Over the Alps On Hannibal's Trail


Over the Alps

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We're on a ten week journey,

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cycling 3,500 kilometres

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on the trail of the great Carthaginian warrior, Hannibal.

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Over 2000 years ago, Hannibal marched his army from the south of Spain,

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across the Alps, and into Italy.

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He launched a spectacular assault on the heart of Roman power.

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Hannibal's brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, were his generals.

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I'm Danny Wood. I'm a journalist, and, like Hannibal,

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I'm travelling with my brothers.

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Ben, a computer expert, and Sam, an archaeologist.

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Hannibal marched with over 100,000 soldiers, armed with swords, spears

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and 37 elephants.

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We're armed with three bikes.

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-three tents.

-And a bike-cam.

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So far, we've cycled from the south of Spain, over the Pyrenees and through France.

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We're well into the journey. But we still have to take on Hannibal's greatest challenge.

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Crossing the Alps.

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Day 21 of our journey, and we're cycling through Provence.

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We're all thinking about the great test ahead.

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Hannibal knew the Alps were now only a few days' march away.

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The ancient Greek historian, Polybius, says he sent scouts ahead

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to find a place to camp and prepare for the big climb.

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Polybius says Hannibal set up camp in a place he calls "the island",

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a stretch of incredibly fertile land between two rivers.

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This area, around the beautiful town of Vaison la Romaine,

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appears to fit Polybius's description.

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Here, Hannibal's men could rest, and their horses and elephants

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could forage in preparation for the hard days ahead.

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The Roman historian, Livy, suggests that Hannibal's troops felt daunted

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by the next step of the journey.

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Hannibal gave a morale-boosting speech to urge them on to Rome.

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"When finally you have the Alps in sight, at the very

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"gateway of the enemy's country, you come to a halt, exhausted."

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"What do you think the Alps are?

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"Are they anything worse than high mountains?

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"Why, even the Gauls once captured Rome.

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"And you despair of being able even to get near it."

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"Women and children have crossed these mountains.

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"Either confess you have less spirit than a people you've defeated again

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"and again, or steel your hearts and march forward to the Walls of Rome."

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Hannibal put food in their stomachs and hope in their hearts.

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But they would need more than that to survive the perilous journey ahead.

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Hannibal soon found a way to secure the extra support he needed.

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He came across two brothers from a local Gallic tribe who were involved

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in a bitter struggle for control over this prosperous territory.

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Hannibal stepped in to settle the dispute.

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He took the side of the elder brother, Brancus.

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Of course, I'm all in favour of the eldest child coming out on top.

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But my younger brother, Ben, has other ideas.

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So do you refute the claim that the first born Carthaginian child was sacrificed?

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I think by the time of Hannibal it was a goat.

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It was a goat? Oh, that's quite good.

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What the first born was a goat?

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LAUGHTER

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Possibly. Possibly.

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Confirmed as leader, Brancus now lavished Hannibal's army with food,

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warm clothes and an armed escort

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for the treacherous route into the mountains.

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We're back on the road, too.

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And we're getting a taste of just how punishing Hannibal's journey could be.

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You think about Hannibal and how he would have been reacting.

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These were serious mountains for those guys.

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They didn't have to just worry about getting up the altitude.

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They had to find food, protect themselves from their enemies.

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It's a different world.

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All we've got to worry about is getting up the next hill.

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We're heading up to the Gorge des Gas. It's a beautiful valley.

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And it's just unbelievable.

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It's October and it's like summer.

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We're coming to the foothills of the Alps.

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This is where Hannibal's army was most vulnerable to attack.

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As his army marched towards this narrow pass, Hannibal received intelligence

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that warriors from a local tribe, the Allobroges, were following him high in the rocks above.

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Hannibal had no choice but to press on. He had to get through the ravine and over the pass.

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Hannibal sent scouts ahead.

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They came back with the information that the Allobroges held positions

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high in the cliff tops to guard the pass by day.

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But every night they returned to their village.

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Hannibal came up with a plan to trick the Allobroges.

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The first stage was to make an elaborate show of settling

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his army down for the night just beneath the enemy's positions.

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It's funny when you start to think about Hannibal and his army camping.

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They were mostly mercenaries, so I'm sure they slept in very different ways.

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I imagine some people were in tents and some people slept under the stars.

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Hannibal successfully created the impression that the entire army was sleeping.

