Hannibal met a Roman army almost twice the size of his own on the plain of the Aufidus. He set his weakest infantry in a forward-bowed crescent, kept his veteran Africans back on its ends, and gave his cavalry the task of clearing the Roman horse from both wings. As the deep Roman centre pushed the crescent back, it marched into a pocket: the Africans turned inwards on its flanks and Hasdrubal's horsemen closed the rear. Encircled and too packed to fight, most of the Roman army was cut down before nightfall.
Battle plan · Second Punic War
Battle of Cannae
- 2 August 216 BCE
- Cannae, Apulia
- Decisive Carthaginian victory
The armies
Romans and Italian allies
Gaius Terentius Varro · Lucius Aemilius Paullus · Gnaeus Servilius Geminus
| Unit | Arm | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Velites (light infantry) | Skirmishers | 15,000 |
| Legions and allied infantryGnaeus Servilius Geminus | Heavy infantry | 55,000 |
| Roman citizen cavalryLucius Aemilius Paullus | Cavalry | 2,400 |
| Allied cavalryGaius Terentius Varro | Cavalry | 3,600 |
| In this plan | 76,000 |
Carthaginians and allies
Hannibal · Hasdrubal · Hanno · Mago · Maharbal
| Unit | Arm | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Balearic slingers and javelinmen | Skirmishers | 8,000 |
| Gallic and Iberian infantryHannibal and Mago | Infantry | 20,000 |
| African infantry (left) | Heavy infantry | 5,000 |
| African infantry (right) | Heavy infantry | 5,000 |
| Iberian and Gallic cavalryHasdrubal | Heavy cavalry | 6,500 |
| Numidian light horseHanno | Light cavalry | 3,500 |
| In this plan | 48,000 |
What the sources report
| Rome | Carthage | |
|---|---|---|
| Strength, this plan | 86,400 (50,000–86,400)Polybius: 80,000 infantry and 6,400 horse, about 10,000 of them left to guard the camps | 50,000 (40,000–50,000) |
| Losses, this plan | 67,500 (10,500–80,000)Livy: 48,200 killed and 19,300 taken; Polybius: 70,000 killed. Some modern estimates are far lower. | 5,700 (5,700–8,000)Polybius: 5,700 (4,000 of them Gauls); Livy: about 8,000 |
| Strength, Wikipedia | Total: 86,400 | Total: 50,000 |
| Casualties, Wikipedia | 67,500–80,000 | 5,700–8,000 |
Infobox figures from “Battle of Cannae” on Wikipedia (revision 1376557158), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plans and pictures
PlanBattle cannae destructionHogweard Battle cannae destruction.png: Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy · Public domainCommons ↗
PlanBattle of Cannae, 215 BC - Initial Roman attackHogweard Battle of Cannae, 215 BC - Initial Roman attack.png: The Department of History, United States Military Academy · Public domainCommons ↗.jpg)
PictureThe Death of Paulus Aemilius at the Battle of Cannae (Yale University Art Gallery scan)John Trumbull · Public domainCommons ↗
PictureThe battle of Cannaefollower of the Luçon Master, First Master of the Grande Bible Historiale Complétée of Jean, Duc de Berry (Paris, BNF, fr. 159) or Ravenelle Master (illuminators) · Public domainCommons ↗Notes
On this reconstruction
Ancient figures for both armies are uncertain, and the exact site is disputed (the north or the south bank of the Aufidus). Frontages, distances and the hour of each phase are a reconstruction from Polybius and Livy, not measurements. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.
Sources
- Polybius, Histories, book III, 107–118 · public domainThe fullest ancient account; source of the crescent and the deployment.
- Livy, History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita), book XXII, 44–52 · public domain
- Wikipedia contributors, Battle of Cannae · CC-BY-SA-4.0Deployment, numbers and sequence as summarised in the article.
Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.