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Battles: The Battle of Trebia
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Posted by Webmaster on September 19 2004, 06:31 AM
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In the December (actually whether or not it was December is disputed) of 218 the Carthaginian general, Hannibal had lost a good deal of his troops in the march across the Alps. The Romans under Titus Sempronius Longus were supremely confident of victory; this overconfidence would be their downfall.
The Carthaginians marched towards the Trebia River and set up camp following the battle of Ticinus. Hannibal knowing that the Romans could still defeat him stayed on side opposite to the Romans. After sometime the Roman forces were augmented by the arrival of Titus Sempronius Longus and his legions plus allies. Sempronius was not a patient man and wanted to engage Hannibal as soon as he arrived, but Scipio (the Roman general who Sempronius had come to help) advised him not too, Sempronius obliged, but put his troops in full battle order in front of the river. Hannibal noticed this and came up with a plan to beat the Romans.
In the middle of the night before the battle Hannibal sent 1,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry under the command of his younger brother Mago into the woods, where they would lay in wait. At dawn, while the rest of the army ate and rubbed themselves with oil (this protect them from the cold) the Numidian light cavalry went across the river and attacked the Roman camp, then retreated. Sempronius ordered all troops to get up and form up, then march across the river.
On a hill some ways across the river Hannibal had set up a battle line of his own. In front of the army was 8,000 light troops (mostly skirmishers), behind them was the center of the line which was comprised of 20,000 African, Spanish and Gallic infantrymen combined. On the flanks was 10,000 cavalry and a number of war elephants (there was 37 total). Sempronius chased the Numidians across the river with his 4 legions of Romans and other Italians in standard 3-line formation with 4,000 cavalry on the flanks and 3,000 Cenomani (the Cenomani was a Gallic tribe) on the right flank.
The battle was eventually joined when the Roman velites (skirmish infantry) engaged the Carthaginian light troops in battle, the velites had already used up most of their javelins beforehand and didn’t last very long before they were forced to fall back, the Carthaginian light infantry fell back at about the same time. Now Sempronius sent forward his cavalry, which broke soon after engaging the Carthaginian and Numidian cavalry forces. Soon after this the two center lines clashed and held together with the advantage going to neither side. On the Roman flanks they began suffering heavy losses and began to move back as far they could without breaking. Some of the more courageous units actually attacked the rear of the Roman flanks adding to the panic. However the biggest advantage the Carthaginian flanks had was the elephant troops, which the Romans had yet learned to counter. It was about this time that Mago charged out of his hiding place and smashed into the Roman rear. The Romans were now unable to keep cohesion and broke, the flanks retreated across the river, where a good number either drowned or was cut down. What remained of the Roman center found a weak spot in the Carthaginian line and broke through it in order to retreat to Placentia (as they did not want to cross the river again).
In the aftermath of Trebia much happened. In the immediate aftermath Hannibal did not bother to attack the Roman camp or chase Sempronius as he retreated to Placentia. Later on the Romans would realize that Trebia was just the beginning of the Hannibal nightmare that would keep them on their toes for some time. Hannibal would go on from Trebia to win even more victories. The greatest victory of all happening within a year or so of Trebia, the battle of Cannae. |
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