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The Allobroges fell for it and returned to their villages as usual.

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Hannibal now sent some of his most reliable infantry

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up into the cliffs to seize the Allobroges vantage points.

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At first light, the rest of Hannibal's men struck camp.

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They started to make their way along the narrow ledge of the valley.

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We're really getting a sense of how vulnerable Hannibal

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and his army must have felt walking up this ravine.

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Then the local tribesmen returned to find their vantage points occupied.

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The Allobroges were furious, and started to hurl down rocks

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and missiles on Hannibal's army in the ravine below.

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There was no place to shelter from the falling rocks.

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And the army was soon at breaking point.

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Hannibal launched a counter-attack with the men he'd sent to the top of the cliff.

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It must have been chaos. Horses and elephants going crazy.

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Men being crushed and falling into the ravine.

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Hannibal eventually managed to overwhelm the Allobroges.

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And as they retreated, Hannibal's men stormed into their village.

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They then looted enough supplies to last for the next three days.

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Like Hannibal, we're hoping for a trouble-free day.

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No punctures, no loss of provisions and no hostile locals.

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After the shock of the ambush, Hannibal realised that his vast food supplies were a tempting target.

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He moved them towards the front of the convoy with armed protection and positioned himself at the rear.

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It's said the route took the army through this beautiful valley, the Combe du Queyras.

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Hannibal encountered more local tribesmen here.

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These days, the magnificent 13th century Chateau Queyras

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is the valley's striking landmark.

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But in Hannibal's day, this would have been a huge dome of bare rock.

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We're coming down to Chateau Queyras now.

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And this is where local tribes approached Hannibal's men with gifts and offerings and he accepted them,

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but he was pretty suspicious of them because of the experience he'd had with the previous tribes.

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As Hannibal and his men started moving through the narrow valley,

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the local warriors launched an ambush.

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Hannibal's army scattered.

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In the confusion, a large section became separated from their leader.

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When Hannibal was split from the rest of his army, he was said to spend

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a night under a bald rock, or a white rock.

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Now, scholars have tried to locate this place and there are many variations.

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But one of them is Chateau Queyras.

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That night, cut off from half his army, Hannibal

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must have felt his whole plan to invade Rome was doomed to failure.

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But the next morning, the rest of Hannibal's army staggered out of the gorge, amazed to be alive.

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The enemy had retreated.

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Now the march on Rome could continue.

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After this second ambush, Hannibal and his men had a relatively

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peaceful approach into the mountains, but the physical strain began to weigh heavily.

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We're certainly finding it tougher.

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And bouncier.

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Progress is slow and cold.

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No-one's sure which route Hannibal took through the Alps.

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All we have to go on are ancient descriptions of the terrain Hannibal crossed on his journey.

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We're going to split up and test out three of the possible passes, known in French as "Cols".

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Col du Clapier.

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Col de la Traversette.

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And Col de Montgenevre.

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We're going to find out which one best matches the ancient sources.

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We're suddenly very aware of why Hannibal wanted to get this crossing

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out of the way before winter set in.

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I'm just doing a warm-up.

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It's suddenly got very cold.

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Well, we're truly in the Alps now.

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We're at 2000 metres up.

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It's not that high but pretty high.

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So I'm going to turn left here and go over this mountain.

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Danny and Sam need to head towards their passes.

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So we're having a tearful farewell

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and we meet again in a couple of days.

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See you, guys.

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I'm cold.

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-Good luck.

-Same to you.

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Sam and I will ride together for nearly 30 kilometres

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before we, too, go our separate ways.

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Ben's heading for the most northerly pass, Col du Clapier.

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It's around 2,500 hundred metres high.

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I've just said goodbye to my brothers.

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Whilst it's great to have your brothers around to share

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the load, for a bit of company, it's also nice to get a break...

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have a bit of time by yourself.

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Just wonder what it was like in Hannibal's army.

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There was just no opportunity ever to be...

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sort of, have a bit of quiet time by yourself...

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for any of them.

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It's a bit lonely, really, actually.

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When you come besides to miss your brothers being around, you come to realise what you rely on them for.

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As I came out of the town below, I actually had to have a look at a map which was a bit painful.

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Ben's the expert with them and...

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yeah, we've really come to rely on him for that.

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Sam's making his way further south towards the Col de la Traversette.

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At nearly 3,000 metres, it's one of the highest Alpine passes.

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My younger brothers have given me Montgenevre.

