Undaunted, the great Carthaginian gave orders for the preparations to begin. Troops were trained, supplies stored and information on the Roman legions was gathered. The Gallic tribes were in constant conflict with Rome and could thus be counted upon for support. Actually their aid was vital for the successful conclusion of the campaign. In 219 BC the Greek city of Saguntum, an ally of Rome, was besieged by Hannibal's army and the Second Punic War begun.
The Campaign
Hannibal crossed the Alps in 15 days and reached the fertile Po valley in northern Italy in the winter of 218, five months after he set out from Carthago Nova. But he had lost 50 000 men in the process (10 000 men under Hanno were left to safeguard the passage from Spain to Gaul). Celtic contingents joined him there as planned. After crushing the Roman legions in the battles of Ticinus, Trebia, Trasimene, and ultimately at Cannae, causing the Romans more than 200 000 casualties, he lost momentum. Meanwhile the Scipio brothers wreaked havoc in Iberia limiting his reinforcements. The Carthaginian navy was unable to effectively ressuply him due to the Roman naval superiority. Eventually, with the Punics lacking siege machines, the war degenerated into a series of marches and counter marches as Hannibal was desperately trying to force the Romans into a decisive pitched battle.
Important port cities such as Tarentum, and Brundisium were denied to Hannibal and thus the fate of the war was decided with a Roman invasion of Africa. Scipio the younger (later "Africanus") defeated the great general at Zama, 201 BC. Betrayed by his Numidian allies and limited by the inactivity of his Senate, Hannibal was for the first and only time defeated in his military career.
Unfortunately the fate the gods had in store for them was unworthy of their deeds. After mainland Africa was invaded by Africanus, the Senate recalled Hannibal from Italy. Due to the limited number of ships at his disposal only a handful of troops were able to be ferried to Africa. As such the bulk of the, by now middle aged, veterans were left behind. The Romans sent envoys offering them freedom in return of their arms. They accepted, only to be treacherously slain unarmed by the jubilant legionnaires.
As for Hannibal himself, he pursued a political career after the war, promoting many democratic and liberal reforms. But the Romans could never forget what they had suffered by him and the terror his invincible army had caused them. They persecuted him, forcing him into exile. After a brief spell at the service of Antiochus, he at last found refuge at the court of King Prussias of Bythinia.
But Hannibal had no illusions about the loyalty of Kings. After being informed about a planned attempt to apprehend him and possibly assassinate him, he took poison ending his own life at the age of sixty two. Let us, he said, as he drained the cup, finally,
"...free the Roman people from their long standing anxiety, since they find it tedius to wait for an old man's death. It is no magnificent or memorable victory that Flaminius will win over a man unarmed and betrayed..."
Ninety thousand men marched from New Carthage in the summer of 218, but only twenty five thousand were destined to reach Italy. Hostile Spanish tribes, diseases, harsh weather conditions and a semi legendary crossing of the Alps took their toll on the Punic army.
The Romans, informed of Hannibal's movements, attempted to intercept him at Marseilles. Publius Cornelius Scipio leading two legions believed that the Carthaginian's plan was to knock out Marseilles, Rome's powerful ally. Only when Hannibal bypassed him at the Rhone
did the Romans realize that the Carthaginian objective all along was an invasion of Italy.
For 16 long hard years the Punic army followed Hannibal Barca in his Italian campaign. Not once did they rebel or exhibit cowardice in battle.