Battle of Cannae

As Hannibal continued to ravage the fields and vineyards belonging to Roman citizens, the Roman Senate was pressured to take action.  Their plan was to appoint Consuls Caius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus, Varro wanted to face Hannibal in a up front battle and Paullus was more opposed to that idea and wanted instead to pick off Hannibal's forces because of Hannibal's known tricks.  The two Consuls were given a double sized Legion and were to co-command this army.  In the year 216 B.C. they set out to face Hannibal (UNRV).  to give the Romans some over confidence Hannibal himself led a raiding mission whose soul purpose was to drive into the Roman column and then retreat in a false terror.  This plan had the effect that Hannibal wanted,making Consul a little reckless.  The Romans had in command 80,000 soldiers of both Roman citizens and allies.  Hannibal had with him a mix of 50,000 soldiers with him, and he knew all of their strengths and how to play on those strengths (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).  Hannibal was camping by the Cannae river when the Romans under the command of Consul Varro, came to battle.  Varro wanted to battle next to the river so that he could back the Carthaginians into it and prevent escape, and the flat ground that was the battle field provided Hannibal with no where to hide troops or use to his advantage.  What Hannibal did instead became a classic in western military history and gave the Romans their worst defeat in military history.  The Romans with the advantage in numbers decided to line their infantry into two bulky squares, whose job was simple, crash through the Carthaginian line and defeat the infantry.  The Roman cavalry were to hold off the Carthaginian cavalry while the infantry did their job.   Hannibal had other plans for this. Hannibal put his Iberian and Gallic infantry in the center and his African veterans on their flanks and further back to form an arrow head.  On the flanks of his infantry he placed his cavalry, Numidian light cavalry on the right and Spanish and Gallic heavy cavalry on the left, the cavalries job was the same as the Romans, hold off the opposing cavalry.  Hannibal's plan was that has the cavalry attacked each other, his infantry would slowly give way to the Roman line.  As the Romans went deeper into the Carthaginian line they would become in-cohesive, and his strong veteran flanks would close upon them while his cavalry would swing back and finish the circle (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).  The battle went perfectly for Hannibal, and he won even with the numerical disadvantage.  Rome suffered losses over 60,000 of infantry and cavalry as high as 3,000.  Hannibal on the other hand only received casualties as high as 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry (UNRV).  This still remains as one of Hannibal's greatest achievements.