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It stands at a modest 1,860 metres.

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We're all looking forward to a good night's sleep before the climb.

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I always think

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that I'll be in a hot shower in 24 hours from now.

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And Hannibal's men had been going for months.

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If they were camping out in this sort of weather,

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they must have been either very, very tough or...

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er... pretty upset by now.

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I'm climbing Traversette tomorrow.

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And should be brilliant.

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I mean, I'm not set on it as the one which Hannibal went across, but just to cross any pass over

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the Alps and think about him possibly being there before, and just the hardships he went through.

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Yeah, I can't wait.

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Montgenevre is the easy one, so I'm looking forward to getting there and just seeing

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whether it is a real contender, at least from my humble perspective.

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So it'll be fun.

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Fingers crossed for some decent weather tomorrow.

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Ben's prayers for good weather appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

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But Sam can't get over his luck when he sets off.

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It's stunning.

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The sun's coming over the mountains.

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It's going to be a great day climbing this mountain.

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As long as I can push my bike all over the top.

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You do start to think about Hannibal. You imagine it.

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You're in the middle of the Alps, in a country you've never been to,

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with men who've never been there either.

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You've lost men and animals by the thousand

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to cold, to ambushes, to desertion.

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You're on a mission you believe in, but are probably starting to doubt as you reach these mountains.

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I really feel for Hannibal. It must have been so hard.

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-Bonjour, Nicolas.

-Hello, Sam.

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Thanks for guiding me today. Which way to Traversette?

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Traversette is over there.

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-Great... lead on.

-Let's go.

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It makes sense to have a guide in these mountains.

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The weather can suddenly change and the paths aren't always clear.

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Livy writes that Hannibal's army took the wrong route several times before reaching the pass.

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We're hoping our guides will be more reliable than Hannibal's.

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Merci.

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So I've just left Gilbert, my guide, who's very nice.

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But the way at the moment looks pretty easy, actually.

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It's a fairly well-defined track.

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A bit bumpy at times.

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I'm sure I'll let him catch up a bit later

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just in case I'm not sure of the trail.

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I don't really need a guide for my pass,

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and there's no real rush to get going.

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So before I set out from the ski resort of Briancon,

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I have time to speak to a Hannibal historian about the march through the mountains.

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The crossing of the Alps took 15 days,

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but is the most important of the journey.

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Why is there such a dispute over

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which route Hannibal took over the Alps?

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Lots of specialists still not agree about the routes.

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There are a lot of possibilities.

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And we have a lot of sources,

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Polybius and Livy, but the authors are not clear.

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They didn't mention precise location, and chronology,

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so it's very difficult to choose clearly one path.

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My crossing's all by road, but the terrain on the other passes

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is making it tough for Sam and Ben to do any cycling at all.

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I've had to start walking my bike now. It's got a bit steep and rocky.

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But it is beautiful. Everywhere we've been in the Alps has been beautiful.

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I suppose I'm not sure if Hannibal and his army were appreciating the scenery so much.

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I know Traversette's going to get very hard at the top, so I've tried

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to get ahead of my guide, Nicolas, by doing a bit of cycling.

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But I'm pushing now because it's much too hard to ride.

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It's tough going but the weather's perfect.

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It's a beautiful day.

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And we know that Hannibal had terrible weather.

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There was snow and ice.

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And his animals and men were dying from the cold.

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Some historians have suggested that Hannibal had little choice

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but to lead his army through these high passes.

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Here, they would have been less exposed to attack.

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Livy describes the terrible conditions

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Hannibal and his men faced as they began to climb.

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"The awful vision was now before their eyes.

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"The towering peaks, the snow-clad pinnacles soaring to the sky."

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"Beasts and cattle shrivelled and parched with cold, the locals with

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"their wild and ragged hair, everything stiff with frost."

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"All these horrifying sights gave a new edge to their fear."

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No remnants of Hannibal's army have ever been found.

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And with so many potential routes over such a vast territory,

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it's hard to know exactly where excavations might start.

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Until these mountains yield some real evidence about Hannibal's

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route, we're left with the clues given by Polybius and Livy.

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The first of these is an area near the summit,

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large enough for Hannibal's whole army to set up camp.

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This looks like the perfect place for a campsite.

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You can definitely imagine an army of thousands of men,

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a baggage train, horses and elephants camped here under the pass.

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Traversette definitely does very well on the campsite test.

