The 2nd Punic War

Battle of Cannae 216BC

By Terry Gore

Part One: Second Punic War
Part Two: Second Punic War: Spain to the Alps
Part Two: Second Punic War: First Battles in Italy
Part Three: Second Punic War: To Battle of Cannae 216BC

Prelude to Battle

The Roman army, once joined together, numbered an incredible 80,000 men. Within two days, they located Hannibal's army and made camp on a flat plain. The Roman consul Paullus wished to find a field of battle that would not give the numerous Carthaginian cavalry favorable terrain on which to use their greater numbers to advantage. With eight legions present, the Romans wanted to make use of their superior foot. The contemporary chroniclers write of Varro wanting to immediately move to the attack with no battle plan other than to fight now, although recent scholarship has thrown doubt upon this along with Polybius' motives for recording it.

The problem with pro-consuls was that each commanded the army on alternate days (a supposedly superior method of dealing with their military equality than that employed by Minucius and Fabius! Dividing the army in half certainly had not worked.) Thus the reticent, cautious (if Polybius is to be believed) Paullus favored bringing the enemy to battle on Roman terms while Varro, on his days in command, moved the army closer to the Carthaginian camp.

Hannibal had seen all he needed to. For once, the armies of Rome were all gathered together in one place. If he could destroy them once and for all, surely the Roman Senate would sue for peace. Therefore, as soon as the Roman army began to advance towards his camp, Hannibal attacked it with his horse and light infantry. Though there is some confusion amongst historians as to which consul was in actual command on August 2, 216, it seems likely that Varro had overall command of the main army while Paullus had command of the Roman cavalry (1,600 men located on the extreme right flank of the Roman army).

On the morning of the battle, the Romans felt confident in their ability to destroy Hannibal's army and save their country. They outnumbered the enemy by 30,000 men. Only in numbers of cavalry were they inferior (6,400 to 10,000). Even then the Roman commanders had established themselves with the Aufidius River covering their right flank, keeping the Carthaginian cavalry from being able to outflank them. The enemy horsemen would have to attack them frontally, on a restricted frontage. Meanwhile, the Roman legions would be able to smash through the outnumbered Carthaginian foot, deciding the battle.

The Roman foot formed up in deeper formations than they normally used to prevent any enemy breakthroughs. They also had their best surviving veteran troops in the very middle of the formation. With fully 15,000 skirmishers screening this huge force, the Romans moved out to meet Hannibal's assembled forces.

Hannibal sent out his own skirmishers and African foot with Spanish veterans to hold the Romans while his 14,000 Celtic warriors formed up in the very center of the army. His men were not confident of victory against such a huge army. The previous victories had been evenly matched or stacked in the Carthaginian favor, but not this time. A stoey has come down through history that a certain Carthaginian named Gisgo asked Hannibal why he did not fear the Roman superior numbers. Hannibal smiled and said to him that of all the Romans opposite, not one of them had the name or reputation of Gisgo. This simple answer brought laughter and confidence back to the army as it spread throughout. The troops saw their confident commander boldly riding along the ranks, talking and joking with them and the his infectious faith in them bolstered their own confidence. Why was Hannibal confident of victory?

For one thing, the African and Spanish veteran foot were still intact and had not been decimated yet in battle. These 20,000 men were now armored and could be counted on to For one thing, the African and Spanish veteran foot were still intact and had not been decimated in battle. These 20,000 men were now armored and could be counted on to fight to the death. He planned to use them as part of a plan he had formulated to destroy the Romans. Another reason for confidence was the fact that the Romans had not shown him yet that their noble generals could win a battle against a smart, determined opponent. All examples thus far of Roman leadership led him to believe they could not beat him. His cavalry also were much better in both quality and quantity than the Romans. The Romans always used their cavalry on the flanks. The Punic horsemen were expected to dispose of the Roman cavalry and then turn and hit the legions in the rear.

Hannibal's battle plan would allow the Romans to initially win. He formed his won army up in such a way as to let the superior Roman infantry have their way in the opening portions of the battle. He placed all of his heavier cavalry on his left flank, facing the 1,600 Roman horse under Paullus' command. These cavalry were instructed to bludgeon their way through the Roman horse. On his right flank, he placed his lighter Numidian cavalry. They were ordered to keep constant pressure on Varro's cavalry and tie them down for the duration of the battle.

