Battle of the Trebia

Battle of the Trebia
Part of the Second Punic War
Matthäus Merian the Elder, "Battle of Trebbia" (1625)
Date 22/23 December 218 BC Location West bank of the lower Trebia River, in modern north Italy 45°3′0″N 9°36′0″E / 45.05000°N 9.60000°E / 45.05000; 9.60000 Result Carthaginian victory
Belligerents
Rome	Carthage
Commanders and leaders
Sempronius Longus	Hannibal
Strength
40,000 men • 16,000 Roman infantry • 20,000 Italian allied infantry • 4,000 cavalry	40,000 men • 21,000 African or Iberian infantry • 8,000 Gallic infantry • 11,000 cavalry • ~30 war elephants
Casualties and losses
20,000 killed Many captured	Several thousand infantry Small number of cavalry Several elephants
class=notpageimage| Approximate location of the battle, shown on a map of modern north Italy

The Battle of the Trebia (or Trebbia) was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and a Roman army under Sempronius Longus on 22 or 23 December 218 BC. Each army had a strength of about 40,000 men; the Carthaginians were stronger in cavalry, the Romans in infantry. The battle took place on the flood plain of the west bank of the lower Trebia River, not far from the settlement of Placentia (modern Piacenza), and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.

War broke out between Carthage and Rome in 218 BC. The leading Carthaginian general, Hannibal, responded by leading a large army out of Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal), through Gaul, across the Alps and into Cisalpine Gaul (in northern Italy). The Romans went on the attack against the reduced force which had survived the rigours of the march, and Publius Scipio personally led the cavalry and light infantry of the army he commanded against the Carthaginian cavalry at the Battle of Ticinus. The Romans were soundly beaten and Scipio was wounded. The Romans retreated to near Placentia, fortified their camp and awaited reinforcement. The Roman army in Sicily under Sempronius was redeployed to the north and joined with Scipio's force. After a day of heavy skirmishing in which the Romans gained the upper hand, Sempronius was eager for a battle.

Hannibal used his Numidian cavalry to lure the Romans out of their camp and onto ground of his choosing. Fresh Carthaginian cavalry routed the outnumbered Roman cavalry and Carthaginian light infantry outflanked the Roman infantry. A previously hidden Carthaginian force attacked the Roman infantry in the rear. Most of the Roman units then collapsed and most Romans were killed or captured by the Carthaginians, but 10,000 under Sempronius maintained formation and fought their way out to the safety of Placentia. Recognising the Carthaginians as the dominant force in Cisalpine Gaul, Gallic recruits flocked to them, and Hannibal's army grew to 60,000. The following spring, it moved south into Roman Italy and gained another victory at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. In 216 BC Hannibal marched to southern Italy and inflicted the disastrous defeat of the Battle of Cannae on the Romans, the last of what modern historians describe as the three great military calamities suffered by the Romans in the first three years of the war.