2,232 years ago today, the Romans suffered what they considered to be their worst military defeat, certainly in Republican history, and possibly including imperial history. Hannibal's multi-national force, with Gaulish and Iberian infantry in the center, Punic infantry on the edges, Iberian and Gallic heavy calvary on the left wing and Numidian light calvary on the right, crushed eight consular legions and associated allies, executing one of the first (and most successful) double envelopment and pincer movements ever seen in Western warfare. With a planned, staggered retreat in the center against Varrus' (or was it Paullus'? Polybius had reason to protect him and claim Varrus was Consul in charge on that day) deeply concentraded legionaires, Hannibal encouraged the Romans to wedge in against the center, leaving plenty of room for the unengaged Punic heavy infantry to crash the left and right wings at the right moment to envelop. Once the Carthaginian's heavy cavalry on the left had routed their opponents, wheeled behind the infantry fighting to put the Roman's cavalry on the left to flight, and turned to assault the rear of the Roman's infantry, these Punic veterans completed the encirclement, and the slaughter began. While casualty estimates vary (along with the estimates of the actual size of the Roman force), most sources depict a literal bloodbath, with very few Roman survivors. And yet...
2,232 years ago today, the Romans suffered what they considered to be their worst military defeat...
Other urls found in this thread:
en.wikipedia.org
twitter.com
...one of those survivors was the architect of Hannibal's, and Carthage's, downfall. A man whose bravery was unquestioned (wining the right to the Corona Civica at the tender age of 17), whose devotion to the state was unparalleled (forcing fellow tribunes, who after the battle were on the verge of fleeing Italy, to swear an oath of fealty to Rome at the point of his sword), whose self confidence was unmatched (when no Roman senator would go to Spain to command the forces of his recently-killed-in-action father, whose life he saved to earn the corona civica, and recently killed-in-action uncle, he was the only man to volunteer and, despite being below consular age and without consular honors, was unanimously selected on the Campus Martius by the Roman electorate to lead the formerly-defeated legions), whose tactical and strategic genius ultimately defeated Hannibal. Ladies and Gentlemen, the greatest Roman who ever lived: Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus.
When he arrived in Spain, he took a battered army and, rather than challenging either of the experienced and battle-hardened opposing armies in the field, took the unexpected route and cut off their supply and communication lines by seizing New Carthage in an impressively swift siege and assault on the walled city. In a show of remarkable foresight, he returned hostages found in the city to their Iberian tribes, winning local allies through diplomacy and magnanimity, and again depleting his enemy forces without yet engaging in a pitched battle
He first challenged Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal Barca, in an assault on Hasdrubal's position at Baecula. Scipio's light troops assaulted Hasdrubal's, who were positioned defensively at elevation, guarding his camp. These light troops suffered heavy losses, but eventually drew Hasdrubal's heavy infantry from camp in order to check their progress. At this point, Scipio's legions, having deployed late and to the flanks, assaulted Hasdrubal's heavy infantry before they were properly formed. Having sent several detachments from his legions to guard the main points of retreat, Scipio's men devastated the Carthaginian's army, with 5k - 10k killed, and more than 10k taken prisoner. Hasdrubal Barca, with whatever remnants of his army could be saved, retreated from Iberia to Gaul.
>Be Rome
>Lose a couple of battles to Hannibal and his mixed army of Punics and Gauls
>Mobilise one the largest armies the world has ever seen
>Lose the battle and over 20% of your adult male population (For example Germany lost 6% of its adult male population in WW2)
>Wait 13 years for the youth to mature
>Send another army to beat the shit out of Carthage.
This is why I love Republican Rome. Even if they suffer a major defeat they just wait it out and send another army to deal with the enemy. Don't even bother negotiating with them.
The tale of Scipio Africanus is almost like poetry or from a Tolkien novel. His father was killed by the Carthaginians and he went on to win the war in spectacular manner. Also the paternal great-grandfather of Augustus himself was one of the survivors of Cannae.
When did Rome (and by Rome I mean the peoples of the Italian peninsula) lose their martial tradition? Down the road, the army had to recruit enormous numbers of barbarians to fill the ranks. Why were there no Italians signing up? Surely there were poor Italians looking for glory or something?