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So we're just below highest point of the pass.

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And we're in a huge area which is possibly where Hannibal

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and his army camped waiting for the stragglers to come up the valley.

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It's got a bit of forage and a nice big freshwater lake.

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So I'm sure they could have camped here quite comfortably.

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As I reach the summit at Montgenevre, it strikes

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me that there would be no shortage of places for a large army to stay.

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The next feature Polybius and Livy mention is that the previous year's snow still lay on the pass.

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Brilliant, thanks.

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I'm almost at the top and I've reached the snow line.

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It's such hard going.

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If Hannibal came this way, with elephants and an army, he did so well.

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I'm struggling enough even just with my bike.

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I can't believe I volunteered for Traversette!

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That small patch of white behind me is all that remains of last winter's snow.

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But it's very likely that when Hannibal and his army came through, there was plenty more of it.

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Well, as you can see, there's not even snow on this pass now, but I'm crossing Montgenevre a bit

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earlier than Hannibal would have, and it does snow here because you can see around me the ski pistes.

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It may not seem to match the descriptions in the history books,

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but Montgenevre does have its advocates.

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This is partly because it would have been so much easier for Hannibal

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to transport his army across here than over the more hazardous passes.

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The next clue we have is that there was said to be

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a dramatic view from the summit, over the Po Valley in Italy.

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Mmm. They told me there was an amazing view from here,

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but unfortunately today it's just clouds.

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I'd best take a photo to prove to Danny and Sam I've actually been here.

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That's Italy over there, but it's not exactly a spectacular view of the Po Valley.

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-Italy?

-Italy!

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I couldn't have made it without you, Nicolas. Thank you, especially hauling my elephant bike.

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-Do you think he came this way?

-Yes, it's possible.

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I think all is possible.

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Yeah, all is possible.

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It's a phenomenal view. Looking down this valley, it's stunning.

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You can see miles. I really wish my brothers were here to see it.

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Livy and Polybius both report that Hannibal chose this vantage point to give a stirring speech.

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"My men,

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"you are now crossing the very borders of Italy.

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"More than that, you're walking on the walls of Rome."

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"From now on, it'll be easy going.

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"No more mountains to climb."

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"After a battle or two, you will hold the capital of Italy,

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"the fortress of Rome, in the palm of your hands."

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There's one final clue.

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The descent from the summit is supposed to be extremely steep.

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And Ben's route over Clapier certainly seems to match this description.

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How do you think I'll go on my bike?

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Sam's also struggling to get down the other side of Traversette.

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Well, the descent definitely matches the descriptions of Livy and Polybius. It's so steep.

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I don't know how much chance I've got of getting my bike down here.

0:26:270:26:32

Hannibal probably wouldn't have had many problems crossing here,

0:26:360:26:39

even before the invention of tarmac and roadside cafes.

0:26:390:26:42

And why would he have chosen a steeper crossing,

0:26:420:26:44

when this nice gentle route into Italy exists?

0:26:440:26:48

One day, maybe an elephant bone or a shield will emerge

0:26:580:27:02

as conclusive evidence of the route Hannibal took over the Alps.

0:27:020:27:06

Until then, no-one can be sure.

0:27:060:27:08

We each like to believe it was our own passes, of course.

0:27:130:27:16

But at the end of it all, it's just great to see each other again.

0:27:220:27:26

Mine was easy-peasy. It was just basically like a zombie town ski resort.

0:27:260:27:31

-Nice.

-Yeah, mine was quite relaxing.

0:27:310:27:34

-Really?

-No, it was quite dark at the end.

0:27:340:27:39

I'm still feeling it. I'm still very tired. It was hard.

0:27:390:27:41

You look quite tired. I'm tireder than you.

0:27:410:27:44

Yee-hah, yippedy-do!

0:27:500:27:52

Now comes the best bit!

0:27:520:27:54

Freewheeling for miles into Italy.

0:27:540:27:56

Hannibal had it much tougher.

0:27:580:27:59

He lost thousands of men and animals in these mountains.

0:27:590:28:03

And his exhausted army now had to go to war against Rome.

0:28:030:28:08

In the next programme, we cycle across Italy.

0:28:180:28:22

Hannibal and his army storm their way through battle after battle.

0:28:220:28:28

And Rome is brought the brink of collapse.

0:28:280:28:31

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:28:540:28:56

E-mail [email protected]

0:28:560:28:58

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