Battle of Rhone Crossing
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Rhone Crossing took place during the Second Punic War
. The Carthaginian
army under Hannibal Barca, while marching to Italy
in the autumn of 218 BC, fought an army of the Gaul
ish tribe of Volcae
on the east bank of the Rhone River
possibly near Aurasio
. The pro-Roman Volcae, acting on behalf of a Roman army camped on the east bank near Marseille
, intended to prevent the Carthaginians from crossing and invading Italy. Devising a plan to circumvent the Volcae, the Carthaginians, before crossing the river to attack the Gauls, had sent a detachment upriver under Hanno, son of Bomilcar
, to cross at a different point and take position behind the Gauls. Hannibal led the main army across after Hanno sent smoke signals saying that the ambush was in place. As the Gauls massed to oppose Hannibal’s force, Hanno attacked them from behind and routed their army. Although the battle was not fought against a Roman army
, the result of the battle had a profound effect on the war. Had the Carthaginians been prevented from crossing the Rhone, invasion of Italy in 218 might not have taken place. This is the first major battle Hannibal fought outside the Iberian Peninsula
.
Both Carthage and Rome were in the process of mobilizing their resources for the coming conflict. Hannibal directed the Punic effort, while the Roman Senate decided on the Roman deployment of forces.
The Roman navy had already been mobilized by 218 BC, having launched 220 quinquereme
s, perhaps for the Second Illyrian War during 220/219 BC. Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus
had received 2 legions (8,000 infantry and 600 cavalry) plus 16,000 allied infantry and 1,800 allied cavalry with instructions to sail for Sicily in 160 great warships and 12 light galleys and from there to Africa provided the other consul could keep Hannibal out of Italy. (He never got to Africa.) Publius Cornelius Scipio
received 2 legions of the same number of infantry and cavalry plus 14,000 allied infantry and 1,600 allied cavalry with 65 banked ships for transport. Lucius Manlius was given 2 legions with 10,000 allied infantry and 1,000 cavalry. Gauls of the Boii
and Insubres
tribes in north Italy had attacked the settlers intended to build the Roman colonies of Placentia
and Cremona
, and had penned them and a small Roman relief force in Mutina. Two of the four legions originally intended for Scipio were diverted to Praetor Lucius Manlius Vulso for the relief of Mutina and the building of the colonies, which were to be walled castra
. (Just in time, as Scipio had to fall back on Placentia after the Battle of Ticinus
and on Cremona after the Battle of the Trebbia.) Fresh legions were raised to replace these, delaying Scipio's departure.
. When the army assembled in the summer of 218 BC, Hannibal stationed 15,000 soldiers and 21 elephants in Carthaginian controlled Iberia under Hasdrubal Barca
, and sent 20,000 soldiers to Africa, with 4,000 garrisoning Carthage itself. The army that marched for Italy from Cartagena
is supposed to have numbered 90,000 foot and 12,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. The elephants come from Appian
. There is no mention of the elephants by Polybius or Livy, so it has been speculated that the elephants may have been carried to Emporiae by sea. The Iberian contingent of the Punic navy numbered 50 quinqueremes (only 32 were manned) and 5 triremes, which remained in home waters. Carthage mobilized at least 55 quinqueremes for immediate raids on Italy and Sicily.
Hannibal put Hanno, son of Bomilcar, in charge of a mobile column made up of infantry and cavalry on the 3rd night, and sent this force upriver under cover of darkness to find another suitable crossing place. Led by local guides, Hanno located a crossing about 25 miles to the north of the Carthaginian camp near an “island” , and crossed the river undetected with the aid of hastily built rafts. Some Iberians crossed the river using inflated animal skins. This detachment then rested for one day. They moved south on the following night (the second night after leaving the main army) and reached behind the Volcae camp at dawn.
Hanno signalled Hannibal by lighting a beacon and using smoke. The main Punic army started to cross the 1000 yard wide river. The rafts carrying Numidian cavalry
were furthest upstream, while boats carrying dismounted cavalry crossed below them, with three or four horses in tow, tied to their boats. These took the brunt of the river's current and the mobile infantry in canoes were placed below them. Some soldiers may have crossed the river by swimming. Hannibal himself was among the first to cross, and the rest of the Carthaginian army assembled on the western bank to cheer their comrades while they waited their turn to cross.
The Gauls, seeing the boats being launched, massed on the eastern riverbank to oppose the Carthaginians. Battle was soon joined on the eastern shore and the Carthaginians managed to establish a foothold. Hanno, timing his attack, sent part of his force to set the Volcae camp on fire while the rest of his force fell on the rear of the Gallic army just as Hannibal’s group established a foothold. Some of the Gauls then moved to defend the camp, while some immediately took flight. Soon the whole enemy force was scattered and driven off.
