Battle of Cannae

The Battle of Cannae took place during Second Punic War (218-201 BCE).
Hannibal inflicted a major defeat on a much larger Roman army by the use of tactics.

It was the first main Battle of the second of the Punic Wars, between Carthage and the Roman Republic.
Having lost its Sea Power in the First Punic War, Carthage was left with no alternative but to attack Rome on its own Territory. Hannibal took his army from Spain via the Alps and invaded Italy.

Roman and Allied Forces: 80,000 troops.
Allied Cavalry: 4,000 cavalry, and 2,400 Roman Cavalry.
Losses: 70,000 Roman troops killed. 10,000 captured. 3,000 escaped. 370 cavalry survived.

Carthaginian Forces: 47,950 troops, of which:
Auxiliaries and Allies: 8,000 Libyans, 8,000 Iberians, 16,000 Gauls, 5,500 Gaetulians, 8,000 Skirmishers many of the Balearic Slingers.
Allied Cavalry: 10,000 cavalry, of which: 4,000 Numidians, 2,000 Iberians, 4,000 Gauls, 450 Libyan-Phoenicians.
Casualties and Losses: 5,700 dead of which: 4,000 Gauls, 1,500 Spanish and Africans, 200 cavalry.

The two Armies faced each other on a plain, with the River Aufidus lying to the south.

The Roman Army
The Roman Consul Varro wanted a flat location where Hannibal could not again use the terrain for a surprise attack, as he had done successfully twice before.
Knowing his infantry was superior, and with no possibility of a surprise attack, he planned a shock frontal assault on the weaker Carthaginian infantry, with the intention of crushing it.
Varro placed his infantry close together and deep in a narrow column, rather than wide and spaced out, to equal the width of the opposing infantry.
Varro intended his infantry to surge forward like a piston and using their superiority, smash the weaker Carthaginian infantry. He deployed his cavalry on both left and right wings, to prevent the enemy escaping.

Hannibal’s Army
Hannibal drew up his Armies facing West, forcing the Roman Armies to face East.
This meant the Roman soldiers had the low morning sun shining in their eyes, and the easterly wind blowing dust into their faces.
Knowing his cavalry was superior, he intended to first rout the weaker Roman cavalry, then lure the superior Roman infantry into a trap from which they would be unable to either attack or to defend themselves.

Hannibal brilliantly deployed the Tactic of Double Envelopment or Pincer Movement:

Hannibal advanced his Infantry centre, creating a crescent. This tempted the Roman cavalry to charge into his wings. His superior cavalry then met the charge and routed both the Roman Wings, pursuing and dispersing their cavalry behind the main mass of Roman infantry.
Hannibal now ordered his own Infantry centre to fall back, luring the Roman Infantry to press forward with their attack. As the Roman Infantry advanced they became compressed into a tunnel of Carthaginian infantry, and were too close together to use their weapons.
Hannibal had converted the Roman strength into a weakness. The Romans had lost the protection of their cavalry wings, and the Infantry were unable to use their weapons.

The returning Carthaginian cavalry now attacked them on their flanks and in the rear. The Roman Infantry was surrounded in the tunnel of Carthaginian Infantry, and as the two arms of the Carthaginian cavalry pincer joined up, under attack from behind.
The mass of Roman Infantry was surrounded and then annihilated with 70,000 killed and 10,000 captured.

A small Army defeated another Army twice its size through the use of Tactics.
It was the Greatest defeat and the greatest loss of men, that Rome had ever experienced until the Battle of Arausio in 105 BCE.
Military Historians consider this to be one of the greatest use of Battlefield Tactics ever, in its use of the Tactics of the Double Envelopment, and the successful deployment of Cavalry.

Several City States in the Roman Republic defected from the Roman Republic to Hannibal, including Capua.
Hannibal collected 200 gold rings from the dead Roman aristocrats on the battlefield and sent them to the Carthaginian Senate as Tribute.

Polybius
- The Greek historian, recorded the Battle, and it is considered to be the first Pincer Movement to have been recorded in depth.

Cannae, Italy