In the center, he placed the unarmored Gallic foot with his African and Spanish foot formed up in columns to either side of the Celts. Opting to draw the Romans into his center, Hannibal formed the Celts into a huge convex formation, shaped like a huge crescent. It would take the Romans time to fight their way through the Celts, and this formation would allow the Celts to fall back without exposing his own flank troops to the Romans. They would take heavy losses, and they would certainly lose if the Romans were left to simply cut them down, but Hannibal knew that the Romans would continue to push back the Celts until his own African and Spanish foot could face the flanks of the legions…and hammer them in turn. Hannible then joined his brother Mago to the rear of their army and marched toward the Romans.

As the skirmishers feinted in the center, the Carthaginian cavalry surged forward and charged into the Roman horsemen. On the right flank, the Numidians began to throw their javelins into the packed ranks of Roman horse, commanded by Varro. There was no room to maneuver, so the Carthaginian heavy horsemen simply smashed into the Romans. Almost immediately, Paullus fell from his horse wounded. Inexplicably, many of the Roman cavalry chose to dismount and fight alongside their general instead of helping him to find a new mount. This action proved their undoing as the Carthaginians cut them to pieces and forced the rest of the Roman cavalry to retire. Hopelessly outnumbered and unable to outrun the faster Carthaginians, the Romans were slaughtered.

As the flank collapsed, the rear ranks of the Carthaginian cavalry, seeing no one left to fight and not wishing to engage the close-ordered ranks of heavy legionnaires, rode around the back of the Roman army and smashed into the rear of the Roman horse on the other flank.

The main lines of foot had by now come together (moving much slower than the cavalry). The Romans halted briefly to toss showers of pila into the massed Celtic ranks, but the missile fire did not stop the Celts from charging. With a yell, they crashed into the Roman front ranks. The Roman attack bogged down into thousands of hand-to-hand combats and the slowly faltering crescent slowed the Roman advance and exhausted the Roman front line fighters who had to fight for every inch of ground they gained. These were the best fighters in the Roman army and they killed the Celts in huge numbers.

Hannibal had sent in units of Spanish foot to boost the staying power of the Celts and the Romans had a rough time switching fighting modes between the two types of enemy fighters. Still, the heavily armored Romans continued to push back the enemy and with the shouted encouragement from their wounded as well as the presence of the wounded but still active Paullus to stir them on, the Romans continued to push the Carthaginian center back.

Hannibal ranged behind his lines as well, yelling to his troops to hold on. The center began to fall back, however, as Roman pressure continued. The Romans, sensing victory at hand, continued to compact themselves in order to fit past the constrictive flanks.

With a scream, the thousands of African foot who had thus far sat and watched the fighting wheeled into the Roman flanks, further compacting them and causing the Roman lines to become disordered. Hannibal now threw all of his light troops into the center to fight alongside the tired Celts and Spanish.

The hapless Roman cavalry under Varro folded as it received the unexpected attack to its rear from the successful Carthaginian cavalry that had cleared the other flank. As the broken Roman and allied cavalry tried to escape, the lighter armored Numidians slaughtered them. The rest of the Carthaginian cavalry then rode behind the Roman legions, only this time the legions themselves would be the target of their attack.

The Roman legions were now virtually surrounded. Many of the fighters could not even raise their swords, they were packed so tightly. Hannibal exhorted his men to destroy the Romans. And they did. Many Romans simply lay down, or tried to. Others stood in their disordered ranks and were killed. As the battle finally ended, the Roman losses were catastrophic. Almost 50,000 were reportedly killed and 20,000 more were captured. All the Roman commanding generals except for Varro had been killed. Hannibal's losses were less than 10,000.

Once again, the Roman armies had been defeated and Hannibal felt he could finally offer a treaty of peace to Rome which they would be forced to accept. The treaty would be a harsh one.

Rules

The AW army lists and rules can readily replicate the armies and tactics of the Punic Wars. The Later Punic War Carthaginian list has troops available for all three theaters of operation, Spain, Italy and Africa. There are the elephants, the various mercenary Gauls, Spanish, Numidians and Italian allies as well as Punic natives. You can "learn" how to use these troops as Hannibal did, in combined arms operations. The beauty of the AW rules is that you can learn first-hand how to emulate the tactics developed by Hannibal. The Roman like-wise are an accurate army list, and the rules allow you to try to learn how to use manipular tactics. It is not easy to coordinate this! You will have to use your orders judiciously, but in the end, if resourceful, you will be able to emulate the battlefield tactics of Scipio Africanus.

All in all, the 2nd Punic War is an excellent campaign upon which to base a tournament.

More 2nd Punic War

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© Copyright 2000 by Terry Gore
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