Hasdrubal (Barcid) - Youth and Iberian Leadership

Youth and Iberian Leadership

Little is known of Hasdrubal's early life. Hasdrubal was present when the Iberians ambushed the Carthaginian forces at Akra Leuka, nowadays Alicante. He, along with his brother Hannibal, escaped, as Hamilcar led the Iberians in the opposite direction and drowned in the River Jucar.

Hannibal, when he set out for Italy, left a force of 13,000 infantry, 2,550 cavalry and 21 war elephants in Iberia. The Punic navy had a fleet of 50 Quinqueremes and 5 Triremes stationed there. However, only 32 Quinqueremes were manned at the start of the Second Punic War.

Left in command of Hispania when Hannibal departed to Italy in 218 BC, Hasdrubal was destined to fight for six years against the brothers Gnaeus and Publius Cornelius Scipio. The expedition led by Gnaeus Scipio in 218 BC had caught the Carthaginians by surprise, and before Hasdrubal could join Hanno, the Carthaginian commander on the North of Ebro River, the Romans had fought and won the Battle of Cissa and established their army at Tarraco and their fleet at Emporiae. Hasdrubal raided the Romans with a flying column of light infantry and cavalry, which inflicted severe losses and on their naval crews and reduced the fighting strength to 35 ships. This loss was offset by the arrival of an allied Greek contingent from the city of Massilia.

In the spring of 217 BC, Hasdrubal led a joint expedition north to fight the Romans. He commanded the army, while his deputy commanded the fleet. The Army and the fleet moved north side by side and encamped on the mouth of the Ebro River. Carelessness of the Carthaginian fleet enabled Gnaeus Scipio to surprise the Carthaginians and crush their naval contingent at the Battle of Ebro River. Hasdrubal retreated without fighting the Roman army. The year 216 was spent quelling an uprising of Iberian tribes, possibility the Trudetanii around the area near Gades.

Hasdrubal was reinforced by 4,000 infantry and 500 cavalry and was ordered by the Carthaginian senate to march to Italy in the same year. He left Himilco the Navigator in charge at Cartagena and marched for the Ebro river, but was heavily defeated in the Battle of Dertosa in the spring of 215 BC. This defeat prevented reinforcements reaching Hannibal from both Iberia and Africa at a critical moment of the War, when the Carthaginians held the upper hand in Italy. The Carthaginians from now were forced to contest the Romans in the area between the Ebro and Jucor rivers.