The Carthaginians in Spain

The Balance of Power in World History

“…Italy before its unification by Roman arms was a geographic rather than a political unit, inhabited by a highly diverse array of peoples with varied levels of political organization. The peoples of the peninsula included numerous autonomous Greek colonial city-states along the southern coasts, native tribal peoples in the rugged interior, notably the Samnites, the urbanized Etruscans of Tuscany, and the tribal Celtic peoples of the Po Valley in the far north (Alfoldi, 1965;Scullard, 1967;Ellis, 1998;Salmon, 1967). In the course of Roman expansion in Italy, Rome never faced a general counterhegemonic alliance of adversaries, and its expansion was a gradual and piecemeal process stretching across several centuries (Cornell, 1989).…”

“…With both sides anticipating a fuller clash, the Carthaginians sought to recoup their position through the conquest of the tribal peoples in the hinterlands of the Iberian peninsula, where Carthage had long established coastal trading outposts. In a struggle marked by great savagery, roughly the western half of the peninsula was brought under Carthaginian control (Scullard, 1989). From this base, Hannibal the legendary commander and scourge of Rome, invaded on land across Southern Gaul and boldly crossed the Alps, arriving in the Po Valley with an army of hardened veterans, a contingent of war elephants, and an assortment of Gallic allies gathered along the way.…”