A powerful army stood poised to cross the Ebro River into northern Spain, comprising soldiers from many peoples and cultures. Yet heterogeneous as the force was, most all of them were veterans of two decades of continuous warfare. It was a cohesive army built for speed and shock, and it answered to one man and one will — Hannibal of Carthage. Swift light cavalry from the desert plains of Numidia screened the main body from curious or hostile eyes. Past this barrier the army stretched for miles: massed squadrons of Iberian cavalry and infantry; mercenary Balearic Islanders, trained from childhood in the art of the sling; archers; javelin men from the tribes of North Africa; mighty elephants plodding forward like mobile watchtowers; veteran Libyan spearmen — more than 80,000 men all told.

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Hannibal Barca of Carthage had brought this army to the banks of the Ebro in a fateful year, 218 bc. Ten years earlier, the Senate and people of Rome had forbidden the Carthaginians to cross that river on pain of war. Now nothing could please Hannibal more. The young general was resolved not only to cross the Ebro but also to conduct an epic march across the Pyrenees, on through Gaul, over the Alps and into Italy to threaten Rome itself.

The Romans later believed that Hannibal’s father, Hamilcar Barca, had bequeathed this plan to invade Italy to his son. That great general waged a masterful guerrilla campaign against the legions of Rome in western Sicily during the final seven years of the First Punic War. Undefeated on land, Hamilcar had been forced by a naval defeat to surrender Sicily to Rome in 241 bc. But the end of that war brought no respite for Carthage, which was soon threatened by a bloody mercenary rebellion. Hamilcar ultimately defeated the rebels in 238, but Rome seized the opportunity to annex Sardinia and Corsica. That act of naked aggression, the Rape of Sardinia as the Carthaginians called it, convinced Hamilcar that his home city would never know peace as long as Roman power remained unchecked.

Once the rebels were crushed, Hamilcar embarked on a new expedition to Iberia to carve out an empire that would replace the lost resources of Sicily and Sardinia. Before leaving Carthage, he brought his 9-year-old son Hannibal to a temple to vow ‘never to be a friend of Rome.’ Hamilcar campaigned in Iberia for nine years, until he was killed in battle in 229 bc. The Iberian command passed to his son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Splendid, but it was Hasdrubal whom the Romans had forced in 228 bc to sign the treaty pledging never to cross the Ebro under arms. Hasdrubal continued the expansion of the Barcid empire in Iberia for eight more years until he was felled by an assassin’s blade in 221. The Carthaginian army then acclaimed Hannibal, although he was only 25 years old, as its new commander. So it fell to Hannibal, with his younger brothers Hasdrubal and Mago, to carry out their father’s plan.

Hannibal wasted no time. In two years of hard campaigning he consolidated the Carthaginian hold on southern Iberia and perfected his army. A dispute with the city of Saguntum, allied with Rome but south of the Ebro, provided the pretext he needed to provoke a new war. In 219 bc he laid siege to Saguntum, and after eight months it fell. Rome sent ambassadors to Carthage to demand restitution and Hannibal’s surrender. When the Carthaginian council refused, the Roman diplomats offered a challenge of war — and the Carthaginians accepted. The Second Punic War, or the Hannibalic War, had begun.

In Iberia, Hannibal sent his army into winter quarters and released his Iberian contingents for a final home leave before commencing the great march against Rome. Spies and ambassadors were sent ahead to reconnoiter the route and negotiate with tribal leaders. Gold and silver helped pave the way. Key to Hannibal’s plan was an anticipated alliance with the Boii and Insubres of the Po River valley. These Celtic tribes chafed at their recent subjugation by Rome and eagerly accepted an alliance that promised revenge and freedom. For Hannibal, they offered a base in Northern Italy and manpower.

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