Hannibal Crosses the Alps
The Second Punic War · Carthage vs. Rome · 218–201 BC
Why walk over mountains?
Rome had beaten Carthage in the First Punic War and now ruled the western Mediterranean. Carthage could not safely invade Italy by sea, so the young general Hannibal Barca did the unthinkable: in 218 BC he marched an army from Spain, over the Pyrenees, across the Rhône River and through the snowy Alps into northern Italy.
He brought about 37 war elephants. The crossing took roughly fifteen days in late autumn. Snow, ice, rockslides and attacks by mountain tribes cost him many men and animals—but he came down into Italy, and Rome was in shock.
Historians still argue over exactly which pass he used.
Fire and vinegarThe Roman historian Livy says Hannibal’s men split a blocking boulder by heating it with fire and pouring sour wine on it.
The elephantsMost of the elephants survived the Alps but died in the cold winter that followed. By the next spring, almost none were left.
“Hannibal at the gates!”For generations, Roman parents used the phrase to scare children. Hannibal stayed in Italy about 15 years but never took Rome.
How it endedIn 201 BC Carthage gave up Spain, its navy and a huge payment. Rome was now the strongest power in the western Mediterranean.
Ready to depart · 218 BCNew Carthage, Spain
Press Start March to follow Hannibal’s army.
Elephants are symbolic, not to scale. The march starts at New Carthage in Spain, not Carthage in Africa.
Hannibal’s Road to Rome (hover each stop)
Saguntum219 BC – Hannibal besieges this Roman ally in Spain. The war begins.
New CarthageSpring 218 BC – the army leaves its base in Spain.
PyreneesThe first mountain wall, between Spain and Gaul.
Rhône RiverElephants ferried across on rafts covered with earth.
The AlpsAutumn 218 BC – snow, cliffs and ambushes.
TrebiaDec. 218 BC – first big victory in Italy.
Lake Trasimene217 BC – a Roman army ambushed in the fog.
Cannae216 BC – Hannibal surrounds and destroys a huge Roman army.
Zama202 BC – Scipio Africanus finally defeats Hannibal in Africa.
