Information AboutBattle Of Cannae |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT BATTLE OF CANNAE | |
| battles of the second punic war | |
| cannae | |
| 216 bc | |
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::''For the Eleventh Century battle in the Norman conquest of the Mezzogiorno , see Battle Of Cannae (1018) ''
The Battle of Cannae was a major Battle of the Second Punic War , taking place on August 2 , 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy . The Carthaginian army under Hannibal destroyed a numerically superior Roman army under command of the Consul s Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro . Following the Battle of Cannae, Capua and several other Italian city-states defected from the Roman Republic . Although the battle failed to decide the outcome of the war in favour of Carthage, it is today regarded as one of the greatest Tactical feats in Military History . Having recovered from their previous losses at Trebia ( 218 BC ) and Trasimene ( 217 BC ), the Romans decided to confront Hannibal at Cannae, with roughly 87,000 Roman and Allied troops. With their right wing positioned near the Aufidus River , the Romans placed their cavalry on their flanks and massed their heavy infantry in an exceptionally deep formation in the centre. To counter this, Hannibal utilized the Double-envelopment tactic. He drew up his least reliable infantry in the centre, with the flanks composed of Carthaginian cavalry. Before engaging the Romans, however, his lines adopted a crescent shape —advancing his centre with his veteran troops placed at the wings in Echelon Formation . Upon the onset of the battle, the Carthaginian centre withdrew before the advance of the numerically superior Romans. While Hannibal's centre line yielded, the Romans had unknowingly driven themselves into a large arc —whereupon the Carthaginian infantry and cavalry (positioned on the flanks) Encircled the main body of Roman infantry. Surrounded and attacked on all sides with no means of escape, the Roman army was subsequently cut to pieces. An estimated 60,000 —70,000 Romans were killed or captured at Cannae (including the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus and eighty Roman Senators ). In terms of the number of lives lost within a single day, Cannae is among the costliest battles in all of recorded Human History . STRATEGIC BACKGROUND , Lake Trasimene and Cannae; provided by The Department of History, United States Military Academy.]] Shortly after the start of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal had boldly crossed into Italy by traversing the Alps during the winter, and had quickly won two major victories over the Romans at Trebbia and at Lake Trasimene . After suffering these losses, the Romans appointed Fabius Maximus as Dictator to deal with the threat. Fabius set about fighting a War Of Attrition against Hannibal, cutting off his supply lines and refusing to engage in Pitched Battle . These tactics proved unpopular with the Romans. As the Roman people recovered from the shock of Hannibal’s initial victories, they began to question the wisdom of the Fabian Strategy which had given the Carthaginian army the chance to regroup Liddell Hart, Basil , ''Strategy'', New York City, New York, Penguin Group, 1967. Fabius’s strategy was especially frustrating to the majority of the people who were eager to see a quick conclusion to the war. It was also widely feared that if Hannibal continued plundering Italy unopposed, Rome's allies might believe Rome was incapable of protecting them, and defect to the Carthaginians. Unimpressed with Fabian's strategy, the Roman Senate did not renew his dictatorial powers at the end of his term, and command was given back to the consuls Gnaeus Servilius Geminus and Gaius Flaminius . In 216 BC elections resumed with Caius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus elected as Consul s and given command of a newly raised army of unprecedented size in order to counter Hannibal. Polybius writes: "They decided to bring eight legions into the field, a thing which had never been done before by the Romans, each legion consisting of about five thousand men... Most of their wars are decided by one Consul and two legions, with their quota of allies; and they rarely employ all four at one time and on one service. But on this occasion, so great was the alarm and terror of what would happen, they resolved to bring not only four but eight legions into the field These eight legions, along with an estimated 2,400 Roman cavalry, formed the nucleus of this massive new army. As each legion was accompanied by an equal number of allied troops and an additional 4,000 allied cavalry, the total strength of the army which faced Hannibal could not have been much less than 90,000Cottrell, Leonard, ''Enemy of Rome'', Evans Bros, 1965, ISBN 0237443201 (pbk). Some estimates place the Roman forces at about 100,000 men, although historical