Hasdrubal Barca - Second Carthaginian Expedition To Italy

Second Carthaginian Expedition To Italy

Later in 209 BC, Hasdrubal was summoned to join his brother in Italy. He eluded Scipio by crossing the Pyrenees at their western extremity and safely made his way into Gaul in the winter of 208. Hasdrubal had waited until the spring of 207 to make his way through the Alps and into Northern Italy. Hasdrubal made much faster progress than his brother had, partly due to the constructions left behind by Hannibal's army when he had passed via the same route a decade earlier, but also due to the removal of the Gallic threat that had plagued Hannibal during said expeditions. The Gauls now feared and respected the Carthaginians, and not only was Hasdrubal allowed to pass through the Alps unmolested, his ranks were bolstered by many enthusiastic Gauls. Hasdrubal, in the same fashion as his brother, succeeded in bringing his war elephants, raised and trained in Hispania. It was not until Hasdrubal sent messengers to Hannibal that decisive measures were taken. Hasdrubal wished to meet with his brother in South Umbria. However, this was not to be. Hasdrubal's messengers were captured and he was ultimately checked by two Roman armies, and being forced to give battle was decisively defeated at the Battle of the Metaurus. Hasdrubal himself died bravely in the fight; he was beheaded, his head packed in a sack and thrown into his brother Hannibal's camp as a sign of his utter defeat, in stark contrast of Hannibal's treatment of the bodies of fallen Roman Consuls.