Ticinus River (218 BC)

Hannibal has completed his epic march across the Alps, but has lost fully half of his soldiers in doing so. The Consul in Southern Gaul, Publius Scipio, has shadowed Hannibal’s advance following the coastal route. He intercepts Hannibal in Northern …

-218

4

Hannibal has completed his epic march across the Alps, but has lost fully half of his soldiers in doing so. The Consul in Southern Gaul, Publius Scipio, has shadowed Hannibal’s advance following the coastal route. He intercepts Hannibal in Northern Italy as he is rebuilding his army with Gallic recruits. Neither commander is willing to bring on general battle, but Scipio does advance his light troops and cavalry, unaware of how much better the Carthaginian cavalry was than his own. Hannibal counters with his cavalry, including the fearsome Numidian light horse. Hannibal gives Scipio a tactics lesson. His heavy cavalry smashes into the light infantry, drawing the Roman cavalry into the fight. At that point, the Numidians hit both flanks, driving off the disorganized surviving cavalry, wounding Publius Scipio in the process. One capable Roman now knew how formidable Hannibal’s army was. Unfortunately, three other inept Roman Consuls would lose thousands of Roman soldiers at The Trebbia, Lake Trasimenus, and Cannae because they failed to heed the warnings.

Ticinus River, Italy

The Battle of Ticinus was a battle of the Second Punic War fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio in late November 218 BC. The battle took place in the flat country on the right bank of the River Ticinus, to the west of modern Pavia in northern Italy. Hannibal led 6,000 African and Iberian cavalry, while Scipio led 3,600 Roman, Italian and Gallic cavalry and a large but unknown number of light infantry javelinmen.

Wikipedia: Battle of Ticinus

Carthaginian

Roman

Second Punic War