Battle of Zama

Date and Location

  • Oct 19th 202 BCE at Zama Regia, near modern day Siliana in Tunisia, 80 miles (130km) southwest of Tunis.

The Reason for the Battle

  • In 205 BCE Scipio Africanus was elected Consul and persuaded the Senate to end the War by invading North Africa and attacking the city of Carthage.
  • In 203 BCE Scipio landed with an army at Uttica and defeated a Carthaginian Army at the Battle of the Great Plains. He then drew up a Peace Treaty with the Carthaginian Senate whereby they renounced their overseas Empire, reduced their navy, recalled Hannibal from Italy and agreed to pay War Reparations.
  • However, the Carthaginians reneged on the Treaty and captured a Roman supply fleet.

The Adversaries

The Winner

The Commanders

The Strength of the Forces under the Roman Republic

  • Soldiers: 29,000
  • Auxiliaries and Allies: Romans, Sicilians and Numidian cavalry
  • Allied Cavalry: 6,100
  • Losses: 4-5,000 killed: 1,500-2,500 Romans killed, 2,500 Numidians killed.

The Strength of the Forces under Hannibal

  • Soldiers: 36,000 (one third untrained citizen soldiers)
  • Auxiliaries and Allies: Spaniards, Gauls and Numidian cavalry
  • Allied Cavalry: 4,000 and 80 War Elephants
  • Casualties and Losses: 20-25,000 killed, 8,500-20,000 captured.

How the Armies were Deployed

  • Hannibal’s Army

  • Hannibal arrived on the plains of Zama first and deployed his formations in three lines facing northwest.
  • The 80 war elephants were deployed in front of the first line.
  • The first line consisted of mercenaries from Gaul, Liguria and the Balearics.
  • The second line was made up of inexperienced citizen soldiers.
  • The third line consisted of veterans and mercenaries from Gaul and Spain. Hannibal held back the third line to prevent Scipio from encircling him as he had done before.
  • His left wing was composed of Numidian cavalry.
  • His right wing was composed of Carthaginian cavalry.
    • Hannibal probably intended to disrupt the first two Roman lines by a charge of the elephants and then use the line of veterans to overrun and finish off the Roman army.

  • Scipio’s Army

  • Scipio deployed his army in the standard three lines of the Maniple System.
  • The first line consisted of the Hastati.
  • The second line was made up of the Principes.
  • The third line consisted of the Triarii.
  • His right wing was led by Masinissa and the Numidian cavalry.
  • His left wing was led by Laelius and the Italian cavalry.
    • Scipio formed a strategy to deal with the War Elephants. Elephants charge ahead in a straight line and do not stop or turn. Scipio briefed the soldiers to open up a passageway and let the elephants pass between them, so that they could be dealt with in the rear.
    • Scipio recognised the importance of cavalry from Carthaginian successes in Italy. So he had raised a new cavalry regiment in Sicily and formed a key alliance with Masinissa to use his Numidian Cavalry, in order to have superiority in cavalry numbers.

How the Battle was Fought

  • Hannibal ordered the War Elephants to attack the first two Roman lines accompanied by skirmishers.
  • Scipio Africanus countered by ordering his cavalry to blow horns at the elephants, successfully forcing some of them to swerve into the cavalry on the Carthaginian left wing. The Numidian Cavalry under Masinissa then charged and scattered the remaining Carthaginian cavalry in the left wing, which was also Numidian.
  • Laelius and his Roman cavalry then charged the Carthaginian cavalry on the right wing, who withdrew intentionally in order to lure him away from the field.
  • The other elephants were allowed to pass freely through the Roman lines and were dealt with in the rear.
  • The three Roman lines then reformed to face the Carthaginian army.
  • The Roman first line of Hastati was ordered forward against the Carthaginian two front lines. The first line broke and was moved to the wings.
  • Hannibal ordered his second line to moved forward, and they successfully broke the Roman Hastati.
  • Scipio quickly reinforced the Roman Hastati in the first line with the second line of Principes.
  • They then attacked Hannibal’s second line which broke and was moved to the wings leaving Hannibal’s third line to face the Romans.
  • By this stage, the Roman cavalry had been lured away from the battlefield, so Scipio redeployed his foot soldiers in a straight line with the Hastati in the middle, the Principes on either side and the Triarii on the outer wings.
  • Hannibal waited for Scipio to make the first move, who paused whilst he waited for the cavalry to return. However, unable to wait any longer he attacked, but to no advantage as both sides were equally matched.
  • Finally, the Roman cavalry succeeded in routing the Carthaginian cavalry and returned to the field, attacking the Carthaginian soldiers from the rear.
  • The Carthaginians were completely defeated resulting in around 20,000 soldiers killed and another 20,000 taken prisoner. Hannibal managed to escape.

The Outcome

  • The Battle of Zama marked the end of the Second Punic War.
  • The Peace Treaty that followed was so harsh that Carthage was never able to successfully oppose Rome again.
  • The Romans insisted that Hannibal be exiled as they feared he might rebuild Carthaginian power.
  • As a result, the Carthaginians were unable to resist the Romans during the brief Third Punic War and the city became the Roman Province of Africa after 146 BCE.

Sources

 

Siliana, Tunisia

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