Middle Roman Republic, Second Punic War (218-201 BC): Preliminaries 

The Senate, thinking that the war would not be fought in Italy, ordered the consul Publius ¹⁵Cornelius Scipio (fl.218-211 BC) with 24,000 men and 60 ships to conduct the war in Spain; and his colleague ⁰⁴Sempronius Longus (c.50; fl.218-210 BC) with 26,000 troops and 160 vessels to go to Sicily in preparation for a crossing to Africa.

Hannibal’s plan was to cross the Alps and carry the war to Italy in the belief that the Gauls inhabiting both sides of the Alps and the Po Valley would be eager to join him. In late spring 218 BC he led nearly 50,000 men including about 8000 cavalry and a contingent of war elephants and their handlers to subdue the tribes between that Ebro and the Pyrenees. 

He left his brother ⁰⁵Hasdrubal Barca to command in Spain with eleven thousand men north of Ebro and fifteen thousand in southern Spain. Twenty thousand men were sent home to defend Africa. The main fleet remained in Spain to secure the communications between Spain and Africa, while two smaller fleets were dispatched, one to ravage the coast of Italy and the other to renew the war in Sicily.

In summer 218 BC the Carthaginians sent twenty quin-queremes to raid Lipari and the Aeolian island of Vulcano. Three were blown off course and captured by the Syracusan navy. Hieron II, who was at Messana awaiting the arrival of Sempronius (4), learning from the captured crews that a Carthaginian fleet was about to attack Lilybaeum, warned the Roman praetor Marcus Aemilius (9) at Lilybaeum of the impending raid. His lookouts spotted the enemy ships well before they reached the harbour. Aemilius sent the Roman fleet out to confront them. The Carthaginians tried to ram but the Romans’ boarding tactics won the day, capturing seven Carthaginian ships and taking seventeen hundred prisoners.

In late summer Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and advanced along the southern coast of Gaul to the Rhone River, where he met a large force of the Gallic tribe the Volcae, blocking his crossing. He sent Hanno (9) (fl.218-204 BC) with a force upstream to ford the river and then move back down on that side of the river to wait unseen behind the enemy. A smoke signal informed Hannibal that they were in position and he began to cross the river. The Volcae advanced to the river bank and waited for the Carthaginians as they tried to leave the water. Hanno’s detachment then emerged and attacked the Volcae in the rear, scattering the enemy force and forcing it to flee.

Hannibal followed the Rhone upstream for four days and made camp at a place called the ‘Island’.  Here he met a Gallic tribe and gave support to Brancus, the elder of two brothers struggling for power. Brancus showed his gratitude by supplying Hannibal’s troops with cold-weather clothes and boots.

The Boii and Insubres, learning that Hannibal had crossed the Ebro, rose up and attacked Placentia and Cremona in Gallia Cisalpina, and drove the settlers into Mutina, which they blockaded. The praetor ⁰⁷Manlius Vulso was ambushed trying to relieve them and was besieged at Tannetum. The praetor ⁰⁶Atilius Serranus with one of Publius Scipio (16)’s legions relieved Tannetum and defeated the Gauls, but this meant a delay while Publius brought his troops up to strength.

Publius eventually set sail from Pisae with his army and sixty warships with the intention of confronting Hannibal in Spain. He coasted along the shoreline of northwest Italy to Massilia, where he learned that Hannibal had already crossed the Pyrenees. Publius sent three hundred cavalry to find him and they stumbled into five hundred of Hannibal’s Numidian horsemen coming from the opposite direction. After receiving a severe handling, the Numidian survivors fled and the Romans followed them back to their camp.

When the Roman cavalrymen reported that they found Hannibal’s position, Publius concentrated his forces and returned to the enemy camp only to find it had been abandoned. Realising that Hannibal’s destination was the Alps and probably could not be caught in time, Publius put his army under the command of his brother Gnaeus ¹⁴Cornelius Scipio (fl.222 -211 BC), serving as Publius’ legate at that time, and ordered him to sail for Spain. Publius himself returned to Italy to organise the defences against Hannibal’s anticipated invasion.

After the Numidian scouting party’s encounter with the Romans, Hannibal had quickly left his camp and moved on to the Alps. The Romans were surprised that Hannibal had even thought to cross the Alps, not because they believed it to be impassable but rather that he would risk his army by taking it through a mountainous area inhabited by the aggressive Gallic tribes. The Romans, however, had badly treated many of the tribes and these were now willing to show Hannibal the safe passes through the mountains. One tribe though, the Allobroges, ambushed Hannibal and inflicted heavy casualties, but he defeated them and by doing so intimidated the neighbouring tribes into cooperating with him.