Hannibal Crosses the Alps with His Elephants

In 218 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal led an army across the Alps into northern Italy, opening a new phase of the Second Punic War. Rather than confronting Roman naval forces or coastal garrisons in southern Gaul directly, Hannibal chose an overland approach from Carthaginian-controlled Iberia. The enterprise sought to bring the conflict straight to the Roman Republic and rally local Gallic communities in the Po Valley who had recently clashed with Roman armies.

The Carthaginian expedition had been shaped by years of conflict and expansion following the First Punic War. After losing naval dominance and territorial control in Sicily and Sardinia, Carthage backed campaigns in Iberia led by Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca, and later his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal. By 221 BC, the 26-year-old Hannibal took command of the Iberian forces. His siege and sack of Saguntum precipitated a diplomatic rupture with Rome, prompting him to march across the Pyrenees and through southern Gaul toward the high passes of the Alps.