Hannibal's crossing of the Alps

Hannibal's crossing of the Alps
	Part of the Second Punic War
	; Hannibal's route to Italy
Date	May/July – late September 218 BC
Location	Italia, Hispania, Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul
Result	Hannibal arrives in Italy and establishes a base of operations
Belligerents
Carthage	Roman Republic
Commanders and leaders
Hannibal; Hasdrubal; Mago; Hasdrubal Gisco; Syphax; Hanno; Hasdrubal the Bald; Hampsicora; Maharbal	Publius Cornelius Scipio; Tiberius S. Longus
Strength
94,000+ (Polybius); 36,000 (Delbrück)	Unknown
Casualties and losses
68,000+ (Polybius); 2,000 (Delbrück)	Unknown

Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BC was one of the major events of the Second Punic War, and one of the most celebrated achievements of any military force in ancient warfare.

Hannibal led his Carthaginian army over the Alps and into Italy to take the war directly to the Roman Republic, bypassing Roman and allied land garrisons, and Roman naval dominance.

The two primary sources for the event are Polybius and Livy, who were born c.20 years and c.160 years after the event, respectively. The Alps were not well-documented at the time, and no archaeological evidence is available, so all modern theories depend on interpreting the three place names used by Polybius (Island, Skaras, and Allobroges) and Livy's wider range of tribe and place names, and comparing them with modern geographical knowledge.

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