evidence for such a large force is questionable. PRELUDE In the spring of 216 B.C. Hannibal took the initiative and seized the large supply depot at Cannae in the Apulian plain. He thus placed himself between the Romans and their crucial source of supply. As Polybius notes, the capture of Cannae ''"caused great commotion in the Roman army; for it was not only the loss of the place and the stores in it that distressed them, but the fact that it commanded the surrounding district"'' Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, 2 Vols., trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (London: Macmillan, 1889), I. 264-275. read at Internet Ancient History Sourcebook . The Consuls, resolving to confront Hannibal, marched southward in search of the Carthaginian general. After two days’ march, they found him on the left bank of the Audifus River and encamped six miles away. Ordinarily each of the two Consuls would command their own portion of the army, but since the two armies were combined into one, the Roman law required them to alternate their command on a daily basis. Consul Varro, who was in command on the first day, was a man of reckless nature and hubris, and was determined to defeat Hannibal. While the Romans were approaching Cannae, a small portion of Hannibal's forces ambushed the Roman army. Varro had successfully repelled the Carthaginian attack and continued on his way to Cannae. This victory, though essentially a mere skirmish with no lasting strategic value, greatly bolstered confidence in the Roman army, perhaps to over-confidence on Varro's part. Paullus, however, was opposed to the engagement as it was taking shape. Unlike Varro, he was prudent and cautious, and he believed it was foolish to fight on open ground, despite the Romans' numerical strength. This was especially true, since Hannibal held the advantage in cavalry (both in quality and numerical terms). Despite these misgivings, Paullus thought it unwise to withdraw the army after the initial success and camped two-thirds of the army east of the Aufidus River and sent the remainder of his men to fortify a position on the opposite side. The purpose of this second camp was to cover the foraging parties from the main camp and harass those of the enemy. Cottrell, Leonard, ''Enemy of Rome'', Evans Bros, 1965, ISBN 0237443201 (pbk) The two armies stayed in their respective locations for two days. During the second of these two days (, marshaled his forces, and crossed back over the Aufidus to do battle. BATTLE Forces The combined forces of the two consuls totaled 70,000 infantry, 2,400 Roman Cavalry and 4,000 allied horse (involved in the actual battle) and, in the two fortified camps, 2,600 heavily-armed men, 7,400 lightly-armed men (a total of 10,000), so that the total strength the Romans brought to the field amounted to approximately 86,400 men. Opposing them was a Carthaginian army composed of roughly 40,000 heavy infantry, 6,000 Light Infantry , and 8,000 cavalry in the battle itself, irrespective of detachments 1. Tactical deployment The conventional deployment for armies of the time was to place infantry in the center and deploy the cavalry in two flanking "wings". The Romans followed this convention fairly closely, but chose extra depth rather than breadth for their infantry, hoping to use this concentration of forces to quickly break through the center of Hannibal's line. Varro knew how the Roman infantry had managed to penetrate Hannibal’s center during the , ''Hannibal'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, De Capo Press, 1891, ISBN 0306813629. Even though they outnumbered the Carthaginians, this depth-oriented deployment meant that the Roman lines had a front of roughly equal size to their numerically inferior opponents. To Varro, Hannibal seemed to have little room to maneuver and no means of retreat as he was deployed with the Aufidus River to his rear. Varro believed that when pressed hard by the Romans’ superior numbers, the Carthaginians would fall back onto the river, and with no room to maneuver, would be cut down in panic. Bearing in mind the fact that Hannibal’s two previous victories had been largely decided by his trickery and ruse, Varro had sought an open battlefield. The field at Cannae was indeed clear, with no possibility of hidden troops being brought to bear as an ambush. 