Hamilcar Barca enjoys such influence among the popular and patriotic party after his success in the Mercenary War that his opponents cannot prevent him being raised to a virtual dictatorship.

Allying with Hasdrubal the Fair, his future son in law, to restrict the power of the aristocracy led by Hanno the Great, Hamilcar obtains permission from the Carthaginian Senate for recruiting and training a new army, with the immediate goal of securing the African domain of Carthage.

Hamilcar obtains training for the army in some Numidian forays, then marches the army west to the straits of Gibraltar.

Hasdrubal the Fair commands the fleet carrying supplies and elephants along the coast, keeping pace with the army.

Hamilcar, having in the past eight years brought large areas of southern Spain under Carthaginian control, had drowned during a battle in about 229.

His son-in-law Hasdrubal, who succeeds him in the command, has extended the newly acquired empire by skillful diplomacy.

He consolidates it by the re-foundation of Mastia, possessing one of the best harbors in the Western Mediterranean, as Qart Hadasht ("New City"), identically named to Carthage, as the capital of the new province, near to Carthaginian gold and silver mining operations.

The suspicious Romans, preoccupied by wars with Gallic tribes, negotiate a treaty with Hasdrubal in about 226 that fixes the Ebro River as the boundary between the two powers.

Salamanca was founded by the Vacceos, a Celtic tribe, as one of two fortresses built to defend their territory near the Duero River. The settlement is located on the Tormes River in west-central Spain, approximately 110 miles (170 kilometers) northwest of present-day Madrid.

In 222 BCE, Hasdrubal the Fair leads Carthaginian forces in capturing Salamanca, as Carthage seeks to restore its pre-war prosperity by expanding its control over Hispania and securing valuable resources.

Hasdrubal the Fair, having, with his father-in-law Hamilcar Barca, revived Carthaginian power through expansion in Spain for the past fifteen years, is killed in 221 by a Celtic assassin.

Hannibal, son of Hamilacar, is proclaimed commander-in-chief by the army and confirmed in his appointment by the Carthaginian government.