With two other enemy armies, under Mago Barca and Hasdrubal Gisco, still in the field and on the point of joining up to confront his still smaller army, Scipio returned to his base for the remainder of the fighting season. At the start of the next season, Mago and Grisco remained in the field, and were joined by a fresh army led by Hanno from Carthage. Scipio quickly dispatched a legate with a portion of his army to attack Mago before he was prepared for the campaigning season while he, Scipio, protected his rear from Gisco. Silanus, the legate, found Mago's army still encamped and fell upon them with speed. Hanno's army arrived as the battle was ending and, not expecting to march into a Roman slaughter, were immediately captured, removing two of the primary competitors from the field. Mago escaped, but Hanno was taken in fetters to Rome.
No glory to have. The Empire had expanded as far as it realistically could.
All that was left was glorified border patrol.
it's pure fucking poetry. scipio was the more civilized epic hero; the world had changed from Achilles being the epitome to the General / Statesman. I'm gonna keep going with this story, because he's a bad ass motherfucker
Teutoburg was worse.
I'm not an expert I would say during the Pax Romana. By then the empire had expanded far beyond Italy and the only wars fought were on the borders with Germania to the north, and Britain to a lesser extent, and and with Parthia to the east. the people in Rome itself wouldn't need soldiers as much as it once did when the Samnites were still a thing. Italy itself would've grown passive while the frontier would be more prone to warrior cultures. I also doubt the mixing of other cultures helped. Mars, the God of war was much more prominent in Romes earlier history for example and he could've fallen out of favor for stuff like the Hellenistic gods and later Christianity. Granted this is all just my theory.
Mago and Hasdrubal Gisco levied from their Iberian, Gallic, and Baleric allies a significant army, and proceeded to Illipa. With something on the order of 70k infantry (split between heavy and light), 2.5k cavalry (again, split between heavy and light), and 30-something elephants (mother-fucking elephants!!), this was an imposing host facing Scipio, who had not received any new troops when he set out for Spain, nor any reinforcements since arriving. He had about the same amount of horse, and a little more than half the infantry, with new and old Spanish allies making up a significant portion. Yet, he continues his absolute brilliance. For several consecutive days, Hasdrubal offered battle at the same time (late in the morning) and with the same battle order. Each day, Scipio led his troops out after, though on none of those days did they engage.
On the (i think?) fifth day, he led his troops out first thing in the morning, having prepared a different battle order, customized to Hasdrubal's, and fed his men early. Hasdrubal had to react quickly, his men racing to their positions unfed and highly disturbed. He positioned his legions on the flanks and spanish allies in the center, and waited. And waited. And waited. After many hours of waiting out the hungry and harried carthaginian's, he sounded the advance. His legions on the flanks moved quickly, but his Spanish allies in the center slowly, so as to fix the Punic heavy infantry in the middle. The legions fell upon Hasdrubal's Spanish allies on the wings, with the cavalry falling upon Hasdrubal's allied cavalry and elephants at the same time. The wings were routed, and the legions and cavalry turned upon the center just as the Roman allies made contact. The rout was on. The carthaginian's managed to get most of their army retreated back to camp, and attempted to escape in the night. The Roman's pursued hotly, and an orderly defensive retreat soon became a slaughter. Only approximately 6,000 of Hasdrubal's original 70,000+ survived.
>Tfw Rome's defeats are always remembered and hyped to hell by historians and the Generals shown as fucking geniuses
>No one talks about Rome's shitton of victories and how Rome produced fine generals of their own
Hannibal deserves his praise, but goddamn people like Boudicca who just slaughtered townspeople and old legionaries are overly praised.
Even worse there's an entire tv show dedicated to this.
This battle impresses me more than Hannibal at Cannae. Just great thinking above battlefield tactics
At the Battle of Arausio 6 October 105 BC, 80,000 romans (about 12 legions) and 40,000 Italian allies were killed by invading German tribes
Was that the Cimbri invasion?
Just think about it like affirmative action for barbarians.
