Hannibal's first major victory at Trebia

If Hannibal's first major victory at Trebia had been a matter of serious alarm for the Romans, the catastrophe at Lake Trasumennus raised matters to the level of a national emergency. Moreover, scarcely had the news of Trasumennus reached Rome before the Romans got word of a secondary defeat. Gnaeus Servilius, the consul commanding the other Roman army, had previously received word that Flaminius was in close pursuit of Hannibal's army. In order to provide assistance before he could bring his whole army up in support, Servilius had dispatched a body of four thousand cavalry under Gaius Centenius as a reinforcement to Flaminius. This cavalry force--which must have comprised most of Servilius' cavalry component--did not arrive in time to be thrown away at Trasumennus itself, but Hannibal received word of its approach shortly afterward. He dispatched Maharbal with "pikemen" (again, apparently light troops, not phalangites as the term would imply) along with part of his cavalry. The Roman reinforcing column was duly wiped out, about half being killed and the rest captured the following day.

In the face of the compounded disaster, the Romans had recourse for the first time in a generation to the appointment of a military Dictator with plenary powers, giving the post to Quintus Fabius Maximus, famous for his subsequent policy as Fabius Cunctator, "the delayer." According to Livy, there was an element of irregularity to the appointment. A Dictator could forma

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The actual supply problem would be even greater through much of the campaign season, since until the harvest supplies would have to come from the previous season's stores, already largely consumed through the winter by the local population. Thus, in a single week Hannibal's army would fully denude the supply capacity of well over seven square miles of land; in a couple of months, of more than 60 square miles of land--in practice, as much as two or three times that amount. Hence, in the short term, the need to send foragers to a considerable distance, and in the longer term to move on into a new district. Even if "exemplary terror" were not intended, Hannibal's army exacted an enormous cost on the lands it passed through. In the long run, Hannibal's only solution to his supply problem was to fragment the Roman alliance system sufficiently to secure supplies and bases friendly to himself; thus his logistic requirements matched his strategic objective. In the shorter term--his first two major victories having failed to break loose potential supporters--Hannibal badly needed another victory in order to produce some political movement in his favor. This, however, was just what Fabius was bent on denying him: "The Romans cont

Category: History - H