Second Punic War

The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and by the Romans the War Against Hannibal, was the second of three wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of Greek polities and Numidian and Iberian forces on both sides. It was one of the deadliest human conflicts of ancient times. Fought across the entire Western Mediterranean region for 17 years and regarded by ancient historians as the greatest war in history, waged with unparalleled resources, skill, and hatred. It saw hundreds of thousands killed, some of the most lethal battles in military history, the destruction of cities, and massacres and enslavements of civilian populations and prisoners of war by both sides.
216 BC

Year 216 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Varro and Paullus. The denomination 216 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Hasdrubal Barca

Hasdrubal Barca, a latinization of ʿAzrubaʿal son of Hamilcar Barca, was a Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War. He was the brother of Hannibal and Mago Barca.
Battle of Baecula

The Battle of Baecula was a major field battle in Iberia during the Second Punic War. Roman Republican and Spanish auxiliary forces under the command of Scipio Africanus routed the Carthaginian army of Hasdrubal Barca.
Gaius Claudius Nero

Gaius Claudius Nero was a Roman general active during the Second Punic War against the invading Carthaginian force, led by Hannibal Barca. He should not be confused with the Roman Emperor Nero. During a military career that began as legate in 214 BC, he was propraetor in 211 BC during the siege of Capua, before being sent to Spain that same year. He became consul in 207 BC.
Battle of Grumentum

The Battle of Grumentum was fought in 207 BC between Romans led by Gaius Claudius Nero, and a part of Hannibal's Carthaginian army. The battle was a minor Roman victory, and Nero marched north where he defeated and killed Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal at Metaurus. The battle is described by Livy at 27.41-42.
Battle of the Upper Baetis

The Battle of the Upper Baetis was a double battle, comprising the battles of Castulo and Ilorca, fought in 211 BC during the Second Punic War between a Carthaginian force led by Hasdrubal Barca and a Roman force led by Publius Cornelius Scipio and his brother Gnaeus. The immediate result was a Carthaginian victory in which both Roman brothers were killed. Before this defeat, the brothers had spent seven years campaigning in Hispania, which had limited the resources available to Hannibal, who was simultaneously fighting the Romans in Italy.
Battle of Crotona

The battle or, more precisely, the battles of Croton in 204 and 203 BC were, as well as the raid in Cisalpine Gaul, the last larger scale engagements between the Romans and the Carthaginians in Italy during the Second Punic War. After Hannibal’s retreat to Bruttium due to the Metaurus debacle, the Romans continuously tried to block his forces from gaining access to the Ionian Sea and cut his eventual escape to Carthage by capturing Croton. The Carthaginian commander struggled to retain his hold on the last efficient port which had remained in his hands after years of fighting and was ultimately successful.
Battle of the Silarus