2 Hannibal, on the other hand, had deployed his forces based on the particular fighting qualities of each unit, taking into considertion both their strengths and weaknesses in devising his strategy.. He placed his lowest quality infantry ( Iberians , Gaul s and Celts ) in the middle, and his better infantry ( Libya n- Phoenician mercenaries) either just inside or behind his cavalry on the wings. He intended that his cavalry, positioned on the flanks, defeat the weaker Roman cavalry and swing around to attack the Roman infantry from the rear as it pressed upon Hannibal’s weakened center. His African troops would then press in from the flanks at the crucial moment, and encircle the overextended Roman army. Hannibal was unconcerned about his position against the Aufidus River, in fact, it played a major factor in his strategy. By anchoring his army on the river, Hannibal prevented one of this flanks from being overlapped by the larger, more numerous Romans. Furthermore, because the Romans were in front of the hill leading to Cannae and hemmed in on their right flank by the Aufidus River, their left flank was the only viable means of retreatBradford, E., ''Hannibal'', London, Macmillan London Ltd, 1981. In addition, the Carthaginian forces had maneuvered so that the Romans would face south, while they would face north. Not only would the morning sunlight face towards the Romans, but the southeasterly winds would blow sand and dust into the faces of the Romans as they approached the battlefield Dodge, Theodore , ''Hannibal'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, De Capo Press, 1891, ISBN 0306813629. It was Hannibal’s unique deployment of his army based on his perception and understanding of the capabilities of his troops, that would prove to be the defining factors in his victory at Cannae. Events As the armies advanced on one another, Hannibal gradually extended the center of his line, as Polybius describes: ''"After thus drawing up his whole army in a straight line, he took the central companies of Spaniards and Celts and advanced with them, keeping the rest of them in contact with these companies, but gradually falling off, so as to produce a crescent-shaped formation, the line of the flanking companies growing thinner as it was prolonged, his object being to employ the Africans as a reserve force and to begin the action with the Spaniards and Celts."''. Polybius describes the weak Carthaginian center as deployed in a crescent, curving out toward the Romans in the middle with the African troops on their flanks in Echelon Formation Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, 2 Vols., trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (London: Macmillan, 1889), I. 264-275. read at Internet Ancient History Sourcebook . It is believed that the purpose of this formation was to break the forward momentum of the Roman infantry, and delay its advance before other developments allowed Hannibal to deploy his African infantry most effectivelyHealy, Mark, ''Cannae: Hannibal Smashes Rome's Army'', Sterling Heights, Missouri, Osprey Publishing, 1994. However, some historians have called this account fanciful, and claim that it represents either the natural curvature that occurs when a broad front of infantry marches forward, or the bending back of the Carthaginian center from the shock action of meeting the heavily massed Roman center. Healy, Mark, ''Cannae: Hannibal Smashes Rome's Army'', Sterling Heights, Missouri, Osprey Publishing, 1994 When the battle was joined, the cavalry engaged in a fierce exchange on the flanks. Polybius describes the scene Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, 2 Vols., trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (London: Macmillan, 1889), I. 264-275. read at Internet Ancient History Sourcebook , writing that ''"When the Spanish and Celtic Horse on the left wing came into collision with the Roman cavalry, the struggle that ensued was truly barbaric."''. Here, the Carthaginian cavalry quickly overpowered the inferior Romans on the right flank and Rout ed them. A portion of the Carthaginian cavalry then detached itself from the Carthaginian left flank and made a wide circling pivot to the Roman right-flank, where it fell upon the rear of the Roman cavalry. The Roman cavalry was immediately dispersed as the Carthaginians fell upon them and began ''"cutting them down mercilessly"''. While the Carthaginians were in the process of defeating the Roman cavalry, the mass of infantry on both sides advanced towards each other in the center of the field. As the Romans advanced, the west wind blew dust in their faces and obscured their vision. While the wind itself was not a major factor, the dust that both armies created would have been potentially debilitating to sight. This, combined with the lack of proper Hydration due to Hannibal's attack on the Roman encampment during the previous day, would have affected the individual performance of the Roman troops. Hannibal stood with his men in the weak center and held them to a controlled retreat. The crescent of Spanish and Gallic troops buckled inwards as they gradually withdrew. Knowing the superiority of the Roman infantry, Hannibal had instructed his infantry to withdraw deliberately, thus creating an even tighter semicircle around the attacking Roman forces. By doing so, he had turned the strength of the Roman infantry into a weakness. Furthermore, while the front ranks were gradually advancing forward, the bulk of the Roman troops began to lose their cohesion, as they began crowding