Opening manoeuvres

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In the Spring of 216 BC, Hannibal crossed the River Aufidius and occupied the town of Cannae, a strategic Roman grain depot. In occupying Cannae, Hannibal both secured much needed provisions for his army and endangered Rome's supplies. The town overlooked a broad plain, bisected by the river. The ideal terrain to manoeuvre his 10,000 horsemen was the wider western plain.

Pursuing Hannibal’s army, the Romans arrived on the plain beneath the town of Cannae. Paulus favoured the hillier, more broken eastern plain, believing it would give the Roman army an advantage against Hannibal’s lethal Iberian and Numidian cavalry. Varro insisted on drawing up on the western plain, eager for the enemy army to engage. The Romans and their allies prepared their battle formations two miles from Hannibal’s lines.

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In an attempt to lure the Romans to battle on the broader Western plain, Hannibal sent his Numidians to skirmish and harass the smaller Roman camp on the Western bank. They attacked right up to the gates of the camp, terrifying the Romans.

On the morning of the battle, Varro reassessed his position and opted to cross to the Eastern bank of the river where he drew up his lines. The Roman cavalry took up a position on the river, the right wing. The Roman legions formed their lines in the centre with the allied foot soldiers on their left and the allied cavalry holding the left wing. Varro commanded the left wing, Paulus the right and the previous year’s Consul, Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, the centre. To the front went all the skirmishers, the slingers, javelin throwers and archers.

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Hannibal quickly reacted to the Roman deployment by sending his skirmishers across to the river. His Gallic and Iberian cavalry followed to hold the flank closest to the river, facing the Roman cavalry. His Numidians swung wide to face the allied horsemen on Hannibal’s left flank. The foot soldiers took the centre of the lines, the Gauls and Iberians in the centre, with the Africans either flank. Hasdrubal took command of the left flank, Maharbal the right and Hannibal the centre. Now Hannibal adjusted the centre of his lines by moving the Gauls and Iberians forward until the whole line formed a convex shape and was thinnest at the very centre.

Hannibal’s army had the wind at their backs and at that time of year it was full of dust which would have been a factor in hampering the Romans’ sight.

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Tactics

With the armies in their respective battle formations, the initial fighting began with the opposing skirmishers advancing. Young, inexperienced Romans would have gone forward to hurl pila at the enemy skirmishers. Archers from Syracuse targeted their counterparts from Iberia and Balearic slingers picked off Rome’s Italian allies and one man, targeted and struck Paulus, the Roman Consul commanding the Roman’s right flank.

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As the skirmishers vied for control of the field, Hasdrubal raised his sword and signalled to the Iberian and Gallic horsemen to advance at a walk before breaking into a canter and then a full charge. Their sights set on the Roman cavalry, they let loose their war cries. In response, the Roman horse was forced to charge headlong toward Hannibal’s heavy cavalry, hemmed in by the river and their own legionaries. The first waves collided and very soon the fight slid from on horseback to on foot. It was a brief, violent battle that did not last long before the Roman cavalry buckled and began to flee.

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On Hannibal’s right flank, a band of five hundred Numidians broke away from the African cavalry and raced to the Roman’s allied cavalry where they leapt from their ponies, throwing aside shields and javelins in surrender. Varro ordered them to be escorted to the rear lines where they remained until the Roman allied cavalry was fully committed to battle with the bulk of the Numidian horsemen.

While the Roman and Auxiliary cavalry were engaging on the flanks, the Roman and allied legionaries advanced, their eyes on those of the grizzled Iberian and Gallic warriors. Their front ranks drove into the enemy with a might clash and the Battle of Cannae began in earnest. The Iberians with their stabbing blades and large shields were equal to anything the Romans could offer and held firm. The Gauls fought beside their Iberian allies with determination, their broad shoulders swinging their long hacking swords into the Romans, exacting a toll on the inexperienced legionaries.

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Then the full force of the Numidian horsemen charged the auxiliary cavalry and while they were still reeling under a storm of lethal javelins, Hasdrubal led the Iberian and Gallic heavy cavalry across the battlefield to hit them in the flank. The five hundred Numidians who had appeared to have exchanged sides, turned, and regaining their ponies, attacked the allied cavalry from the rear. Beset on all sides, hamstrung and speared through, it was only a matter of heartbeats before the allied cavalry was overwhelmed. In the midst of the carnage, Consul Varro and seventy riders managed to break out of the melee and flee the field.

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Despite their strength and valour, Hannibal’s Iberian and Gallic lines proved too thin for the massed Roman formations who began to drive them back. Once on the back foot, the Gauls and Iberians fell back faster and faster. Sensing victory, the Romans cheered and pushed forward into the flying dust storm, eager to crush the enemy at last. In a brief respite from the wind, the air cleared to reveal Hannibal’s African formations curling around to encircle them. As the Africans sprung the envelopment, the Iberians and Gauls regrouped, baying for Roman blood. Surrounded, the battle-weary legionaries’ numerical superiority was nullified, and they were at the mercy of Hannibal’s veterans.

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On the Roman right, the injured Paulus had rallied the Roman cavalry against Hannibal’s Iberian and Gallic horsemen time and again. Finally, the wound sustained from a slingshot and the exertion of battle overtake him and he falls from his mount. The Roman cavalry, forced to fight on foot, finally lose all cohesion and men begin to flee. As a Roman Tribune, Cneius Lentulus, escaped the field of slaughter, he saw the blood-soaked Consul Paulus sitting on a rock and tried to convince him to flee. The Consul is unable to and moments later, the enemy overrun the position and Paulus falls beneath their blades.

The outcome of the battle was in no doubt at this point, but for the thousands of Romans encircled, the day would only end when an Iberian falcata took their head or a Gallic sword opened their throat.

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Aftermath

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“Aemilius Paulus and Terentius Varro are routed at Cannae, and forty thousand men slain, among whom were Paulus the consul, eighty senators, and thirty who had served the office of consul, praetor, or edile. A design projected by some noble youths of quitting Italy in despair after this calamity, is intrepidly quashed by Publius Cornelius Scipio, a military tribune, afterwards surnamed Africanus.”

Livy Book XXI

The death toll among Roman and allied soldiers was staggering. Livy puts the numbers killed at 42,700 soldiers and horsemen. 7,000 escaped to the small encampment on the western plain while 10,000 fled back to a larger encampment two miles to the north. 2,000 men fled into the town of Cannae, but it had no walls and they were quickly surrounded by horsemen and captured along with a further 1,000 survivors from the battlefield.

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The number of senior officers, senators and nobles killed in the battle was astonishing and a further severe blow to Rome.

Those who fled to the smaller encampment later attempted to break through the jubilant enemy to reach their comrades in the larger encampment across the river. The Numidians had been expecting them to try this and just 600 men made it across the river. From there, the 10,000 survivors made their way to Canusium.

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