Military history
In late 218 BCE, Hannibal secures a battle on the Trebia while Scipio is wounded and Sempronius wants to exploit a political and military window. A Numidian provocation draws out the Romans; the cold river, pressure on the wings, and the emergence of Mago's reserve then dislocate their deployment. Yet the Roman centre remains solid enough to break through and reach Placentia.
After the fighting at the Ticinus, the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio is wounded and the Roman army withdraws towards the Trebia. Tiberius Sempronius Longus arrives with the forces from Sicily. The ancient accounts converge on this union of two consular armies, but differ over the details of their strength.
Numidians raid the approaches to the camp. Sempronius sends his cavalry and about a thousand javelin-armed men; their victorious return gives the consul reason to commit the whole army. Livy and Polybius attribute to Hannibal the calculation of exploiting this impatience.
The Romans have marched, are hungry, and have already expended some of their missiles in the skirmish; the Carthaginians have had time to eat and prepare. Samuels turns these indications into a tactical reading without treating them as a contemporary count of losses or fatigue.
The Trebia and proximity of Placentia are secured by the textual and geographical tradition. The exact locations of the camps, crossing, and stream in which Mago hid, however, have long been disputed. Kromayer, Frank, and local proposals from Piacenza are used here to bound the map. Artificially settling the debate lies beyond this dossier's scope.
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Military history
III.69–74, rubriques « Hannibal Prepares An Ambush », « Preparations for Battle », « The Battle of the Trebia » et « The Romans Retreat to Placentia »
Preliminary skirmish, motives attributed to the commanders, Mago's detachment, army preparations, reported strengths, sequence of centre and wings, survivors, and retreat.
View ↗XXI.52–57, surtout 52–54 pour la décision et la cache, 55–57 pour la bataille et la retraite
Parallel account of the skirmish, advice to delay, preparation of the ambush, crossing, fighting, losses, and Roman escapes.
View ↗Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen 47.1 (1990), pp. 20–21, section « Battle of the River Trebia »
Reconstruction of orders of magnitude and deployment, role of light troops and cavalry, and Mago's rear attack; these calculations remain a modern interpretation.
View ↗Berlin, 1912, pp. 47–103; surtout 48–57 « Die Kontroverse », 57–78 opérations et champ de bataille, 94–98 effectifs, 99–103 Polybe et Tite-Live
State of the topographical controversy, discussion of operations and battlefield, critical comparison of the narratives, and strength tables.
View ↗Journal of Roman Studies 9 (1919), pp. 202–207, notice et extrait sur la localisation disputée et la fiabilité comparée de Polybe et Tite-Live
Historiographical boundary on locating the engagement: the controversy concerns not merely cartographic curiosity, but also interpretation of the sources.
View ↗Extrait public de l’entrée : 36 000 fantassins et 4 000 cavaliers romains conduits sur la rive gauche, environ 29 000 fantassins et 11 000 cavaliers chez Hannibal
Modern check of the battlefield bank, orders of magnitude, and Punic cavalry superiority; precise local placement remains bounded by Frank and Kromayer.
View ↗Entrée « La battaglia della Trebbia », §§ sur le contexte, la date, le dispositif, le combat, les pertes et les conséquences
Institutional synthesis of the sequence, orders of magnitude, general river topography, breakthrough towards Placentia, and limits of casualty figures.
View ↗Carte créditée au Department of History, United States Military Academy, publiée le 26 avril 2012; fiche « Map of the Battle of Trebia »
Independent relational check of the river–camps–movements axis; the map is an educational reference, not proof of precise local coordinates.
View ↗Notice touristique officielle sur la bataille de 218 av. J.-C., propositions de campements et retraite vers Plaisance
Local evidence of location hypotheses around Piacenza; used only to flag those proposals, without turning a local tradition into certainty.
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