Roman Culture/Battle of Cannae

The Battle of Cannae The Battle of Cannae occurred in the spring of 216 BC and is the feature battle of the Second Punic War. Hannibal had led Carthage to victories over the Romans in the battles of Trebia and Trasimene, in 218 BC and 217 BC respectively and was to again show his tactical superiority over the Romans once again at Cannae in southeast Italy. Against the odds his army of approximately 46,000 infantry and 8,000 Calvary defeated the enormous Roman army that consisted of about 87,000 men.

The tactics that Hannibal put into effect were the reasons the outnumbered Carthaginians defeated the Romans with such ease. Hannibal slowly guided the front like back in a timely retreat. The infantry of Carthage bent and the African mercenaries pushed up the flanks and attacked the sides of the Roman block of men. After the Calvary of the Carthaginians had chased the Roman Calvary off, they hit the Romans from the back, closing the Romans in completely. In all the Carthaginians were able to systematically kill Romans, killing more than 50,000 Roman men in all.

EDITED: by Ariel Turpin on 12/13/2011 Checked for spelling, grammar, and plagiarism.

Sources: http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswarsto1000/p/cannae.htm, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQNCGqfjaBc