Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca crossed the Alps, with his army and elephants, into Italy in 216 to fight the Romans.

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The Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca (247–182? ), in the Second Punic War fought by Carthage against Rome set out from Spain and crossed the Alps, with his army and elephants, into Italy. In 216 , he won a major victory against the Romans at Cannae, but never took Rome. In this illustration dating to the 1880s, Hannibal's army is pictured crossing the Rhone River in France. In addition to his men are his war elephants, all crossing on rafts they built for the crossing. Some say the elephants actually swam across. The Roman general Scipio marched north to battle Hannibal, but Hannibal then marched further north along the Rhone and toward the Alps. This illustration by Henri Motte dates to 1878.

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Size: 5248px × 3461px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: alps., ancient, barca, cannae, carthage, carthaginian, carthaginians, crosses, crossing, elephants, general, hannibal, henri, history, italy, march, motte, punic, rhone, river, roman, rome, scipio, war