Ancient World
Hannibal Crossing the Alps (218 BC): Elephants Into Italy
Hannibal reached northern Italy with about 26,000 men and a few dozen elephants, opening the Italian campaign of the Second Punic War.
Era · c. 3000 BC – AD 500
Ancient World
The first cities, empires and written records, from the pyramids of Egypt to Greece and the Roman Empire.
Ancient World
Second Punic War (218-201 BC): Hannibal Against Rome
Roman victory; Carthage lost Spain and its navy, paid 10,000 talents, and Rome became the dominant power of the western Mediterranean.
Ancient World
Battle of Raphia (217 BC): Ptolemy IV's Great Elephant Battle
Ptolemaic victory; Egypt kept Coele-Syria and the Fourth Syrian War ended.
Ancient World
Fabian Strategy (217 BC): Fabius Maximus, the Delayer
Rome avoided further disaster in 217 BC; the strategy was dropped in 216, then readopted after Cannae and helped Rome outlast Hannibal in Italy.
Ancient World
Battle of Lake Trasimene (217 BC): The Great Roman Ambush
Decisive Carthaginian victory; Flaminius and about 15,000 Romans were killed and a similar number captured, and Rome appointed Fabius Maximus dictator.
Ancient World
Battle of Cannae (216 BC): Hannibal's Masterpiece of Encirclement
Decisive Carthaginian victory; most of the Roman army was killed or captured, and Capua and much of southern Italy went over to Hannibal.
Ancient World
Lingqu Canal (214 BC): Linking China's Great River Systems
The canal let Qin move supplies south, enabling the conquest of Lingnan and the creation of three new commanderies in 214 BC.
Ancient World
Great Wall of China: How the Qin and Han Built the First Walls
Older state walls were joined into a Qin frontier line, which the Han later extended west to Dunhuang and beyond.
Ancient World
Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars in Qin China (213 BC)
Private copies of the classics and histories of rival states were ordered destroyed, and more than 460 men were put to death in Xianyang.
Ancient World
Qin Straight Road: The First Emperor's Military Highway
A direct military road linked the Qin capital region with the northern frontier; it was largely complete but reportedly unfinished when the emperor died.
Ancient World
Death of Qin Shi Huang (210 BC) and the Shaqiu Succession Plot
Huhai became the Second Emperor after a forged edict drove Fusu to suicide; the Qin dynasty collapsed within four years.
Ancient World
Dazexiang Uprising (209 BC): Chen Sheng and Wu Guang Revolt
The revolt was crushed within about six months, but it set off the wave of rebellions that destroyed the Qin dynasty by 207-206 BC.