When about to complete the destruction of the Carthaginian's in Spain, he was laid low by illness; an illness so bad that rumors of his death spread quickly. Several conquered Spanish cities revolted, and there was a mutiny within the army. This was masterfully put down by ruse - he instructed tribunes to speak to the mutinous troops in a conciliatory manner and offering to hear their grievances. they were to identify the ringleaders, and lead the mutinous troops back to headquarters in such a way as to not arouse any suspicion. Upon arrival, these troops were immediately placed under guard and Scipio himself appeared. He, in short, castigated the men severely and then offered them amnesty. Immediately upon the close of his speech, his loyal men led forward the lead mutineers, who were immediately and publicly executed. Thus ended the threat of mutiny. He marched on and defeated the Spanish rebels with characteristic flair, though I won't go into that here. On to Rome, Sicily, and Africa!
Because Rome was a fucking Juggernaut, Boudicca deserves praise if only for the fact that she managed to get more than 10 shit-eating Britons to march in the same direction without killing each other.
Psychologically sure, but not militarily.
Upon his return to Rome, Scipio was elected Consul (at the age of 31!!!), though not afforded a triumph for his literally-unparalleled success. He began to advance in the Senate the idea that, to win this war, they must destroy Hannibal's supply and communication lines, primarily by taking the war to Africa. After much debate, he was granted Sicily as his province, but granted NO troops for his purpose - just those in Sicily. Well, these troops were assigned to Sicily because of disgrace and defeat suffered at, you guessed it... Cannae!! When the people learned of his plans, however, they trusted and believed that the prior success of Scipio foretold future greatness, and so he left Rome with 30 ships and 7,000 volunteers for Sicily. He spent the next year primarily training this new force, comprised of disgraced troops and volunteers, into a formidable weapon. During this time, a Senatorial delegation visited the province to determine if he was acting properly (Cato the Elder was a jealous motherfucker) - the delegation left even more convinced Scipio was an outstanding leader. He also secured Sicily as a base and supply depot by restoring seized property that had been promised back to its owners, diplomatically building his power base for future use.
Lastly, he actually returned to Italy with a portion of the army to attack Hannibal at Locri, at the request of the Locrians. With collaborators on the inside, he attacked the citadel at Locri at midnight from the sea, and took the first fort. The Carthaginian's retreated to the second, further inland. The next day, upon hearing that Hannibal planned a surprise counter-attack, which was to coincide with a sally from the citadel at daybreak, Scipio hid his troops among the town during the night. At daybreak, when the Carthaginian's in the citadel stormed the town from one side, his men were ready, and ably defended. When Hannibal's troops began to set up the scaling ladders against the walls, thinking they would surprise the Romans, Scipio's men rallied out of the city gates and assaulted those storming the city. Hannibal's troops, defeated, fell back to their camp and retreated from the area over night. This was Scipio's first defeat of Hannibal, and a great "proofing" of his newly trained troops.
Folks, OP here. Unfortuantely I've gotta run for a bit. If this is still kicking later / in the AM, I'll post the Africa campaign, culminating in Zama - the defeat of Hannibal. Maybe, if I've got time, we can get into his defeat of Antiochus while nominally a legate of his brother (btw, you saw that right... this bad, bad man won WARS on three continents - Europe, Africa, and Asia. he built the Roman Empire)
Fuck yeah user, thanks for posting.
Good thing I have extreme insomnia! I'll keep the thread bumped, quality content.
Please continue user. I'm enjoying the story
What were the African troops armed with at this point?
Thanks!
Ok, so let's talk Africa campaign. First, let me backtrack to Spain. One of Scipio's most impressive traits as a general and statesman is his ability to recruit allies. At Illipa, a young Numidian nobleman, nephew of the king Masinissa, disobeyed his uncle's orders and rode into battle. He was captured by the Romans, but upon learning of his heritage, returned unscathed and free by Scipio to Masinissa. This, combined with the Carthaginian defeat in Spain, turned the Numidian king into a staunch ally of Scipio. He made similar inroads with Syphax, a rival Numidian king, but these were thwarted when Hasdrubal Barca offered Syphax his sister in marriage.
