Then Hannibal addressed his men, explaining that this display was a vivid representation of their own situation. They too were offered the same choice: victory or death in battle. Or did anyone think it would be possible to retreat the way they had come? Conquer or die, and the prize was the wealth of Italy laid out before them. The Carthaginians clamored to be led into battle, and Hannibal obliged them.

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Hannibal preceded the column with his 6,000 cavalry and met Scipio's force at the Ticinus. The Carthaginian cavalry was not in the best condition, but it still proved more than a match for Scipio's conscript horsemen and light infantry. The Romans were routed, and Scipio himself was wounded and nearly captured. Only a heroic charge led by his 17-year-old son and namesake saved the wounded consul. That same youth would one day defeat Hannibal at Zama and earn the title 'Africanus.'

Scipio fell back to high ground on the Trebbia River, awaiting the arrival of his colleague. Hannibal allowed Sempronius' army to link up with Scipio's on the Trebbia. He needed a decisive victory quickly, as it was already December and well past the usual campaigning season. For his part, Sempronius sought a glorious victory before his year as consul came to an end. Hannibal chose the time and the place for the coming battle. He first placed his brother Mago with a detachment in ambush. His soldiers ate an early breakfast, then warmed themselves before fires and rubbed down their limbs with heated oil. Hannibal sent out his Numidian cavalry to provoke the Romans, and Sempronius ordered his entire army out of camp — without breakfast. The Numidians led them back through the freezing waters of the Trebbia River and onto Hannibal's chosen ground.

Hannibal's army had grown to 28,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 horsemen as Celtic recruits streamed in. Sempronius' army comprised 36,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. The Roman legionaries, wet, cold and hungry, launched a frontal assault. Hannibal's cavalry, spearheaded by elephants, quickly routed the outnumbered Roman horsemen, then flanked the Roman infantry while Mago's picked force struck them in the rear. Hemmed in on all sides, the Romans fought on. Some 10,000 legionaries cut their way through the Carthaginian center and reached safety. Nearly all the remaining Romans were killed or captured. Hannibal had achieved the decisive victory he sought on the Trebbia, the culmination of his great march.Over the next two years Hannibal's army would blaze a historic path of one glorious victory after another over the legions of Rome. Three consuls and a master of horse were humbled and tens of thousands of Romans were slain or captured at the Battles of Lake Trasimene, Geronium and Hannibal's ultimate tactical masterpiece, Cannae.

Although the Carthaginians would ultimately lose the Second Punic War, for 16 years Hannibal's army in Italy seemed invincible. His crossing of the Alps, which so unnerved the Romans at the start of the war, would also capture the imagination of generations to come. Hannibal had challenged not only Rome but nature itself, and even the Alps could not defeat his will.

This article was written by Daniel A. Fournie and originally published in the March/April 2005 issue of Military History magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today!

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