Battle of Baecula
Coordinates: 38 ° 1 ′ 0 ″ N , 3 ° 6 ′ 0 ″ W.
Carthaginian expansion in the Iberian Peninsula before and during the Second Punic War
| date | 208 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | near Baecula, 40 kilometers north of Jaén |
| output | roman victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 35,000 men | 25,000 men and the Iberian auxiliaries |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
6000 dead and more than 10,000 prisoners |
Saguntum - Lilybaeum II - Rhone - Ticinus - Trebia - Cissa - Lake Trasimeno - Ager Falernus - Geronium - Cannae - Nola I - Nola II - Ibera - Cornus - Nola III - Beneventum I - Syracuse - Tarentum I - Capua I - Beneventum II - Silarus - Herdonia I - Upper Baetis - Capua II - Herdonia II - Numistro - Asculum - Tarentum II - New Carthage - Baecula - Grumentum - Metaurus - Ilipa - Crotona - Large fields - Cirta - Zama
The battle of Baecula took place in 208 BC. Between the Roman Empire and Carthage during the Second Punic War . The leaders were Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus on the side of Rome and Hasdrubal for Carthage. The Romans won the battle.
prehistory
By taking the capital and port city of the Carthaginian Cartagena on the Mediterranean Sea, Scipio the Elder gained enormous popularity with the Iberian tribes, the impairment of the supply lines between Carthage and Spain, and access to the important precious metal mines in the hinterland of Cartagena. The three Punic armies that ruled Spain were still intact. Because of the political differences of opinion between their generals, these armies operated individually. This allowed Scipio to fight these armies, each one stronger than his own, one after the other. Leaving a garrison behind in Cartagena, Scipio was in the autumn of 209 BC. Moved north to his winter quarters near Roman Tarraco ( Tarragona ). On the way back he was able to reap the first fruits of his successful warfare and his generous behavior towards prisoners and hostages. Edeko was the first to join him, presumably the leader of the Edetans who settled on the Mediterranean coast between the Júcar and Ebro rivers . Even more serious for the Carthaginians was the defection of Indibiles and Mandonius, two princes of the Ilergetes, who lived between Aragon and the highlands of Andalusia .
Hasdrubal witnessed how one ally after another left him and how his armed forces diminished as those of the Romans increased. He concluded that he should seek battle as quickly as possible. Should he not emerge victorious, so his ulterior motive, then he wanted to gather around himself and the remains of his army as many Celtiberians as possible and hurry to his brother Hannibal in Italy . Scipio also sought battle. He left his winter quarters near Tarragona in the early spring of 208 and moved south along the Mediterranean coast across the Ebro , which formed the contractual border line between the Romans and the Carthaginians.
The battle
The battle took place near Baecula (according to recent research by the University of Jaén on the mountain "Cerro de las Albahacas" near Santo Tomé / Jaén ), about 40 kilometers north of Jaén and 20 kilometers east of Úbeda on the left bank of the upper reaches of the Guadalquivir . Hasdrubal Barkas had taken his winter quarters there in order to block the access of the Romans marching from Cartagena to Baetica (today's Andalusia ). The solidly fortified position that the Carthaginian had taken on a high, flattened and extensive hilltop, which sloped steeply into river valleys on almost all sides, impressed Scipio and made him hesitate at first. Then his fear prevailed that the two generals Mago and Hasdrubal, the son of Gisgo, could now rush to Hasdrubal with their troops if he delayed the attack. So Scipio took up the fight the morning of the next day. Hasdrubal had not yet set up his troops in battle when his right flank was being attacked by Laelius and his left by Scipio himself. Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother , was able to break away from the enemy before being outflanked and finally, despite the defeat he had suffered, save himself with the greater part of his troops to northern Spain. He was able to leave for the Tagus Valley (Tajo Valley) with the war chest, his elephants and the remains of his army. From there he reached the western Pyrenees via what is now Castile and Navarre . Eventually he moved to Italy with the intention of helping his brother Hannibal. Scipio, who feared the imminent arrival of the other two Carthaginian armies, decided not to pursue Hasdrubal. The victory at Baecula opened the way for Scipio to the fertile lower valley of the Guadalquivir, where he would move two years later.
consequences
The immediate result of the battle was the completion of the alliance process that had started with the capture of Cartagena. The Celtiberian princes who joined the Roman military leader showed him the same displays of devotion as the Barkiden had done before : they called him king. This brought Scipio into greater difficulties with the Roman Senate , because since the end of the 6th century BC. The republic was founded mainly on the odium regni , the deep-seated aversion to royalty .