Hannibal's Famous Crossing Of The Alps In The Second Punic War

The Punic Wars are great examples of two empires clashing to expand their territory. The Punic Wars were fought between the Romans and Carthaginians. Each empire had great leaders, but the most famous leader of the wars was Hannibal Barca. Hannibal was most commonly associated with his famous crossing of the Alps in the Second Punic War. Although this act of warfare hurt the Carthaginian Empire more that it helped, it still was quite marvelous.

The very famous crossing of the Alps is shrouded in controversy due to different accounts of writers during the time. Livy and Polybius were the two writers who wrote accounts on the famous mountain crossing. Both of them had different viewpoints on which route was taken when Hannibal made his famous

trek. Polybius’s writing suggested that Hannibal took a more northerly route due to a tribe being discussed that was only present in the northern region of the Alps. Livy was more convinced that a more southerly route was taking in the crossing. Livy provided many more accounts than Polybius did, but Polybius’s account are regarded as more reliable. Livy provided a distinct timeline for the crossing, including descriptions on what they did each day and night. Although he did provide this timeline, there is no proof to prove it right or wring. Polybius had a much more extensive knowledge of the militaristic aspects of the journey. He understood that the tribes would not really bother Hannibal’s troops due to different reasons. Polybius not only understood the militaristic aspect, but also the harshness of the mountain crossing. “I have questioned men who were actually present on these occasions about the circumstances, have personally explored the country, and have crossed the Alps myself to obtain first-hand information and evidence”

The mountain pass that that was most commonly believed based of the conflicting stories of Livy and Polybius was the Col Du Montgenèvre, which was located between France and Italy. This pass was believed because it was the one that best fit a set of rules established on different factors. The rules were as follows; The camps had to be of a certain size to fit all that survived the crossing; The defile being of somewhere between fifteen and thirty kilometers to fit the timeframe of the decent; The road, which leads into Italy, had to be going north; Decent had to be steep and narrow in the beginning; Less steep decent after the beginning; Italy had to be visible from the peak. This mountain pass satisfied all of the rules that had to be met for which it could be commonly agreed that is were most likely the pass that Hannibal took in his crossing of the Alps.

Contrary to common belief, Hannibal did much more than just cross the Alps. He also had to first cross the Pyrenees Mountains and defeat a Roman army defending the Rhone River crossing. This feat of beating the army at the crossing took much consideration and strategy. “He sent his brother northward, avoiding Roman sentries, and crossed the river on pontoons and by swimming. Hanno (the brother) then ambushed the Gauls who were supposed to be guarding that crossing, then Hannibal followed with the rest of his army.” Polybius and Livy both stated that for Hannibal to be able to get his elephants across the river he would have to build rafts because of elephants being uterlly terrified of deep water. These rafts were covered with dirt so that the elephants would believe that they were on solid ground. Elephants were actually not afraid of water at all; also they had very great swimming capabilities. Polybius and Livy clearly did not know much about the elephants and their capabilities.

Elephants were very closely associated with Hannibal and his military adventures. Contrary to common belief, Hannibal didn’t use elephants in every engagement of his. His first major battle was against three Celt Iberian tribes. Hannibal used the strategy to cross the river and then flee back across it. When the enemy went in pursuit his cavalry would kill as much as possible in the water as possible and elephants would trample the ones that made it to shore. These battles proved that Hannibal’s elephants were very good battle assets. Rome saw this conquest as a huge threat so they started doing things to prevent the further spread of the Carthaginian Empire. “Rome subsequently signed a treaty with the city of Saguntum, south of the Ebro and thus within Carthaginian territory, and later encouraged the Saguntines to massacre the Carthaginian partisans in the city and to attack the Turboleti, who were allies of Carthage.”

While the crossing of the Alps was an amazing feat, it was quite detrimental to the troops that had to do.

The weather in the Alps can be quite unforgiving being it a high elevation mountain range. “About one-third of his army and most of his elephants perished during the journey, but those that made it through emerged after only two weeks of marching.” After the crossing Hannibal’s reduced forces were met by a brand new Roman outfit. Although being somewhat weak He still defeated the Roman forces although his numbers were somewhat depleted. “Although the discipline and courage of Roman and Italian had down to the point amply compensated for the Republics inexperienced generals, this system met by Hannibal.” He beat them using his impressive strategy that he has shown he had shown time and time

before.

The first major act in the Second Punic War was Hannibal laying siege to Saguntum.

He continued the siege for 8 months before eventually capturing. During the war both empires were more successful in different aspects of war. Carthage was more successful with ground troops due to good leadership and superior training and equipment. Rome had a more advanced naval power due to the last war being mostly naval. Hannibal’s plan to make their navy usless was to invade so that Rome would have to dedicate more resources to its ground forces and not fulfill its plan to invade Carthage with its Navy. After many convincing victories Hannibal set his sights on Rome. Once he got there he tried to siege the city, which was not very successful. The siege was not successful because Rome was such a heavily defende city. This is when things started to go bad for Hannibal and Carthage as a

whole

This decline was capitalized by a huge mistake that Hannibal’s brother made. “First his brother Hasdrubal, who was attempting to reinforce Hannibal by land, was killed and his army destroyed at Metaurus in 207.” This reinforcement was not only detrimental because it didn’t reach Hannibal and his troops, but it also left Hispania unguarded. The mistake leads to Roman forces taking advantage of and capitalizing on it by taking the city.
Hannibal crossing had a short-term positive effect for the Carthaginian Empire. It helped them to celebrate being one of the most powerful empires in the region for a short period of time. The long-term effect of the crossing was quite bleak for the Carthaginian Empire. The war lead to Rome being the sole power of the Mediterranean region. This obviously influenced western civilization due to only being one big influencing factor and not two smaller ones. A lot of different aspects of life are derived from the Roman Empire. It would’ve have been interesting to see how it would’ve impacted later civilizations if both coexisted. As we can see today Roman influence on our western civilization is quite large. These wars were almost non-avoidable. The Romans had to expand their territory to survive and without them doing that they would crumble. Carthage did not have this problem of expansion, but the land they did own they were very protective of. Hannibal’s crossing can’t really be interpreted whether it was bad or good for civilization. It lead to a higher Roman influence in our culture which is a matter of opinion if that is a good or a bad thing.