201 BC

Events in 201 BC 1

• 218 BC – 201 BC Second Punic War — Hannibal invades Italy Hannibal Barca crosses the Alps with 37 war elephants and an army of 26,000 men in 218 BC, fighting his way to the gates of Rome. He destroys Roman armies at the Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and Cannae (216 BC) — the latter killing perhaps 70,000 Romans in a single afternoon, the most lethal single day in Roman history. Yet Rome refuses to negotiate, raises new armies, and shifts strategy. Scipio Africanus carries the war to Africa; at the Battle of Zama (202 BC) Hannibal is defeated.