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Battle of Cannae

Type Event Region Italy Time -216

In 216 BCE Hannibal annihilated about 70,000 Roman legionaries at Cannae with a double envelopment, Rome's worst defeat in the Second Punic War.

Timeline

  1. -216Cannae · PugliaHannibal's roughly 50,000 Carthaginians faced about 80,000 Romans under Varro and Paullus. Hannibal deployed in a crescent, with the center infantry withdrawing to draw the enemy in, while cavalry and light troops prepared to envelop the flanks.
  2. -216Cannae · PugliaThe Carthaginian center's withdrawal drew the Roman legions into pursuit; the cavalry on both wings defeated the Roman flanks and closed in from behind. The Roman main body was compressed into a confined space and destroyed, with roughly 50,000 to 70,000 Romans killed or captured.
  3. -216Cannae · PugliaThe disaster at Cannae shocked Rome, but the Senate refused to make peace with Hannibal. Rome thereafter adopted Fabius's strategy of delay and strengthened legion training and organization, laying the foundation for the eventual counteroffensive.

Sources