When Scipio sent his legate to reconnoitre Africa during his preparations in Sicily, a general panic occurred at Carthage. Laelius landed 150 miles from the city, and with just a half dozen or so ships, but the populace was stunned by their apparent vulnerability. While Laelius' mission was partially to test the defenses and ability to land in Africa, it was also to assess the progress of their ally, Masinissa, in his efforts to raise a force of cavalry. Masinissa insisted that Scipio should have attacked when Laelius landed, but Scipio's armies were not yet ready, as this took place before Locri.
Upon determining that his force was sufficient, and that he had enough supplies for to enable him the time needed to establish a base of operations, Scipio embarked for Africa, landing just a few miles from Utica. Estimates of the number of troops at his command vary widely, but he essentially had his 7,000 volunteers and the remnants of the 5th and 6th legions, which were disgraced at Cannae. He used his 7,000 volunteers to fill those legions out to full strength and to create a 300-strong force of Roman cavalry (equipped and paid for by the Sicilians in a rather cunning bit of recruiting), which means that he probably had somewhere around 15k - 16k infantry and 1.5k cavalry, including allies. For a proconsul leading a Roman army, he was essentially afforded no support by the state, which makes what had been accomplished to date, and what would be accomplished in Africa, all the more impressive. Upon landing, he was met by Masinissa with a small force of Numidian cavalry - he had been overthrown as king by Syphax while away, and was now a rebel and exile.
The Carthaginian's sought to delay Scipio and, to the best of their ability, deny him a base. He moved on Utica, but was attacked by a small cavalry force, which he quickly defeated. Before investing the seige, he found out that the Carthaginian's had ordered Hanno (a different one, I think) with his 4,000 cavalry camped about 15 miles from Scipio, to attack and delay until Hasdrubal could raise the army for defense. Scipio found out about the order, and immediately sent Masinissa forward to gain the initiative. Masinissa drew Hanno's cavalry out into the open field while Scipio hid along their flank. Once fully exposed, Scipio's 1500-strong force fell upon them, slaughtering or capturing ~75% of the enemy, and eliminating their ability to threaten his siege of Utica. He spent a few days ravaging the countryside collecting supplies and then completed the investitutre of Utica, still believing it to be the best possible base of operations. He was unable to quickly take the city, and when Hasdrubal and Syphax arrived with a 50k+ infantry force and 10k+ cavalry force, he retreated and made winter camp on a nearby peninsula.
During the winter, he tried again to regain Syphax as an ally, reopening negotiations. His envoys to Syphax noticed something PARTICULARLY interesting! Syphax and his men had made a poorly guarded and poorly fortified, winter camp in a fairly sloppy manner. Their huts were made of dried reeds, and very close together, with some even lying outside the fortifications. Hasdrubal's army was camped nearby and a bit more disciplined, keeping their huts inside their fortifications, but their huts were wooden and also very close together. His ongoing embassies now included more military men whose purpose was to glean as much info about the enemy camps as possible. Upon understanding most of the layout and sentries, Scipio had his plan to crush his larger enemy force while both armies were still wintering before campaign season started. He massed his troops, and overtly planned for a marine invasion, preparing the ships. That evening, his men were fed early and sent to rest, but then mustered after the first watch (~1/3 of the way through the night). Laelius and Masinissa were sent ahead with part of the army, with instruction to set Syphax's camp alight and attack all who fled. Scipio would then attack Hasdrubal's camp, once Syphax's had been beset.
The plan worked brilliantly. Syphax's army, thinking the fire was accidental, fled their huts unarmed and confused, and were cut down en masse by Laelius and Masinissa. The Carthaginian's, also thinking the fire at Syphax's camp accidental, ran to aid their comrades, and were also slaughtered by Scipio's men, who were setting Hasdrubal's camp alight in the confusion. The vast majority of the great Carthaginian host was utterly destroyed, with Syphax retreating to his lands and Hasdrubal retreating to Carthage. Yet, the fighting spirit of Hasdrubal had not been broken. He convinced the Carthaginian Senate to raise another force, his daughter, Syphax's wife, convinced Syphax to raise another army, and 5k or so Iberian mercenaries were immediately imported from Gadez. Hasdrubal stamped his feet, as it were, and an army of 35k+ arose from the fertile soil of Africa. When Scipio learned of this, he all but abandoned his seige of Utica again, leaving a bare bones force in place to maintain appearances, and rushed to meet the newly met up armies of Hasdrubal and Syphax.
