Battle of Tag

The Battle of Tag - a battle between the Carthaginians and the Iberians in 220 BC. e.

For two years ( 221 - 220 BC ), Hannibal expanded the Carthaginian possessions in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula ^[1] . In 221 BC e. he campaigned against the Olkad tribe and stormed their capital - Altalia from Polybius , Kartal from Titus Livius . The success of the Carthaginians forced other cities of the Olkads to recognize the power of Carthage ^[2] . After wintering in New Carthage, Hannibal advanced even further, conquered the Wackeys and captured their most important cities - Salamantika and Arbokalu . On the way back through southern Guadarrama , he was attacked by the Carpetans , who were prompted by refugees from among the Wakkee and Olkad ^{[3] [4] [5]} . Hannibal managed to get away from them, and then defeated them when the Carpetans crossed the Tag river. Then the Carpetans were subordinate. All territories south of Iberus were now under Carthaginian rule ^{[6] [7]} .

Titus Livy described the battle as follows:

Meanwhile, the Germans who escaped fleeing, united with the exiles from the Olkades, the tribe conquered the previous summer, prompted the Carpetans to revolt, and when Hannibal returned from the country of the Vacces, they attacked him near the Taga River and confused his army, aggravated by booty. But Hannibal evaded the battle, having camped on the very shore; when night fell and silence fell on the enemy’s parking lot, he wade across the river and strengthened again - so that the enemies, in turn, could freely pass to the left bank: Hannibal decided to attack them during the crossing. He ordered his riders, as soon as they envy the hordes of enemies in the water, rush at them, taking advantage of their predicament; on the shore he arranged his elephants, number forty. There were one hundred thousand Karpetans with auxiliary detachments of the Olkads and Vakseevs - an invincible force if you fight it in an open field. They were bold by nature, and a consciousness of numerical superiority still increased their self-confidence; Believing therefore that the enemy had retreated before them out of fear, and that p. 9 only the river separating the opponents slowed down the victory, they raised a cry and scatter, where it was closer to anyone, rushed into quickness, not obeying anyone's orders. Suddenly, a myriad horse army rushed into the river from the opposite bank, and in the very middle of the channel there was a skirmish under far different conditions: the infantryman could hardly stand, and even in a shallow place he was picking up his legs with force, so that an unarmed horseman could also bring down a horse him down; the horseman, on the contrary, freely possessed both weapons and his own body, sitting on a horse, moving confidently even in the middle of the abyss, and therefore could hit both distant and close ones. The river swallowed many; others brought the current to the enemy, where they were crushed by elephants. It was easier for those who entered the water last to return to their shore; but, while they were gathering in one pile from the different places where their fear had brought, Hannibal, not allowing them to come to his senses, built his infantry, led her across the river and drove them off the shore. Then he went to empty their fields and within a few days forced the Carpetans to submit. And now all the land on the other side of Iberus was in the power of the Carthaginians, with the exception of only Sagunt ^[8] .