the [[First Macedonian War]] against Rome in 215{{spaces}}BC. In 211{{spaces}}BC Rome contained this threat by allying with the [[Aetolian League]], a coalition of Greek city-states which was hostile towards Macedonia, and persuading them to participate in the war. In 205{{spaces}}BC this war ended with a [[Treaty of Phoenice|negotiated peace]].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=253–260}}

A rebellion in support of the Carthaginians broke out on Sardinia in 213{{spaces}}BC, but it was quickly put down by the Romans.{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=288}}

[[File:Archimedes before his death with the Roman soldier, Roman mosaic.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|alt=a colourful mosaic of a sword-armed soldier gesturing to a seated man in ancient-style robes|{{center|Archimedes before being killed by the Roman soldier – an early-modern mosaic}}]]

Up to 215{{spaces}}BC Sicily remained firmly in Roman hands, preventing the easy seaborne reinforcement and resupply of Hannibal from Carthage. [[Hiero II of Syracuse|Hiero II]], the tyrant of Syracuse for the previous forty-five years and a staunch Roman ally since 263 BC, died in 215 BC and his successor [[Hieronymus of Syracuse|Hieronymus]] was discontented with his situation. Hannibal negotiated a treaty whereby Syracuse defected to Carthage, in exchange for a Carthaginian pledge to allow the whole of Sicily to become a Syracusan possession. The Syracusan army proved no match for a Roman army led by [[Marcus Claudius Marcellus|Claudius Marcellus]] and by spring 213{{spaces}}BC [[Siege of Syracuse (213–212 BC)|Syracuse was besieged]].{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=327}}{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|p=200}} The siege was marked by the ingenuity of [[Archimedes]] in inventing war machines to counteract the traditional siege warfare methods of the Romans.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=328}}

A large Carthaginian army led by [[Himilco (fl. 3rd century BC)|Himilco]] was sent to relieve the city in 213{{spaces}}BC.{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=288}}{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=329}} It captured several Roman-garrisoned towns on Sicily; many Roman garrisons were either expelled or massacred by Carthaginian partisans. In spring 212{{spaces}}BC the Romans stormed Syracuse in a surprise night assault and captured several districts of the city. Meanwhile, the Carthaginian army was crippled by [[Plague (disease)|plague]]. After the Carthaginians failed to resupply the city, Syracuse fell that autumn; Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier.{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=329}}

Carthage sent more reinforcements to Sicily in 211{{spaces}}BC and went on the offensive. A fresh Roman army attacked the main Carthaginian stronghold on the island, [[Agrigentum]], in 210{{spaces}}BC and the city was betrayed to the Romans by a discontented Carthaginian officer. The remaining Carthaginian-controlled towns then surrendered or were taken through force or treachery{{sfn|Edwell|2011|p=330}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=266–267}} and the Sicilian grain supply to Rome and its armies was secured.{{sfn|Rawlings|2015|p=311}}

====Italy, 207–203 BC====
In the spring of 207{{spaces}}BC [[Hasdrubal Barca]] repeated the feat of his elder brother by marching an army of 35,000 men across the Alps and invading Italy. His aim was to join his forces with those of Hannibal, but Hannibal was unaware of his presence. The Romans facing Hannibal in southern Italy tricked him into believing the whole Roman army was still in camp, while a large portion marched north under the consul [[Gaius Claudius Nero|Claudius Nero]] and reinforced the Romans facing Hasdrubal, who were commanded by the other consul, [[Marcus Livius Salinator|Marcus Salinator]]. The combined Roman force attacked Hasdrubal at the [[battle of the Metaurus]] and destroyed his army, killing Hasdrubal. This battle confirmed Roman dominance in Italy and marked the end of their Fabian strategy.{{sfn|Zimmermann|2011|p=290}}{{sfn|Miles|2011|pp=304–306}}

In 205{{spaces}}BC Mago landed in Genua (modern [[Genoa]]) in north-west Italy with the remnants of his Spanish army where it received Gallic and [[Liguria]]n reinforcements. Mago's arrival in the north of the Italian peninsula was followed by Hannibal's inconclusive [[battle of Crotona]] in 204{{spaces}}BC in the far south of the peninsula. Mago marched his reinforced army towards the lands of Carthage's main Gallic allies in the [[Po Valley]], but was checked by a large Roman army and defeated at the [[battle of Insubria]] in 203{{spaces}}BC.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|pp=286–287}}

After a Roman army invaded the Carthaginian homeland in 204{{spaces}}BC, defeated the Carthaginians in two major battles and won the allegiance of the Numidian kingdoms of North Africa, Hannibal and the remnants of his army were recalled.{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=310}} They sailed from Croton (modern [[Crotone]]){{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=244}} and landed at Carthage with 15,000–20,000 experienced veterans. Mago was also recalled; he died of wounds on the voyage and some of his ships were intercepted by the Romans,{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=312}} but 12,000 of his troops reached Carthage.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|p=289}}