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The Battle of Cannae (/ ˈ k æ n i,-eɪ,-aɪ /; [c] Latin: [ˈkanːae̯]) was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy.
August: Battle of Cannae – Hannibal destroyed the Roman army led by Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro in what is considered one of the great masterpieces of the tactical art. Late year: Battle of Silva Litana – The Gallic Boii wiped out a Roman army under Lucius Postumius Albinus .
Lucius Aemilius Paullus (died 2 August 216 BC), also spelled Paulus, was a consul of the Roman Republic twice, in 219 and 216 BC.He is primarily remembered for being one of the commanders of the Roman army at the Battle of Cannae, and for his death in the same battle.
The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal Barca ambushed a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC, during the Second Punic War. The battle took place on the north shore of Lake Trasimene , to the south of Cortona , and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
In times of emergency, a consul might be authorised to raise a double-strength army of four legions, but the allied alae would always number two, as they represented the two wings of the battle line, but were double strength e.g., at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, where each consul commanded an army of about 40,000 men.
Battle of Cannae: Roman attack (red). Destruction of the Roman army (red). Year 216 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar.At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Varro and Paullus (or, less frequently, year 538 Ab urbe condita).
Hannibal briefly undertook a religious pilgrimage before beginning his march toward the Pyrenees, the Alps, and Rome itself. The next phase of the war was marked by extraordinary Carthaginian victories at Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and the Battle of Cannae.
The defection of Capua to Hannibal after the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC was perhaps the most significant of his gains at the expense of the Roman alliance in Italy. [1] As Livy put it, "a city of such renown, and such power, had draw a number of different peoples with her when she defected". [2]