Publius Scipio had sailed from Pisa and reached Massilia after sailing five days along the Ligurian coast, and had disembarked his army there. Learning from the locals that Hannibal had already crossed into Gaul, he sent 300 Roman horsemen and some Gaulish mercenaries up the east bank of Rhone river to locate the Carthaginian army. These troops met and scattered the aforementioned force of Numidian cavalry out scouting for Hannibal, and managed to locate the Carthaginian camp as well.
Scipio, after learning Hannibal's location, loaded his heavy baggage onto the ships and marched north with his army to confront Hannibal. Despite outnumbering Scipio at this point, Hannibal decided to push towards the Alps and started marching north following the eastern bank of the Rhone. Scipio arrived at the deserted Carthaginian camp, and finding that the Carthaginians were three days' march away, returned to Massilia. He put his army under the command of his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
, then serving as his legate, and ordered him to sail for Iberian. Publius Scipio himself returned to Italy to organise the defences against Hannibal's anticipated invasion.
Hans Delbruck
proposed another hypothesis: Hannibal had mobilized a total of 82,000 troops, not 137,000. After leaving 26,000 in Iberia (with Hasdrubal Barca and Hanno), and releasing 10,000 prior to crossing the Pyrenees, he arrived in Italy with at least 34,000 soldiers. The balance was lost in battles or to the Alpine elements. The basis of this theory is:
Given that Hannibal had at least 6,000 cavalry, 20,000 heavy infantry and 8,000 light infantry before the Gauls joined him, a total of 34,000 troops when he reached Italy. Which means that the Carthaginian army still lost 25% of its starting strength on the march to Italy.
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
. The Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
army under Hannibal Barca, while marching to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the autumn of 218 BC, fought an army of the Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
ish tribe of Volcae
Volcae
The Volcae were a tribal confederation constituted before the raid of combined Gauls that invaded Macedon circa 270 BC and defeated the assembled Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 279 BC...
on the east bank of the Rhone River
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
possibly near Aurasio
Orange, Vaucluse
Orange is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It has a primarily agricultural economy...
. The pro-Roman Volcae, acting on behalf of a Roman army camped on the east bank near Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, intended to prevent the Carthaginians from crossing and invading Italy. Devising a plan to circumvent the Volcae, the Carthaginians, before crossing the river to attack the Gauls, had sent a detachment upriver under Hanno, son of Bomilcar
Hanno, son of Bomilcar
Hanno, son of Bomilcar, was a Carthaginian officer in the Second Punic War, and nephew of Hannibal Barca, Carthages leading General as his mother was one of Hannibals three elder sisters. When Hannibal's army reached the Western bank of the Rhône River they began preparations to cross. A group of...
, to cross at a different point and take position behind the Gauls. Hannibal led the main army across after Hanno sent smoke signals saying that the ambush was in place. As the Gauls massed to oppose Hannibal’s force, Hanno attacked them from behind and routed their army. Although the battle was not fought against a Roman army
Roman army
The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...
, the result of the battle had a profound effect on the war. Had the Carthaginians been prevented from crossing the Rhone, invasion of Italy in 218 might not have taken place. This is the first major battle Hannibal fought outside the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
.
Roman preparations
The Roman navy had already been mobilized by 218 BC, having launched 220 quinquereme
Quinquereme
From the 4th century BC on, new types of oared warships appeared in the Mediterranean Sea, superseding the trireme and transforming naval warfare. Ships became increasingly bigger and heavier, including some of the largest wooden ships ever constructed...
s, perhaps for the Second Illyrian War during 220/219 BC. Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus
Tiberius Sempronius Longus
Tiberius Sempronius Longus may refer to:*Tiberius Sempronius Longus , who fought Hannibal's forces in the Second Punic War*His son, Tiberius Sempronius Longus , who defended Roman settlements from the Gauls...
had received 2 legions (8,000 infantry and 600 cavalry) plus 16,000 allied infantry and 1,800 allied cavalry with instructions to sail for Sicily in 160 great warships and 12 light galleys and from there to Africa provided the other consul could keep Hannibal out of Italy. (He never got to Africa.) Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic.A member of the Corneliagens, Scipio served as consul in 218 BC, the first year of the Second Punic War, and sailed with an army from Pisa to Massilia , with the intention of arresting Hannibal's advance on Italy...
received 2 legions of the same number of infantry and cavalry plus 14,000 allied infantry and 1,600 allied cavalry with 65 banked ships for transport. Lucius Manlius was given 2 legions with 10,000 allied infantry and 1,000 cavalry. Gauls of the Boii
Boii
The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...