The Battle of the Silarus was fought in 212 BC between Hannibal's army and a Roman force led by centurion Marcus Centenius Penula. The Carthaginians were victorious, destroying the entire Roman army and killing 15,000 Roman soldiers.
List of battles of the Second Punic War
This is an incomplete list of battles of the Second Punic War, showing the battles on the Italian peninsula and some in Africa, in Sicily and Hispania.
- 218 BC
- Battle of Lilybaeum – A Roman fleet of 20 quinqueremes defeated a Carthaginian fleet of 35 galleys.
- August – Hannibal conquered Catalonia.
- September- Hannibal defeated the Gaul Volcae tribe in the Battle of Rhone Crossing.
- October: Hannibal's army defeated Gauls in two battles while crossing the Alps.
- November: Battle of the Ticinus – Hannibal defeated the Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio the Elder in a small cavalry skirmish.
- December: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal defeated the Romans under Tiberius Sempronius Longus, who had foolishly attacked.
- Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus defeated Hanno in the Battle of Cissa. Iberia north of the Ebro River came under Roman control.
- 217 BC
- Battle of Lake Trasimene – In an ambush, Hannibal destroyed the Roman army of Gaius Flaminius, who was killed.
- A Roman fleet, aided by ships from Massilia, surprised and defeated the Iberian contingent of the Carthaginian fleet in the naval Battle of Ebro River.
- Hannibal was trapped by Quintus Fabius in Ager Falernus, but he managed to escape in the Battle of Ager Falernus.
- Hannibal trapped and inflicted severe losses on a Roman army under Minucius, at the Battle of Geronium. The timely intervention of the Dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus saved the Romans from another disaster.
- 216 BC
- August: Battle of Cannae – Hannibal destroyed the Roman army led by Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro in what is considered one of the great masterpieces of the tactical art.
- First Battle of Nola – Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus held off an attack by Hannibal.
- 215 BC
- Second Battle of Nola – Marcellus again repulsed an attack by Hannibal.
- A Roman fleet under Titus Otacilius Crassus defeated a Carthaginian fleet near Sardinia.
- Hasdrubal Barca is defeated by the Scipio brothers in Battle of Dertosa. The Romans raided Carthaginian territory south of the Ebro river.
- A Carthaginian expedition under Hasdrubal the Bald is defeated near Caralis in Sardinia in Battle of Cornus.
- 214 BC – Third Battle of Nola – Marcellus fought an inconclusive battle with Hannibal.
- Battle of Beneventum – Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus's slave legions defeat Hanno and, therefore, deny Hannibal his reinforcements.
- The Siege of Syracuse begins.
- 212 BC
- Hannibal, after careful planning and collaboration from the Greek populance, takes the city of Tarentum in a daring Night Raid on Tarentum. The Romans managed to hold the Citadel at the mouth of the port.
- First Battle of Capua – Hannibal defeated the consuls Q. Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius, but the Roman army escaped. Siege of Capua temporarily lifted.
- Battle of the Silarus – Hannibal destroyed the army of the Roman praetor M. Centenius Penula in Campania.
- First Battle of Herdonia – Hannibal destroyed the Roman army of the praetor Gnaeus Fulvius in Apulia.
- The Siege of Syracuse ends with the fall of the city. Archimedes is accidentally slain.
- 211 BC
- Battle of the Upper Baetis – Publius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus were killed in battle with Hasdrubal Barca.
- Second Battle of Capua – Hannibal was unable to break the Roman siege of the city.
- 210 BC
- Second Battle of Herdonia – Hannibal destroyed the Roman army of Fulvius Centumalus, who was killed.
- Battle of Numistro – Hannibal defeated Marcellus once more.
- Battle of Sapriportis – The Tarentine Greek navy defeated a Roman squadron trying to reinforce the Citadel.
- 209 BC
- Battle of Canusium – Hannibal once again confronted Marcellus in an indecisive battle. Marcellus was recalled to Rome on charges of bad leadership.
- Assault on Cartagena – P. Cornelius Scipio the Younger captured Cartagena, the main base of Carthage in Hispania.
- 208 BC
- Battle of Baecula – Romans in Hispania under P. Cornelius Scipio the Younger defeated Hasdrubal Barca. Hasdrubal managed to save 2/3 of his army, treasures and elephants and retreat.
- Battle of Clupea – The Carthaginian navy is defeated in a battle off the African coast.
- 207 BC
- Battle of Grumentum – Roman general Gaius Claudius Nero fought an indecisive battle with Hannibal, then marched north to confront Hasdrubal Barca, who had invaded Italy.
- Battle of the Metaurus – Hasdrubal Barca was defeated and killed by Livius and Nero's combined Roman army. Is thought by many as one of the most decisive battles in history.
- Naval Battle of Utica – A Carthaginian fleet of 70 ships is defeated by a Roman fleet of 100 ships near Utica.
- 206 BC – Battle of Ilipa – Scipio destroyed the remaining Carthaginian forces in Hispania.
- 204 BC – Battle of Crotona – Hannibal fought a drawn battle against the Roman general Sempronius in Southern Italy.
- 203 BC – Battle of Bagbrades – Romans under Scipio defeated the Carthaginian army of Hasdrubal Gisco and Syphax. Hannibal was recalled to Africa.
- Battle of Castra Cornelia – Carthaginian fleet under Hasdrubal plunders the Roman supply convoy sailing to resupply Scipio's army in Africa near Utica.
- 202 BC – Battle of Zama – Scipio Africanus Major decisively defeated Hannibal in North Africa, ending the Second Punic War.
Battle of Cissa

The Battle of Cissa was part of the Second Punic War. It was fought in the fall of 218 BC, near the Greek town of Tarraco in north-eastern Iberia. A Roman army under Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus defeated an outnumbered Carthaginian army under Hanno, thus gaining control of the territory north of the Ebro River that Hannibal had just subdued a few months prior in the summer of 218 BC. This was the first battle that the Romans had ever fought in Iberia.
Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula

The Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula was a process by which the Roman Republic seized territories in the Iberian peninsula that were previously under the control of native Celtiberian tribes and the Carthaginian Empire. The Carthaginian territories in the south and east of the peninsula were conquered in 206 BC during the Second Punic War. Control was gradually extended over most of the Iberian peninsula without annexations. It was completed after the fall of the Republic, by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who annexed the whole of the peninsula to the Roman Empire in 19 BC. The peninsula had various ethnic groups and a large number of tribes.
Battle of Insubria

The Battle of Insubria in 203 BC was the culmination of a major war, carried out by the Carthaginian commander Mago, son of Hamilcar Barca, at the end of the Second Punic war between Rome and Carthage in what is now northwestern Italy. Mago had landed at Genoa, Liguria, two years before, in an effort to keep the Romans busy to the North and thus hamper indirectly their plans to invade Carthage’s hinterland in Africa. He was quite successful in reigniting the unrest among various peoples against the Roman dominance. Rome was forced to concentrate large forces against him which finally resulted in a battle fought in the land of the Insubres (Lombardy). Mago suffered defeat and had to retreat. The strategy to divert the enemy’s forces failed as the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio laid waste to Africa and wiped out the Carthaginian armies that were sent to destroy the invader. To counter Scipio the Carthaginian government recalled Mago from Italy. However, the remnants of the Carthaginian forces in Cisalpine Gaul continued to harass the Romans for several years after the end of the war.
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, also known as Scipio the African, Scipio Africanus-Major, Scipio Africanus the Elder and Scipio the Great, was a Roman general and later consul who is often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders and strategists of all time. His main achievements were during the Second Punic War where he is best known for defeating Hannibal at the final battle of the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, one of the feats that earned him the agnomen Africanus.