page_title: Battle of the Trebia
section_title: Carthage invades Italy
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Trebia / Background / Carthage invades Italy
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: La Gallia cisalpina nel 218 a.C.: dalla rivolta dei Boii (Piacenza e Mutina) all'invasione cartaginese da parte di Annibale (battaglie del Ticino e della Trebbia)
context_page_description: The Battle of the Trebia was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Roman Republic in December of 218 BC, on or around the winter solstice. It was a resounding Roman defeat with heavy losses, with only about 10,000 out of 40,000 Romans surviving and retreating to Placentia. In this battle, Hannibal got the better of the Romans by exercising the careful and innovative planning for which he was famous. The impetuous and short-sighted opposing general, the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus, allowed himself to be provoked into a frontal assault under physically difficult circumstances and failed to see that he was being led into a trap.
  The battle took place in the flat country of the Province of Piacenza on the left bank of the Trebbia River, a shallow, braided stream, not far south from its confluence with the Po river. The battle is named for the river.
context_section_description: Meanwhile, Hannibal assembled a Carthaginian army in New Carthage (modern Cartagena) over the winter, marching north in May 218 BC He entered Gaul to the east of the Pyrenees, then taking an inland route to avoid the Roman allies along the coast. Hannibal left his brother Hasdrubal Barca in charge of Carthaginian interests in Iberia. The Roman fleet carrying the Scipio brothers' army landed at Rome's ally Massalia (modern Marseille) at the mouth of the Rhone in September, at about the same time as Hannibal was fighting his way across the river against  a force of local Allobroges at the Battle of Rhone Crossing. A Roman cavalry patrol scattered a force of Carthaginian cavalry, but Hannibal's main army evaded the Romans and Gnaeus Scipio continued to Iberia with the Roman force; Publius returned to Italy. The Carthaginians crossed the Alps with 38,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry early in 217 BC, surmounting the difficulties of climate, terrain and the guerrilla tactics of the native tribes.
  Hannibal arrived with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and an unknown number of elephants – the survivors of the 37 with which he left Iberia –  in what is now Piedmont, northern Italy. The Romans had already withdrawn to their winter quarters and were astonished by Hannibal's appearance. His surprise entry into the Italian peninsula led to the cancellation of Rome's planned campaign for the following year: an invasion of Africa by an army under the consul Tiberius Longus. The Carthaginians needed to obtain supplies of food, as they had exhausted their reserve, and obtain allies among the north-Italian Callic tribes form which they could recruit, in order to build up their army to size with which it could effectively take on the Romans. The local tribe, the Taurini, were unwelcoming, so Hannibal promptly besieged their capital, (near the site of modern Turin) stormed it, massacred the population and seized the supplies there. The modern historian Richard Miles believes that with these brutal actions Hannibal was sending out a clear message to the other Gallic tribes as to the likely consequences of non-cooperation.
  Hearing that Publius Scipio was operating in the region, he assumed that the Roman army in Massala which he had believed en route to Iberia had returned to Italy and reinforced the army already based in the north. Believing that he would therefore be facing a much larger Roman force than he had anticipated Hannibal felt an even more pressing need to recruit strongly among the Cisalpine Gauls. He determined that a display of confidence was called for and advanced boldly down the valley of the Po. However, Scipio led his army equally boldly against the Carthaginians, causing the Gauls to remain neutral. Both commanders attempted to inspire the ardour of their men for the coming battle by making fiery speeches to their assembled armies. Hannibal is reported to have stressed to his troops that they had to win, whatever the cost, as there was no place they could retreat to.
caption: Cisalpine Gaul in 218 BC, depicting the Gallic revolt and the Carthaginian invasion
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