and Insubres
Insubres
The Insubres were a Gaulish population settled in Insubria, in what is now Lombardy . They were the founders of Milan . Though ethnically Celtic at the time of Roman conquest , they were most likely the result of the fusion of pre-existing Ligurian, Celtic and "Italic" population strata with Gaulish...
tribes in north Italy had attacked the settlers intended to build the Roman colonies of Placentia
Placentia
Placentia may refer to:* Palace of Placentia, an English Royal Palace* Placentia, California, United States* Placentia, Italy* Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada* Battle of Placentia* Placentia Bay, the name of two ships of the Royal Navy...
and Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
, and had penned them and a small Roman relief force in Mutina. Two of the four legions originally intended for Scipio were diverted to Praetor Lucius Manlius Vulso for the relief of Mutina and the building of the colonies, which were to be walled castra
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
. (Just in time, as Scipio had to fall back on Placentia after the Battle of Ticinus
Battle of Ticinus
The Battle of Ticinus was a battle of the Second Punic War fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio in November 218 BC. The battle took place in the flat country of Pavia county on the right bank of the Ticino River not far north from its...
and on Cremona after the Battle of the Trebbia.) Fresh legions were raised to replace these, delaying Scipio's departure.
Punic preparations
Hannibal had dismissed his army to winter quarters after the Siege of SaguntumSiege of Saguntum
The Siege of Saguntum was a battle which took place between 219 BC and 218 BC between the Carthaginians and the Saguntines. The battle is mainly remembered today because it triggered one of the most important wars of antiquity, the Second Punic War....
. When the army assembled in the summer of 218 BC, Hannibal stationed 15,000 soldiers and 21 elephants in Carthaginian controlled Iberia under Hasdrubal Barca
Hasdrubal Barca
Hasdrubal was Hamilcar Barca's second son and a Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War. He was a younger brother of the much more famous Hannibal.-Youth and Iberian leadership:...
, and sent 20,000 soldiers to Africa, with 4,000 garrisoning Carthage itself. The army that marched for Italy from Cartagena
Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
is supposed to have numbered 90,000 foot and 12,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. The elephants come from Appian
Appian
Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...
. There is no mention of the elephants by Polybius or Livy, so it has been speculated that the elephants may have been carried to Emporiae by sea. The Iberian contingent of the Punic navy numbered 50 quinqueremes (only 32 were manned) and 5 triremes, which remained in home waters. Carthage mobilized at least 55 quinqueremes for immediate raids on Italy and Sicily.
Prelude
Hannibal marched from Cartagena in May, divided his army into 3 columns, crossed the Ebro and subdued the area between the Pyrenees, Ebro and Siccle rivers after a two month long campaign. Before crossing the Pyrenees, Hannibal left Hanno with 11,000 soldiers to guard the newly conquered area, along with all the heavy baggage, and released 10,000 reluctant soldiers from the invasion. Hannibal had used diplomacy to pacify the Gallic tribes beyond Pyrenees, and his march was not contested until the Carthaginians reached the territory of the Volcae on the banks of Rhone River by late September. By then, the army had shrunk to 38,000 foot and 8,000 horsemen. After reaching the west bank of the river, Hannibal decided to rest for three days. The Carthaginians collected boats and built rafts as they prepared to cross the river. Although the Volcae inhabited both banks of the river, they had retreated to the eastern bank, where they encamped and awaited the Carthaginian crossing attempt.Hannibal put Hanno, son of Bomilcar, in charge of a mobile column made up of infantry and cavalry on the 3rd night, and sent this force upriver under cover of darkness to find another suitable crossing place. Led by local guides, Hanno located a crossing about 25 miles to the north of the Carthaginian camp near an “island” , and crossed the river undetected with the aid of hastily built rafts. Some Iberians crossed the river using inflated animal skins. This detachment then rested for one day. They moved south on the following night (the second night after leaving the main army) and reached behind the Volcae camp at dawn.
The Battle
Numidian cavalry
Numidian cavalry was a type of light cavalry developed by the Numidians, most notably used by Hannibal during the Second Punic War. They were described by the Roman historian Livy as "by far the best horsemen in Africa."...
were furthest upstream, while boats carrying dismounted cavalry crossed below them, with three or four horses in tow, tied to their boats. These took the brunt of the river's current and the mobile infantry in canoes were placed below them. Some soldiers may have crossed the river by swimming. Hannibal himself was among the first to cross, and the rest of the Carthaginian army assembled on the western bank to cheer their comrades while they waited their turn to cross.
