By Brian Lisankie
Carthage was the capital of an ancient empire located in what is now Tunisia. In its heyday, it controlled the entire coastline of Northern Africa as well as the southern portion of the Iberian peninsula of what is now Spain and Portugal. The Carthaginians found themselves in competition with their rivals across the Mediterranean, the Roman Empire, and this resulted in a series of conflicts that would become known as the Punic Wars.
Hannibal descended from a long line of Carthaginian military leaders and proved himself to be their greatest general. The Romans had Carthage firmly within their future expansion plans, and Hannibal needed a plan that could take the fight directly to the Roman homeland to try and prevent this from happening.
A weak Carthaginian navy and lack of allied ports made any invasion by sea impractical, and the Romans had secured all of the convenient land routes into their territory with legions of well-trained troops. What was a guy to do?
In 218 BC Hannibal decided to mount a surprise invasion of the Roman homeland by crossing the Alps. He assembled a force estimated at 70,000 infantry, 20,000 mounted cavalry, and 37 battle elephants, and forged a plan to march them through high mountain passes from modern day France into what is now Italy.
The thought of moving a massive number of troops up steep 7,800 foot mountains through deep snow is bad enough, but when you add 20,000 horses and 37 elephants to the mix you have to wonder how it was even possible. During their hellish nine-day ascent, Hannibal’s army suffered from the extreme cold and found themselves under frequent attack by fierce mountain tribes which inflicted heavy casualties on his column.
As any mountain climber can tell you, the descent from high peaks is frequently even more dangerous than the ascent, and this proved to be the case for Hannibal. His army found the reverse slope steeper and even more technical than what they had experienced during the climb. Thousands of men and animals disappeared into the void after losing footing along icy precipices.
Historical estimates indicate that Hannibal may have lost more than 50% of his troops and animals during this alpine crossing. Undaunted, his army soldiered on, inch by inch, down into the Po River Valley, where they returned to fighting strength by forging alliances with the tribes inhabiting that region.
After crossing the mountains, Hannibal successfully waged war on the Romans’ home turf for several years and managed to inflict heavy losses upon them—more than 50,000 Roman soldiers died at the Battle of Cannae alone.
During an age when battles were largely fought by ranks of foot soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder behind shields, the specter of Hannibal’s fast moving mounted Numidian cavalry, fierce infantry, and the psychological impact of skilled archers unleashing death from turrets on top of armored elephants must have been truly terrifying for the Romans.
Unfortunately, Hannibal found himself waging an extended war of attrition with no ability to resupply his army. The Carthaginian Senate was slow to send Hannibal desperately needed reinforcements due to threats of invasion against their own territory. The outcome of a prolonged war without adequate manpower or supplies was that Hannibal was never actually able to execute his planned attack on the city of Rome itself.
Meanwhile, the Romans turned the tables by leveraging their control of the Mediterranean Sea and successfully invaded Carthaginian territories on the Iberian peninsula. This Roman offensive ultimately put the city of Carthage itself in peril, and Hannibal was recalled in what would become an unsuccessful effort to defend his homeland.
Even though Hannibal’s epic invasion of the Roman Empire did not ultimately succeed, his crossing of the Alps is forged in the annals of history as one of the most daring military campaigns of all time—even 2,243 years later. If you need some perspective, try walking across Spain and France, and crossing the Alps into Italy someday. Just leave your elephants at home.
