After the Battle of Illipa, Hasdrubal fled back to Carthage, where Margo led his remnants of his army along the Atlantic, and organized a counterattack on the city of New Carthage, but it was finally defeated and eventually squeezed by Scipio the Great to the Baltic Islands. In this way, the war in Spain came to an end. In 206 BC, shortly after the Battle of Illipah, Scipio the Great left two legions in charge of Spanish defense and returned to Rome with his main forces.
War in Spain
But in the city of Rome, Scipio the Great did not get the triumphal style that the conqueror should have. The war in Spain was so unexpected that everyone was shocked, especially the old generals who had blocked the march of Scipio the Great, and in order to prevent the old Fabians from being too embarrassed, the Senate canceled the triumphant ceremony of entering the city. But in order to appease Scipio the Great, the Senate made an exception to allow him to run for consulship the following year, in 205 B.C. In 210 BC, when Scipio the Great led an army to Spain as a "former legal officer", he was only 25 years old, and by 205 BC, he was only 30 years old, and the age limit for the consul to run was 40 years old. Let us speculate a little bit, this promise of the Senate, I am afraid that it is possible to write a blank cheque, in the seniority of the consul campaign, can the Great Scipio really be the opponent of the highly respected and battle-hardened veteran generals? However, the Senate misjudged the situation, and it was this time and time again that the exceptions finally raised Scipio the Great into a little monster that the Senate could not control.
Scipio the Great's record, though embarrassing to the Senate, excited the Roman people. Hannibal traversed Italy for more than ten years, and in just a few major battles he lost 100,000 Roman soldiers, and his fame was almost to the point of "stopping the children crying at night". Although the old Fabians squeezed Hannibal around Calabria, people were constantly worried that the tiger would break through the cage at any time, and with the death of Gracchus and Malcas, people's fears became more and more intense, and even questioned the old generals. And the birth of Scipio the Great undoubtedly gave a shot in the arm for the worried Romans, and the young man of Scipio the Great, his brilliant achievements, especially his provocative speeches, all declared to people that he would be the best candidate to defeat Hannibal and help the Roman edifice. At the Civic Assembly that elected the consuls in 205 BC, Scipio the Great was overwhelmingly elected consul. The Senate had to frown and swallow this bitter fruit.
Bronze statue of the Patriarch Scipio
The Great, however, wanted more than that, the consul was only a platform for him to express his ambitions, and after his election as consul, he immediately proposed to the Council of Elders to send troops to the carthaginian land. This time, his request was fiercely opposed, and the loudest voice was the old Fabian. The old Fabian was one of the few remaining old generals in Rome who had fought Hannibal and retired, and the success of the "Fabian strategy" made him gain the reputation of "Italian Shield", and the dead Malcas - "Sword of Italy" can be called Rome's double. The old Fabian's opposition was not unreasonable, the Romans poured all their strength into the alliance, and paid the price of 100,000 soldiers killed, so that Hannibal could not be trapped in Calabria, and in the concept of the old generals, the next step was to follow the steps, lock the cage step by step and trap him to death. The troops of Carthage not only had to take up the resources that could have been used against Hannibal, but also increased the unnecessary risks out of thin air, and in the first Punic War, the Romans lost more than 10,000 people in the Battle of Carthaginian Land, and the old generals still had a lingering feeling. The implication is that it is good for young people to pursue self-improvement, but to be moderate, to eat a fat man in one bite? Beware of choking.
However, in the face of the small fresh meat with its own traffic power, all opposition was in vain, and the Great Scipio, which was supported by many citizens, was soon authorized to send troops to North Africa. However, the Senate also restricted it: it was not allowed to use the italian army, but instead assigned him two legions stationed in Sicily, which were remnants of the Battle of Canny, and after the defeat was sent to attack Sicily, as punishment, and was not allowed to return to Italy after the end of the Syracuses.
In the early spring of 205 BC, shortly after the citizens' assembly, the consul Scipio the Great arrived in Sicily. Although Scipio the Great pointed out the stirring words at the citizens' assembly, and felt that the pony's hooves were narrow, he did not dare to take the expedition that was about to begin lightly. In Sicily, Scipio the Great received the Cani Corps and then recruited 7,000 volunteers within the authority of the Senate. In the end, Scipio the Great gained an army of about 20,000 men, and he subsequently reorganized and trained this composite army, especially perfecting the three-column corps tactics he had groped on the battlefields of Spain.
In the spring of 204 BC, after all preparations had come to a halt, the outgoing consul Scipio the Great embarked on a journey as a "former consul". Scipio the Great's army had just landed in Carthage, and the god Jupiter sent him a generous gift.
