Battle of Rhone Crossing

Battle of the Rhone Crossing
	Part of the Second Punic War
	; Hannibal's army and their war elephants crossing the Rhône
Date	Late September 218 BC
Location	Debated location on the Rhône River, present-day France44°8′17.999″N 4°48′34.999″E
Result	Carthaginian victory
Belligerents
Carthage	Volcae, a tribe of Gauls
Commanders and leaders
Hannibal	Unknown
Strength
38,000 infantry; 8,000 cavalry; 37 elephants;	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown
	Location within France Battle of Rhone Crossing (Europe without the extreme north)

The Battle of the Rhône Crossing was a battle during the Second Punic War in September of 218 BC. Hannibal marched on the Italian Alps, and an army of Gallic Volcae attacked the Carthaginian army on the east bank of the Rhône. The Roman army camped near Massalia. The Volcae tried to prevent the Carthaginians from crossing the Alps and invading Italy.

Before they crossed the river, the Carthaginians sent a detachment to cross upriver, under Hanno, son of Bomilcar, and took up position behind the Gauls. Once the detachment was in place, Hannibal crossed the river with the main contingent of his army. As the Gauls massed to oppose Hannibal, Hanno attacked their rear and routed the Volcae army. This was Hannibal's first major battle (victory) outside of the Iberian Peninsula. It gave him an unopposed path to the Alps and into Italy.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.