Hannibal EP5 : Won His First Battle in Italy Before Anyone Fired a Weapon. | Roman Nights

He Hid 2,000 Soldiers in Reeds All Night. Rome Crossed the River and Never Saw the Trap. Roman Nights · Season 3, Episode 5 · 218 BC · The Ticinus and The Trebia 00:00 Cold open: the reeds, the Trebia, December 00:37 The Ticinus — first contact; Scipio's cavalry engagement 00:29:52 The Son — young Publius Scipio saves his father's life 00:48:03 Three Spaces — Hannibal studies the Trebia ground 01:11:39 Mago — two thousand men go into the reeds before dawn 01:33:14 Two Victories, One Problem — what Hannibal has and what he still needs 01:45:53 Writer's Note He has come down out of the Alps with half the men he started with. He needs a victory the way other men need water. Not just for morale — for supplies. His men are hungry, his cavalry horses are underfed, his elephants are cold and confused. A victory means food and allies and time. He gets two victories. At the Ticinus River in November, Hannibal's Numidian cavalry meets Rome's first response — a cavalry force under the consul Publius Scipio. Rome loses. Scipio is wounded and falls from his horse. His seventeen-year-old son rides back through the collapsing line to drag him out. The son's name is also Publius Scipio. He will be relevant later. At the Trebia River in December, Hannibal sends his brother Mago with two thousand hand-picked soldiers to hide in the reeds before dawn. Then he sends Numidian cavalry across to harass the Roman camp and pull the legions out. The legions cross the river in the cold, wade to their chests in December water, come out the other side cold and hungry and already in formation. The battle lasts until mid-afternoon. When Mago springs the ambush from the reeds, the encirclement is complete. Two thirds of the Roman army is destroyed. Story summary: November–December 218 BC. At the Ticinus, Hannibal's Numidian cavalry defeats the Roman consul Scipio, who is saved by his teenage son. At the Trebia, Hannibal executes a perfect double envelopment: lures Rome across a freezing river at dawn, springs Mago's ambush from the reeds at the critical moment. Rome loses approximately 25,000 men. Hannibal winters in the Po valley, treating captured Italian allies well and releasing them — he needs Italy to turn against Rome. The Gauls of northern Italy begin to join him.