Scipio the Great released the captured Nubidian prince Massinissa
The Nubians were a nomadic people active on the coast of Western North Africa in Carthage, known for their bravery and good fighting, and had always been a staunch ally of Carthage and a provider of excellent cavalry. The Nubians, who had not yet transitioned to the stage of statehood, were a loose confederation of many tribes, which we could largely divide into two major factions in East and West Nubydia. During the war against the Carthaginians, Scipio the Great sensed the importance of cavalry, and after Spain had gained some of the Spanish cavalry, he extended an olive branch to the Nubydians. At the Battle of Bakura in 209 BC, Great Scipio defeated Hasdrubal, and among the prisoners of war was the Eastern Nubidian prince, Masinishha. Scipio the Great certainly did not give up this heavenly opportunity to marry the Nubydians, and he generously released Massinisha and expressed to him his desire to form an alliance, but as the war progressed, the matter was closed. Soon after Masinissa's father died, the Sinobydian chief Sifax seized his tribe and forcibly married Masinishha's wife, while Masinishha himself was killed by a joint effort by Syphax and Carthage. At the end of the road, Masinisa defected to Scipio the Great. For Scipio the Great, although the plan to make peace with the entire Nubidians was not achieved, Masinissa's defection was tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow, so he gladly accepted Masinisa's offer.
The arrival of the Roman army caught Carthage by surprise. Although the Baka family ran a foundation in Spain, Carthage, as a commercial empire, did not have a large standing army on the mainland, and mercenaries were their biggest support. Thus, after the arrival of Scipio the Great, the Carthaginians were simply incapable of organizing an army to resist quickly, but could only rely on the walls of the towns for defense. Under the technical conditions at that time, any siege warfare was a costly and extremely risky behavior, and Scipio the Great was no exception, and after paying a huge price to capture the city of Utica and several surrounding villages, he also abandoned this uneconomical way of fighting. Carthage asked Syphax, king of Synubidia, to contain the Romans on the grounds of coordinating peace talks between the two sides, while at the same time trying to recruit mercenaries.
Night raid after Scipio the Great landed in Carthage
In the late autumn of 204 AD, the mercenaries recruited by Carthage were finally in place, with a total of more than 30,000 mercenaries from all over the country, led by Hasdrubal, who lost to Scipio the Great at the Battle of Illipah, plus more than 60,000 people in WestFax, with a total strength of 90,000 troops. So the Carthaginians decided to preemptively annihilate Scipio the Great. The Great Scipio only has more than 20,000, and the army brought by Masinishha is less than 30,000 people, which is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troop strength. However, in the previous negotiations between the false and the snake, Massinissa used his identity to develop many Nubidian spies in the Carthaginian army, and the Carthaginian attack plan soon reached the hands of Massinisa and Scipio the Great. Knowing that the inferiority of the troops, Scipio the Great decided to preemptively launch a sneak attack before the Carthaginians attacked. Sneak attacks were basically unprecedented in the Romans' previous battles, and the Progress of the Romans was due to Hannibal. Relying on Masinishha's spies, Great Sibbiah had a clear grasp of the Carthaginian garrison, as well as the structure and defense of the camp. On the night of the sneak attack, the Roman army of Scipio the Great ordered the Roman army to eat a full meal and quietly left the camp, first encircling the camp of Hasdrubal with cavalry, and then launching a full-scale attack by elite infantry. The Romans first launched a long cry outside the camp, followed by a large number of torches thrown into the camp, followed by a rear line armed with short swords. The Carthaginian camp was immediately plunged into a sea of fire, and the sleeping soldiers were awakened from their sleep and began to flee in a panic. The mercenaries in the chaos were unable to organize an effective resistance, and the sneak attack soon turned into a massacre. As a result, most of the soldiers were killed or burned on the spot, and the few who escaped from the camp were hunted down by Roman cavalry. Hasdrubal was lucky enough to lead a small number of elites out of the siege and fled to the city of Carthage. Syfax was much luckier, sending an army to the rescue when the hasdrubal camp caught fire, while he himself led the main force to evacuate the camp. When Scipio the Great destroyed hasdrubal and turned to attack Syfax, he was given only an empty battalion and heavy supplies that were too late to take with him. The Night Raids inflicted heavy losses on the Carthaginians. The Carthaginian mercenary army was almost completely destroyed, and only the main force of Syphax was preserved, but the morale of the army was also greatly damaged. It is recorded that the Romans killed about 30,000 Carthaginians and took 2,400 prisoners.
