History keeps many names of the great commanders, about whose great victories the whole world knows. One of them is Hannibal Bark, his talent and ability to think outside the box allowed Carthage to win many great victories. One of the most risky strategic maneuvers that the commander made was the passage of his army of many thousands across the Alps. This article is devoted to the description of the history of the passage of the army of Hannibal through the Alps, its results and consequences.
Hannibal Barki biography before trekking through the Alps
Before learning briefly about the passage of Hannibal through the Alps, we should talk about who the commander himself was. He is the famous Carthaginian commander and politician who, thanks to his talent as a strategist, won a number of important victories over Rome. The commander was born in 247 BC. e. in the city of Carthage, his father Hamilcar Barka was the commander of the Carthaginian army, located in Spain, in addition, he was quite an influential person in the country and claimed to be a political leader.
From childhood, Hannibal showed the makings of an outstanding military figure, so his father, seeing in him the successor of his plans, gave his son a good comprehensive education. Hannibal was brought up in a military camp, but in addition to active physical training, the future commander studied Greek and Latin, military art, was interested in the reforms of Solon. The passage of Hannibal through the Alps was therefore successful.
As a result, the guy turned out to be an intelligent, strong, courageous commander, who often set an example by his actions to the soldiers. In 221 BC e. in the year of adulthood, Barka, despite the opposition of the local aristocracy, was proclaimed commander of the troops of Carthage. Since that time, the commander began to fulfill the oath made to his father, to be always the enemy of Rome. The defeat in the First Punic War for Carthage had dire consequences, so Hannibal, considering the war inevitable, began to provoke a clash with Rome, previously accumulating strength.
Background of the passage of Hannibal through the Alps
2 facts of this event haunt historians: what provoked the commander to such a risky operation, and what predetermined its success?
According to the concluded peace, 242 BC. e., Carthage paid a high price for his defeat, the country lost its dominance in the Mediterranean. Hannibal's father, Hamilcar, pursuing an active conquest policy to regain his lost dominant position, often affected the interests of Rome, thereby provoking Rome to a new war.
So, the conquests in Spain were an excellent springboard for an attack on Rome, which could not help staying away from the Republic. After the death in battle of Hamilcar, the new commander of the Carthaginian army was his son-in-law Gasdrubal, who continued his policy even more actively. So, his very important decision was the founding of New Carthage in the Pyrenees, which was destined to become the administrative and commercial center of the Spanish possessions of Carthage. Ultimately, by 218 BC, Carthage compensated for all its losses after the First Punic War, so the inevitability of a war with Rome was ripe.
By the time Hannibal came to power, he was only twenty-five years old, but he was already an experienced military leader and was well aware that the time for the attack on Rome had arrived. But initially it was necessary to prepare for war. Barca acquired a strong alliance with the Iberian tribes and began to assemble an army. The reason for the war was an attack on the fortified city of Sagunt, located in Spain, which was an ally of Rome. After a seven-month siege in 218 BC e. the city was taken, and only then did the Roman embassy in Carthage declare war on them. From that moment, the Second Punic War began, and Hannibal Barca began to think about the route of the attack on Italy.
The strength of the invading army
Before going to Italy, Hannibal decided to secure his territories in advance, so in Africa the commander left 13 thousand foot soldiers and more than one thousand horsemen, the city of Carthage remained to be protected by 4 thousand soldiers. Hannibal himself went on a campaign to Italy through the Alps, with an army of 40 thousand soldiers and 9,000 horsemen, in addition, 37 fighting elephants took part in the campaign. Also in the reserve in Spain, under the leadership of brother Barca Gasdrubal, 13 thousand infantrymen and 1.5 thousand horsemen and 21 fighting elephants remained. The Roman legions opposed Hannibal’s army, led by Consul Tiberius Sempronius Long, who had 22 thousand foot soldiers and 2.5 thousand horsemen, and the second consul, Publius Cornelius Scipio, who had legions with 20 thousand infantry and 2 thousand horsemen. The date of the passage of Hannibal through the Alps is 218 BC. e.
