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The second war started when Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum in Spain, which although was south of the Ebro river that the Carthaginians had promised not to cross, was never the less an ally to Rome. The Romans demanded that Carthage hand over Hannibal and his supporters or face war. The Carthaginian senate refused and Hannibal crossed the Ebro and made his way with an army of about 90,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry towards northern Italy. He crossed the Alps in fourteen days and descended into the valley of the Po river where he joined forces with Celtic tribes whom he had been establishing friendly ties wth, and whom he needed desperately to recruit his army after suffering severe losses on his journey from Spain and across the Alps. Hannibal came face to face with the Roman forces commanded by Publius Cornelius Scipio near the river Ticinus in 218BC and defeated them in the first of a series of great triumphs for the Carthaginians. |
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