But the Carthage resistance was not over, and the Senate soon organized a mercenary force of about 30,000 people for Hasdrubal, pulled up Syfax to form a coalition, and returned to confront Scipio the Great. Scipio the Great naturally accompanied him to the end. In the summer of 203 BC, the two sides fought a great battle in the great wilderness of the Bagrada Valley.
Battle of the Great Wilderness
The strength of the Troops brought by West Farcus in this battle is unknown, only that it is not as much as the last time, but it is certain that the Carthaginian Coalition army has a huge advantage in strength, and the total strength of Scipio greater should not exceed 30,000 people. But against the Carthaginian army, Scipio the Great was already familiar with the road, and this time, the Great Scipio also sacrificed the tactics of the three columns of legions. With The Nubidian cavalry and the Roman cavalry of Macnisha as the left and right flanks, he personally led the heavy infantry legions as the middle army, arranged in three columns in front and behind, with the light infantry in the forefront. The Carthaginian army also followed the example of Scipio the Great, placing the cavalry on both flanks and the infantry corps in the middle, ready to fight a dignified battle. But after the battle began, the power of the tactics of the three columns of the Great Scipio Legion was revealed.
Battle of the Great Wilderness Layout Map
The cavalry of the two sides clashed first, and Syfax had been worried after being attacked, and this time came to help the battle quite reluctantly, and under the sharp attack of the Roman cavalry led by Massinissa, it quickly fell out and fled the battlefield, while Massinisha led his cavalry in pursuit. At the same time, infantry from both sides also made contact. The first column of heavy infantry of great Scipio, assisted by light infantry, was able to withstand the offensive of the Carthaginian infantry corps, and after discovering that his own cavalry had driven the enemy cavalry out of the battlefield, the great Scipio ordered the last two columns of heavy infantry to come out of the two wings and spread out on both wings of the Carthaginian infantry corps. After the cavalry fled, the Two Wings of Carthage were empty, and Scipio's tactics naturally surrounded the Carthaginian infantry corps. The Carthaginian army was mainly a temporary recruit of mercenaries, not only the quality of the soldiers was uneven, the command was not uniform, basically the leaders of the various routes commanded the battle alone, and Hasdrubal's plan was not implemented at all. Such an army can still be used to fight a tailwind battle, and once it falls into adversity, it is difficult to fight to the death. This problem arose from the Carthaginian mercenaries, who, when they found that the cavalry on both flanks had been driven out and encircled themselves, soon panicked and tried to break through the Roman army from the front. The Roman heavy infantry array on the front was reinforced by light infantry and was extremely difficult to break through, so in the case of unsuccessful breakthrough, the collapse occurred.
The development trend of the Battle of the Great Wilderness
Soon, several large mercenary legions were annihilated one after another, and the remaining mercenaries shouted and scattered. The Carthaginians lost the entire battle, and Hasdrubal fled from the rear to the city of Carthage, where he was later held accountable by the senate nobles. The Roman cavalry did not return reinforcements, but were led by Massinisa and pursued West Fax all the way to Nubidia, where Hephax was captured and sent to the city of Rome, where he was imprisoned to death. Massinisha was appointed king of Nubidia by Rome, and of course the kingdom he deserved had to be conquered by himself. The defeat of Syfax not only removed a reliable ally of Carthage, but more importantly directly changed the balance of power between the two armies. In this war, the importance of cavalry was well understood by both sides, especially the main generals on both sides were good at using cavalry, the defeat of Syphax meant that Carthage lost the support of the best cavalry, and the growth of Massinissa meant that Rome had the advantage that had previously belonged to Hannibal. Carthage was in danger.
Since the birth of Scipio the Great, although there have been many obstacles, the entire war has been carried out almost entirely according to his preset script, and the war has developed to this point, and his strategy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao has been perfectly embodied. Not only did Scipio the Great take the initiative in the war from Hannibal, who would have to leave Italy and return to Carthage to face Scipio the Great; moreover, Scipio the Great also seized the dominance of the entire war from the Senate, and his excellent strategic and tactical qualities and outstanding achievements left all his opponents speechless, even veteran generals such as Fabian the Elder had to give up the dominance of the war. Thus, the young people, represented by Scipio the Great, gradually came to the foreground of the Roman Republic, and in the following hundred years they presided over the great Roman conquest, and the "imperialist" Roman Republic was about to show its fangs to the neighboring countries.
The defeat of this battle left Carthage completely deprived of its capital in the homeland against Scipio the Great. At this time, the Carthaginian nobles remembered Hannibal, who had been alone for more than 20 years, but could Hannibal save Carthage in distress? History tells us he didn't succeed, so how did Hannibal fail?