In this encounter, while the Carthaginian army had the size advantage, for the first time Scipio had the far more hardened and experienced force, as these new levies had not yet been trained. Scipio's men crushed the newly raised army, and while many of the new levies of Syphax and Hasdrubal escaped, headed to the Numidian capital and Carthage respectively, the experienced and hardened Iberian mercenaries were killed to a man by the Roman legions. Masinissa and Laelius were dispatched with the cavalry to pursue Syphax in retreat, while Scipio made for Tunis, just 15 miles from Carthage. He began to harass the city when Carthage's navy made for the siege at Utica, intending to destroy the Roman navy while unguarded. Scipio, through forced-march, brought his men to Utica in time to barracade his triremes, quadriremes, and quinquirimes with transport ships and man said transports with marines and velites, who would assault the Carthaginian sailors with missiles. This worked, repelling the Carthaginian fleet. Meanwhile, Laelius and Masinissa caught Syphax and destroyed what remained of his army, capturing him as well. Masinissa was now able to take his former place as king of Numidia, granting Scipio access to the nation's warrior class and manpower. Syphax was sent back to Rome, and his bride, daughter of Hasdrubal, committed suicide after marrying Masinissa and attempting to turn him against the Romans (when Scipio found out about the wedding, he gently reminded Masinissa of his duties, and Masinissa bid her to drink poison rather than feature in a Roman triumph).
Scipio then returned to Tunis, implicitly threatening the city of Carthage herself. The Carthaginian Senate then sued for peace. Scipio offered rather fair terms (withdrawl of Carthaginian interests and armies from all but Africa, destruction of the Carthaginian navy, return of all prisoners, Rome's dominance of Carthage's foreign policty and war-making, and a war indemnity in gold), and when the Carthaginian Senate accepted, had them send envoys to Rome to confirm the settlement. However, not only were envoys sent to Rome... the Carthaginian's also recalled the great Hannibal and his veteran, battle-hardened army. Duplicitous!! Not only that, but the Carthaginian's broke the truce in other ways. A supply convoy from Sicily was sent during the truce, and while some ships arrived at Scipio's base, others were blown off course to Carthage. The residents of the city looted the ships, angering the Roman. Scipio upbraided the Carthaginian Senate, demanding the return of his material. Instead, when his envoys left the city, barely escaping violence from the citizenry, Hasdrubal's navy attacked their ships in the harbor in front of Scipio's base. These envoys again barely escaped with their lives.
Scipio now had a problem. The truce was broken, but his best ally was off reorganizing his kingdom. So, rather than directly assault Carthage, Scipio began to ravage the countryside, marching in the direction of Masinissa, hoping to shorten the distance between the two and affect the reunion more quickly. While this was occuring, Hannibal and his army, Mago and his army, and an unaffiliated Numidian chief's cavalry, were all converging together to oppose Scipio. Hannibal's combined army marched to meet Scipio, and camped at Zama. He sent scouts to ascertain the Roman's position and strength, several of whom were captured. Again displaying that supreme confidence only posessed by the most noble of the Roman elite, Scipio gave these men a guided tour of his camp and answered any questions they had, and then allowed them to return to Hannibal. Brass Fucking Balls. Hannibal, upon hearing the reports of his scouts, said, "I gotta meet this dude...", and the two generals met between their armies in the field the next day. They likely discussed conditions for peace, with Hannibal arguing that he could keep the peace and Scipio that there could be no trust, since the Carthaginians had broken the last peace. With nothing resolved, battle was assured.