Hannibal Army Route
The main reason that Hannibal Barka chose the route of attack through the Alps was the desire to take advantage of the effect of surprise. Since at that time the passage through the northern Alps due to the impassability and colds of an army of many thousands was considered suicide. Hannibal had to choose the route very carefully, so the road for movement had to be passable for horse riders, hulking elephants, as well as various carts with provisions and equipment. In addition, the path should not have taken much time, since the size of the provisions was very limited. Historical sources report several possible routes for the commander’s campaign, the most preferred version is Titus Libya, which is supported by many modern researchers.
At that time, only three possible routes of movement through the Alps were known. The first route was on the coastal road, it was the most easily walkable, but it was blocked by Roman troops, so Barca could not move on it. The second route passed through the Cottian Alps. Despite the fact that this route was the shortest, it was unsuitable for the passage of a large army, only at the time of Pompey a military road was laid on this route to establish communication with the Gallic provinces. The third route ran through the Grays Alps, the passage was called the Small San Bernard, it was the longest possible route, but also the most convenient, since the valley through which the path ran was very wide and fertile for grazing animals. In addition, the road through the Grays Alps was one of the lowest.
An interesting fact is that through this passage Alexander Suvorov made his Italian campaign with his army. Thus, based on the work of Libya and other sources, modern researchers concluded that Hannibal Barca with his army of many thousands came to the Alpine mountains, moving upstream of the Rhone river, then through the San Bernard pass he went to the Po river valley, and then passing with the battle of the land of taurins and Gallic tribes, the commander went to the pass, which opened the way to Northern Italy.
The first stage of the passage of Hannibal through the Alps
The date of the beginning of the transition of troops through the Alps, as mentioned above, is considered to be 218 BC. Immediately in the early days, the Carthaginian warriors encountered impenetrable narrow steep paths that were difficult for a man to walk, not to mention a loaded wagon or elephants. But the difficulty of the mountain landscape and the constant cold were not the only obstacles that the army of Hannibal had to face.
So in the early days of the passage in front of Hannibal, it became difficult to get through the troops of the Gallic tribes who occupied the passage through the large chain of the Alps. The leadership gift of Hannibal solved this problem, taking advantage of the fact that the soldiers of the enemy tribe returned to their villages at night and the passage remained free at night. Having ordered his advance detachments to occupy it, the commander cleared the way for his troops. But the Gauls, who were well oriented in this area, attacked the rearguard of the Carthaginian troops, because of which a terrible crush began on the narrow road, as a result of which the Barca army suffered significant losses, not only from arrows and spears of the Gauls, but also as a result of the fall of soldiers and horses from large heights. In the end, the army of Barki managed to push the Gauls away and safely descend into the Chambery Valley, where the commander gave the small Gallic city to plunder his troops. In the Hannibal Valley, Barka gave his troops several days of rest to lick their wounds and replenish supplies from carts captured from the Gauls.
For three days, without encountering resistance, the Carthaginian army moved up the Ysera River. Further, the army of Barki entered the territory of the centron tribe, the locals very warmly welcomed the soldiers, provided them with the necessary supplies and gave guides. But as it turned out later, it was a well-designed trap, since the path that the guides indicated led the Carthaginian army to an ambush. Enemy warriors began to roll huge boulders from the rocks and showered the Carthaginians with arrows and spears, but Hannibal was careful before the campaign, so the cavalry and light troops were sent to the vanguard on his orders, and the main infantry was in the rear. Thanks to this advanced units of the commander, it was possible to occupy the dominant heights, which made it possible for the troops to make the transition, but still the army of Carthage suffered quite serious losses. Although the losses could have been even greater if not for the Carthaginian elephants, the very sight of which so frightened the enemy soldiers that they were even afraid to approach them.
The second stage of the alpine transition
On the ninth day of the passage of Hannibal through the Alps (year 218 BC), the peak of the passage was reached. Here the army of the commander set up camps in order to rest, wait for the laggards and lost, to collect the runaway horses and cattle. By this time, the morale of the troops had fallen very much due to heavy losses and difficulties of the transition. Seeing this, Hannibal tried to encourage the soldiers with his speech, realizing that going down the Alps is as hard as climbing them.
