Battle of the Trebia

This map of the battlefield supports J. Wells' 1926 view that the Romans camped on the left bank and crossed to the right. This article adopts Mommsen's classic view that the Romans camped on the right bank and crossed to the left.

Date	Winter solstice, December 218 BC
Location	Trebbia River, present-day Italy
Result	Carthaginian victory

Belligerents

Carthage

Roman Republic

Commanders and leaders

Hannibal

Tiberius Sempronius Longus

Strength

40,000 men:

(21.000 heavy infantry, 8.000 light infantry, 11.000 cavalry, 37 war elephants)

42.000 men:

(18.000 Roman infantry, 20.000 Italian allies, 4.000 cavalry)

Casualties and losses

4.000–5.000 infantry, some elephants

Approximately 26.000–28.000, up to 32.000 total casualties

40,000 men:

42.000 men:

The Battle of the Trebia (or Trebbia) was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Roman Republic in December of 218 BC, on or around the winter solstice. It was a resounding Roman defeat with heavy losses, and yet some 10,000 and more Romans, over 2.5 legions, survived on the field and retreated in order to Placentia (Piacenza). In this battle, Hannibal got the better of the Romans by exercising the careful and innovative planning for which he was famous. The impetuous and short-sighted opposing general, the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus, allowed himself to be provoked into a frontal assault under physically difficult circumstances and failed to see that he was being led into a trap.

The battle took place in the flat country of the Province of Piacenza on the left bank of the Trebbia River, a shallow, braided stream, not far south from its confluence (from the south) with the Po river. The battle is named for the river. Although the precise location is not known for certain, it is generally accepted as being visible from the Via Emilia, now paralleled by highway A21/E70 and a railroad trunk line, all of which come from Piacenza, a contemporaneously placed Roman colony (though perhaps on an existing settlement), and cross the river north of where the Romans did in the battle. The area is possibly in the comune of Rottofreno at its main settlement, San Nicolò a Trebbia, in the vicinity of the coordinates given at the head of this article.

The two main sources on the battle are the History of Rome by Livy () and Histories of Polybius (Book III:69-74). The two vary considerably in some of the geographical details and are ambiguous about some key points, especially whether the Romans were camped on the left bank or the right bank of the Trebbia and in which direction they crossed the river. Reconstruction of the disposition is the major scholarly concern regarding the battle. The sources all agree on the outcome.

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