Now we come to the Battle of Zama - the meeting of two of history's greatest generals, in direct opposition, with the fate of each nation hanging in the balance. Now we see two tactical geniuses try and outwit one another. Awesome shit, folks. Awesome. Hannibal placed his Numidian horse on his left and his Punic horse on his right. He had his elephants in front of his infantry, which was arrayed in three lines - first and second, close to one another, and made up of Mago's troops, local reserves, and new levies, and the third, much further back, his hardened troops from the Italian campaign. Scipio had his Roman cavalry on his left, his legions deployed in maniples with spacing between each in the center, his light infantry (velites) in front, and his numidians, first infantry then cavalry, on the right. The lanes between his maniples were crucial, as he was facing elephants directly and needed a way to channel them with minimal impact.
The battle began with cavalry skirmishes on Scipio's right and the charge of the elephants. The legions met this charge in a surprising way - they made a ruckus! They all blew horns and rattled their armor and knocked spear on shield, and this scared the elephants signficantly. On the Roman right, the scared elephants turned into and ran through / busted apart the Carthaginian-allied Numidian horse, which Masinissa promptly attacked in its state of disarray, driving them from the field. Laelius did the same with the Roman cavalry on the left, driving off the Punic cavalry. Now both Hannibal's flanks were unprotected. In the center, the lanes between the maniples allowed the Velites to retreat and the elephants to take the path of least resistance; rather than trying to break through the dense maniples, they simply ran through the lanes out the back, all the while being hit by javelins and darts from the velites. This effectively removed the elephants from the battle.
Next, the infantry advanced on one another. The Roman first line, despite heavy fighting, broke the Carthaginian first line. The Carthaginian second line, more experienced and rested, nearly broke the Roman front, but the 2nd line of Rome stepped forward and eventually broke the 2nd line of Carthage. In each case, when the first line broke, and then the second, the line behind on the Carthaginian side would not admit the routed - these were instead slaughtered by the Romans. Hannibal's third line had remained unused and set back from the battle - rested and ready, while the Romans had fought through two lines of experienced men. Scipio had one last trick up his sleeve...
For the last phase of the battle, it helps to remember that Roman legions were deployed in three lines; the hastati (1st), the princeps (2nd), and the triarii (3rd). Scipio had slightly more remaining troops than Hannibal, but did not want to affect a purely head-on collision with these most-disciplined of his opponents. The remaining Carthaginian line likely had 20k - 25k troops who had not yet exerted themselves in battle that day, while the Romans probably had a similar number of infantry, only 1/3 of which (the triarii) who had been unused. The Roman adavantage, however, lay squarely in the cavalry, who were currently pursuing their defeated enemy, pressing the advantage of the rout. Scipio needed to redeploy his troops for the coming struggle while delaying for time in order to regain his advantage. He moved the rear two lines to the flanks, expanding his line to be wider, but shallower, than his opponents. This would enable him to encircle the enemy, should the center hold. It also bought them time. When the armies engaged, the struggle was significant. These evenly matched foes fought valiantly for a time until, behind the Carthaginian line, Laelius and Masinissa appeared. Then the slaughter resumed. In all, 20k+ Carthaginians and their allies are killed, and a similar number captured. Hannibal retreated to Carthage with a small remnant of his army, and Scipio followed immediately with his entire host. The city capitulated, and the war was over.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of Africa. Another time, we'll discuss the peace concluded there, Scipio's triumph, and his later adventures in Asia.
Your sources have mostly been Polybius and Livy, with some Gibbon and a dude named B.H. Liddell Hart tossed in for color.
that was magnificent. thank you user
It was partially economic the divide between wealthy and poor became much greater the middle class farmer that was the bread and butter of Republican army was dying breed and thus the recruits for the army began to narrow. This lead to the necessary change of recruiting the poor. Thsee poor armies had much weaker ties to the rest of society and thus were much more likely to fight other Roman's this lead to a tarninshing of the glory of serving in the army
Several factors at play
>epigenetic factors made weak men
>depletion of soil nutrition
>balkanisation of rome
>epigenetic factors made weak men
You what?
>>epigenetic factors made weak men
Let's talk real catastrophic defeats, like ones which if they been victories would have led to the Western Empire surviving another few decades at the very least.
...
Thanks user
>2,232 years ago today,
where does the time go, Veeky Forums?