Battle of the Metaurus

Significance

The Battle of the Metaurus, fought near the Metauro River in Italy in 207 BC, was a pivotal engagement of the Second Punic War. Hasdrubal Barca had marched from Iberia into Italy carrying siege equipment and reinforcements intended to link up with his brother Hannibal, whose army had been operating in Italy without resupply or substantial reinforcement for years. The Roman consular armies of Marcus Livius and Gaius Claudius Nero, fielding approximately 37,000 troops against Hasdrubal's force of around 30,000, inflicted some 10,000 Carthaginian casualties while sustaining between 2,000 and 8,000 of their own. The destruction of Hasdrubal's force and his army denied Hannibal the reinforcements and siege equipment he required to prosecute the Italian campaign further, effectively isolating him in the peninsula and foreclosing Carthage's strategic option of concentrating its forces in Italy for a decisive blow against Rome.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)