themselves into the growing gap. Soon they were so compact together that they had little space to wield their weapons. In passing so far forward in their desire to destroy the retreating and collapsing line of Spanish and Gallic troops, the Romans had ignored the African troops that stood uncommitted on the projecting ends of this now reversed-crescentHealy, Mark, ''Cannae: Hannibal Smashes Rome's Army'', Sterling Heights, Missouri, Osprey Publishing, 1994. This also gave the Carthaginian cavalry time to drive the Roman cavalry off on both flanks and attack the Roman center in the rear. The Roman infantry, now stripped of both its flanks, formed a wedge that drove deeper and deeper into the Carthaginian semicircle, driving itself into an alley that was formed by the African Infantry stationed at the echelons. At this decisive point, Hannibal ordered his African Infantry to turn inwards and advance against the Roman flanks, creating an Encirclement of the Roman infantry in one of the earliest examples of the Pincer Movement . When the Carthaginian cavalry attacked the Romans in the rear, and the African flanking echelons had assailed them on their right and left, the advance of the Roman infantry was brought to an abrupt halt. The trapped Romans were enclosed in a pocket with no means of escape. The Carthaginians created a wall and began decimating the entrapped Romans. ). At the end of the day, out of the original force of 87,000 Roman troops, only about one out of every ten men was still alive. Casualties Although the true figure will probably never be known, Livy and Polybius variously claim that 47,000—70,000 Romans died with about 3,000—4,500 taken prisoner. Among the dead were Lucius Aemilius Paullus himself, as well two consuls for the preceding year, two Quaestor s, twenty-nine out of the forty-eight Military Tribune s, and an additional eighty senators (at a time when the Roman Senate was comprised of no more than 300 men, this constituted 25%—30% of the governing body). Another 10,000 from the two Roman camps and the neighboring villages surrendered on the following day (after further resistance cost even more fatalities). In all, perhaps more than 70,000 Romans of the original force of 87,000 were dead or captured — totaling more than 80% of the entire army. For their part, the Carthaginians suffered 16,700 casualties (with the Celts and Iberians accounting for the majority). The fatalities for the Carthaginians amounted to 6,000 men, of whom 4,000 were Celts, 1,500 Spaniards and Africans, and the remainder cavalry. The total casualty figure of the battle, therefore, exceeds 80,000 men. If true, this makes the Battle of Cannae one of the single bloodiest battles in all of recorded Human History , in terms of the number of lives lost within a day. The total number of lives lost surpasses the number of servicemen killed in the Royal Air Force throughout the First and Second World Wars . More men were killed at Cannae than in all the four months of the Battle Of Passchendaele , which is considered one of the bloodiest battles of World War One. So devastating were these losses, that the total number of casualties represents just under one third of the total number of American soldiers, sailors, and airmen killed in four years of fighting during the Second World War In fact, the losses suffered within a single day on the battlefield of Cannae (no bigger than a few square miles), would not be equaled until the First Day Of Fighting on the Somme in 1916 —which took place on a 25-mile front nearly 2,000 years laterGoldsworthy, A, ''The Punic Wars'', London, Cassell and Company, 2000. AFTERMATH ::—Titus Livius, on the Roman Senate's reaction to the defeat 3 For a brief period of time, the Romans were in complete disarray. Their best armies in the peninsula were destroyed, the few remnants severely demoralized, and the only remaining consul (Varro) completely discredited. It was a complete Catastrophe for the Romans. As the story goes, Rome declared a national day of mourning, as there was not a single person in Rome who was not either related to or knew a person who had died. The Romans became so desperate that they resorted to human sacrifice, killing a few slaves and burying them in the Forum of Rome (perhaps one of the last recorded instances of Human Sacrifice s the Romans would perform). Lucius Caecilius Metellus , a Military Tribune , is known to have so much despaired in the Roman cause, in the aftermath of the battle, as to suggest that everything was lost and call the others to sail overseas and hire themselves up into the service to some foreign prince4. Afterwards, he was forced by his own example to swear an oath of allegiance to Rome for all time. Furthermore, the Roman survivors of Cannae were later reconstituted as two legions and assigned to Sicily for the remainder of the war as punishment for their humiliating loss. In addition to the physical loss of her army, Rome would