So
Fabius had bought the Romans a year to rebuild their forces and prepare to figh
Hannibal. They were determined to defeat
and kick out Hannibal and after a year of no victories they were itching for a
fight. At this point new consuls were
elected. The two winners were Gauis Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paulus.
Now traditionally Varro is portrayed as a bloodthirsty and glory driven man compared
to Paulus who was much more strategic and cautious. However Paullus’ daughter
was married to Scipio Africanus after the end of the war. So yet again it’s
very possible that Polybius was probably trying to make relatives of the
household of Scipio look good. However I
will just go with the traditional tale because it’s easier.
So
Varro and Paulus tracked the Carthaginians to a place called Cannae where both
armies set up camp. Paullus saw Hannibal was ready for battle but decided to
not to fight him. However when two consuls are together they switch command
from day to day and Varro was in command so he prepared his forces for battle[1]. Hannibal studied the Roman
battle line and found that the center was packed together. So Hannibal set his lines up with Celts and
Gauls in the center bulging out towards the Romans from the rest of the
Carthaginian line.[2]
The African heavy infantry was to the sides and the Numidian and Spanish
cavalry were on the flanks of the battle line.
Hannibal and his brother Mago stayed with the Gauls. Hannibal had about 50,000 troops and Romans
had about 86,000[3].
The
Roman attack strategy was to break the center of Hannibal’s army. So the Roman
army moved forward and the battle began. The Roman center was pushing the Gauls
in the center back like they thought they would but Hannibal’s presence kept
them in the fight. The Romans kept
committing more troops to the center in order to break the Carthaginian center and
they kept pushing it back. Eventually Hannibal’s line was bulging in the
opposite way, forming a crescent moon shape. However the African infantry to the
sides had not moved during the fight. The African infantry were now on the
flanks of the Romans and they pushed in.[4] Meanwhile the Roman
cavalry was driven off the field by Hannibal’s. The cavalry wheeled around and
attacked the Roman rear. Before the
Roman command in the center could react they were surrounded by Hannibal’s
troops on all sides. Varro had managed
to escape but Paullus was with the surrounded troops. The Carthaginian army now was slaughtering
the Romans en masse[5].
The Romans were so closely packed together that some couldn’t even raise their
swords. For the next three hours Hannibal’s army massacred the Romans. By the
end of the day, 75,000 Romans were dead, 10,000 were captured and about 3000
escaped[6].
Among
the dead was Paullus who died trying to rally his forces and refused a horse to
escape the slaughter. With him were over 29 Roman commanders and 80 senatorial
rank Romans[7]. This is Hannibal’s greatest triumph. With a smaller army he managed to defeat and,
more impressively, surrounded his opponent.
This is considered to be one of greatest tactical feats in military
history and one of the most crushing defeats for Rome. Cannae was the benchmark
for all Roman defeats after this and very few would come close to that.
Varro: I have made a huge mistake.
Varro: I have made a huge mistake.
586
words
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