Despite the fact that the attacks of the enemy tribes practically stopped, the worsened weather in the form of heavy snowfalls and cold weather added difficulties to the campaign. The presence of deep snow masses that covered narrow paths made each step very difficult. In addition, the road became very slippery and many soldiers slipped and fell into the abyss from a great height, not having a chance to grab onto a bush or tree, since there were none.
The situation became even more complicated when, after reaching the next transition, the soldiers found that it was completely littered with stones and snow. Hannibal's ingenious thinking found a way out of this seemingly hopeless situation. The commander ordered the soldiers to cut a small path in the aisle and light a large fire there, when the fire was completely burnt, vinegar was poured on the hot stones of the Carthaginian soldiers, which made the stones more loose. Then, on the orders of Hannibal, tired and starving warriors using iron cannons cleared the passage for two days, on the third day, Hannibal’s army passed through the passage and did not encounter any great difficulties in the future.
Soon, the army of Hannibal went to the fertile valley of Baltey, where the local population met the warriors as liberators and arranged for them a warm welcome. Since there was no nearby army of Risk, the troops of Hannibal spread their camp and replenished their forces for fourteen days, because then they were waiting for a campaign to the north of Italy. In total, the transition of the army of many thousands of Hannibal Barki took fifteen days.
Losses of the Carthaginian army during the alpine transition
Despite the fact that Hannibal achieved his goal and opened the door to Northern Italy, the campaign was very difficult for him and his troops. For fifteen days of the exhausted passage of Hannibal’s troops through the Alps (the date is already known to the reader) as a result of clashes with local tribes, cold, hunger and a fall from an army height of 40 thousand foot soldiers and 9 thousand horse riders, about half of the infantry soldiers and 6 thousand horse warriors. In addition, of the thirty-seven fighting elephants who began the campaign, about fifteen remained alive, but this number, as subsequent events will show, will be enough to terrify the Roman legionnaires. Also, many surviving warriors, as Polybius writes, during the exhausting campaign from hunger and physical exhaustion lost their minds and could no longer fight.
The consequences of the campaign
The commander Hannibal Barka himself in his writings admitted that the idea of going through the Alps had its drawbacks. As mentioned above, after the passage of Hannibal through the Alps (we briefly described it in an article), the Carthaginian army was missing about half of its soldiers, but the door to northern Italy was opened before Hannibal, thereby fulfilling the goal. Barka replenished his losses from among the Gallic tribes who were opponents of the Roman Republic and were glad to participate in its defeat.
In general, the effect of surprise from such a strategic maneuver of the commander was enormous, the plan of the Roman Republic, which involved conducting military operations in Spain and certainly did not allow the appearance of enemy troops on its territory, was completely destroyed. After replenishing the forces and inflicting the first defeats on Rome in the battles of Titin, Trebbia and Lake Trazimen, the strategic initiative at the first stage of the Second Punic Wars was firmly transferred to Carthage.
Reflection of Hannibal's campaign through the Alps in art and culture
An event such as the passage of Hannibal through the Alps could not but be reflected in art. So, the famous artist Ulyam Turner painted the painting "Blizzard: Hannibal and his army cross the Alps." This picture of the passage of Hannibal through the Alps reflects in a very abstract manner. Also created a lot of engravings dedicated to the transition of the commander. This, for example, is an engraving in color, made in 1866 by Heinrich Leytman under the name “Hannibal crosses the Alps”, or an engraving of the 19th century “Hannibal on a camping trip”. Also, the history of the passage of Hannibal through the Alps is devoted to many documentaries of such television channels as the BBC, Culture, etc.
Conclusion
Summing up, it is important to note that the main reason that spurred the commander Hannibal Barku to make a campaign with his army through the Alps was the desire for an unexpected attack, since the Roman Republic could not have expected a strike from the north. The passage of Hannibal through the Alps (historical facts were given in the article) began with an army of about 50 thousand people, after the transition was completed, about 26 thousand soldiers remained alive. But the effect of surprise, despite large numerical losses, was enough for Carthage to win a number of very important military victories at the first stage of the Punic Wars and put the Roman Republic on the brink of complete destruction.