suffer a symbolic defeat, one that was severely humiliating to her prestige. Hannibal had his men collect more than 200 gold rings from the corpses on the battlefield, and sent this collection to Carthage as proof of his victory; this collection was poured on the floor in front of the Carthaginian Senate, and was judged to be ''"three and a half measures".'' A gold ring was a token of membership in the upper classes of Roman society. Hannibal, having gained yet another victory (following the battles of , had pledged his support to Hannibal —thus initiating the First Macedonian War against Rome. Hannibal also secured an alliance with newly appointed King Hieronymus of Syracuse , the most significant city in Sicily. Following the battle, Hannibal's officers wanted to march on Rome. Yet despite the tremendous material loss inflicted on the Romans, the defection of many allied cities, and the declaration of war by Philip and Hieronymus, Hannibal, lacking any siege equipment or the appropriate resources, refused to do so. This was much to the distress of Maharbal , one of his cavalry commanders, who is famously quoted as saying, ''"Truly the Gods have not bestowed all things upon the same person. Thou knowest indeed, Hannibal, how to conquer, but thou knowest not how to make use of your victory."''. Instead, Hannibal offered to negotiate a peace treaty with the Senate on moderate terms. Yet despite the multiple catastrophes Rome had suffered, the Roman Senate refused to Parley . Instead, they simply re-doubled their efforts, declaring full mobilization of the male populations, while raising new legions recruited from landless peasants and even slaves. So firm were these measures, that the word “peace” was prohibited, mourning limited to only thirty days, and tears restricted to women in public Dodge, Theodore , ''Hannibal'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, De Capo Press, 1891, ISBN 0306813629Cottrell, Leonard, ''Enemy of Rome'', Evans Bros, 1965, ISBN 0237443201 (pbk). The Romans, after experiencing this catastrophic defeat and losing other battles, had at this point learned their lesson. For the remainder of the war in Italy, they would no longer engage in pitched battles against Hannibal. Rather, they utilized the strategies Fabius had taught them, and which, they finally realized, were the only feasible means of driving Hannibal from Italy. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Effects on Roman military doctrine The Battle of Cannae played a key role in shaping the Military Structure and Tactical Organization of the Roman Republican Army . At Cannae, the Roman infantry was formed in a formation not dissimilar from the Greek Phalanx . This delivered them into Hannibal’s trap since their inability to maneuver independently from the mass of the army made it impossible for them to prevent the encircling tactics employed by the Carthaginian cavalry. Furthermore, the strict laws according to the Roman state required that the high command alternate between the two consuls —thus restricting the army's strategic flexibility. However, in the years following Cannae, striking reforms were introduced to address these deficiencies. First, the Romans ''"articulated the phalanx, then divided it into columns, and finally split it up into a great number of small tactical bodies that were capable, now of closing together in a compact impenetrable union, now of changing the pattern with consummate flexibility, of separating one from the other and turning in this or that direction."''. For instance, at Ilipa and Zama , the '' Principes '' were formed up well to the rear of the '' Hastati '' —a deployment that allowed a greater degree of mobility and maneuverability. The culminating result of this change marked the transition from the traditional Manipular system to the Cohort under Gaius Marius , as the basic infantry unit of the Roman army. In addition, the necessity of a unified command for strategic flexibility was finally recognized. After various political experiments, was composed of veterans who had been fighting the Carthaginians in Spain for nearly sixteen years, and had been molded into a superb fighting force. Status in military history The Battle of Cannae is famous for Hannibal's ... was first held there and then withdrawn step by step, until it had the reached the converse position... is a simple masterpiece of battle tactics. The advance at the proper moment of the African infantry, and its wheel right and left upon the flanks of the disordered and crowded Roman legionaries, is far beyond praise. The whole battle, from the Carthaginian standpoint, is a consummate piece of art, having no superior, few equal, examples in the history of war"''. As Will Durant wrote, ''"It was a supreme example of generalship, never bettered in history... and {Link without Title} set the lines of military tactics for 2,000 years"''. |
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