The Gauls, seeing the boats being launched, massed on the eastern riverbank to oppose the Carthaginians. Battle was soon joined on the eastern shore and the Carthaginians managed to establish a foothold. Hanno, timing his attack, sent part of his force to set the Volcae camp on fire while the rest of his force fell on the rear of the Gallic army just as Hannibal’s group established a foothold. Some of the Gauls then moved to defend the camp, while some immediately took flight. Soon the whole enemy force was scattered and driven off.
Aftermath
The majority of the Carthaginian army crossed the river on the day of the battle using rafts, boats and canoes in relays. Hannibal took measures in order to have his elephants ferried across the river the following day by ingenious means. Either the elephants were ferried across on rafts covered by dirt, or they swam across. Once the army had gathered on the eastern bank, scouting parties were sent out, as Hannibal had received word that a Roman fleet had reached Massilia. One group of Numidians met a group of Roman and Gallic cavalry while scouting and retreated after a sharp skirmish.Publius Scipio had sailed from Pisa and reached Massilia after sailing five days along the Ligurian coast, and had disembarked his army there. Learning from the locals that Hannibal had already crossed into Gaul, he sent 300 Roman horsemen and some Gaulish mercenaries up the east bank of Rhone river to locate the Carthaginian army. These troops met and scattered the aforementioned force of Numidian cavalry out scouting for Hannibal, and managed to locate the Carthaginian camp as well.
Scipio, after learning Hannibal's location, loaded his heavy baggage onto the ships and marched north with his army to confront Hannibal. Despite outnumbering Scipio at this point, Hannibal decided to push towards the Alps and started marching north following the eastern bank of the Rhone. Scipio arrived at the deserted Carthaginian camp, and finding that the Carthaginians were three days' march away, returned to Massilia. He put his army under the command of his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus was a Roman general and statesman.His father was Lucius Cornelius Scipio, son of the patrician censor of 280, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus. His younger brother was Publius Cornelius Scipio, father of the most famous Scipio – Scipio Africanus...
, then serving as his legate, and ordered him to sail for Iberian. Publius Scipio himself returned to Italy to organise the defences against Hannibal's anticipated invasion.
Battle site location
Historians disagree on the specific location of the battle site, identifying various locations starting from Bourg Saint-Andeoi (De Beer, 1969, p. 122-3), Beaucaire and Fourques on the Rhone, based on different hypotheses. Polybius (3.42.1) identified the battle site as being four days march from the sea. Assuming a 12-16 kilometre march limit per day for the Carthaginian army, the site is likely between Avignon and Orange, upstream of the Durance river, based on the probable ancient coastline, which has advanced further south because of silting from the Rhone since 218 BC.Hannibal’s vanishing soldiers
Hannibal might have mobilized 137,000 (Hannibal’s army: 102,000 troops, Hasdrubal's 15,000, army in Africa: 20,000) soldiers before setting out for Italy. After subduing the lands north of Ebro in Catalonia, Hannibal left Hanno there with 11,000 soldiers, and released another 10,000 troops from service. Hannibal’s army numbered 59,000 soldiers when he crossed the Pyrenees. It seems 22,000 soldiers had vanished with any information being available about their specific fate since crossing the Ebro. On the Rhone, Hannibal had 46,000 soldiers available; another 13,000 had disappeared although the army had fought no battles between the Pyrenees and the Rhone. When the Carthaginian army finally reached Italy, it supposedly numbered 26,000 (Polybius 3.56.4). The Punic army had lost 75% of its starting strength during the journey to Italy. The cause of this drastic reduction is speculated as: large scale desertion by new recruits, high casualties suffered in Catalonia from direct assaults on walled towns, garrisoning of parts of Gaul, severe winter conditions faced on the Alps, and unreliability of the figures given by Polybius.Hans Delbruck
Hans Delbrück
Hans Delbrück was a German historian. Delbrück was one of the first modern military historians, basing his method of research on the critical examination of ancient sources, the use of auxiliary disciplines, like demography and economics, to complete the analysis and the comparison between...
proposed another hypothesis: Hannibal had mobilized a total of 82,000 troops, not 137,000. After leaving 26,000 in Iberia (with Hasdrubal Barca and Hanno), and releasing 10,000 prior to crossing the Pyrenees, he arrived in Italy with at least 34,000 soldiers. The balance was lost in battles or to the Alpine elements. The basis of this theory is:
- Hannibal received no Iberian/African troops as reinforcements before 215 BC, when Bomilcar landed 4,000 Numidians at Lorci.
- At the Battle of Trebia, there is mention of 8,000 slingers and other light infantry of non Celtic/Gaulish or Italian origins.
Given that Hannibal had at least 6,000 cavalry, 20,000 heavy infantry and 8,000 light infantry before the Gauls joined him, a total of 34,000 troops when he reached Italy. Which means that the Carthaginian army still lost 25% of its starting strength on the march to Italy.