Ancient Battle’s Far-Reaching Effects on the Modern World

“Every ground commander seeks the battle of annihilation; so far as conditions permit, he tries to duplicate in modern war the classic example of Cannae.”

–Dwight D. Eisenhower

It may seem strange to believe that a battle that took place over two millennia ago has strongly influenced the course of modern history, but it has. It may also seem odd that such a battle is still actively studied in military academies, but it is. I am talking about the Battle of Cannae ( pronounced “can-eye”) that occurred 2,235 years ago this week on August 2, 216 B.C.  in the southeastern corner of Italy, just above the heel of the “boot” of the Italian peninsula on the Adriatic coast. Know of a soldier from Haddam or Killingworth ( or any other American town or city for that matter) who served in the Army in Europe in either of the two world wars of the 20th century? If you do, then chances are high that that soldier’s commanding general took action(s) based on his understanding of the Battle of Cannae. Eisenhower, Montgomery, Rommel, and Patton were among the many World War II officers who were obsessed with Cannae and with re-creating their own battle of annihilation to end the war. Schlieffen, the famous German war planner of World War I, was also Cannae obsessed.

Most schoolchildren for generations knew something about the great Carthaginian general, Hannibal,  the military leader who crossed the Alps with elephants to attack Rome.  As the map in the picture shows, Hannibal left from Spain to invade Italy. Crossing the Alps, however, took a great toll on Hannibal’s army. Freezing temperatures, severe food shortages, constant attacks from Cisalpine Gallic tribes, obstacles, and landslides all conspired to kill over half of Hannibal’s army and many of his elephants. Soon after descending from the mountains into the plains of northern Italy, however, the Carthaginian army revitalized itself and proceeded to soundly defeat the Romans at Trebia and at Lake Trasimene. The Romans, itching for revenge against their hated enemy, Hannibal, decided to confront the Carthaginians in a decisive battle at Cannae. The decision proved to be disastrous.

Hannibal strategically positioned his army with its back to the Adriatic at Cannae. The wind blowing in from the sea blew sand and dust into the eyes of the Romans; additionally, the Romans now had to look into the sun during the battle. The Romans also had a river behind them, thus limiting their retreat options. Hannibal had them where he wanted them, but what happened next was pure military genius.

Imagine two huge armies arrayed on a battlefield. The formidable Roman infantry–vastly outnumbering the Carthaginians 85,000 to 50,000– approached in a rectangular formation. The Carthaginian infantry approached in a crescent formation with the bulge at the center of the crescent facing the Romans. Brutal hand to hand fighting ensued; however, Hannibal’s men were under orders to fall back from the center soon after the initial engagement, believing that the Romans, sensing vulnerability, would rush into the gap thus created. They did just that. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians were ordered to re-form again in a crescent formation, this time with the center bulge of the crescent facing away from the onrushing Roman lines. Simultaneously, Hannibal ordered his formidable Numidian cavalry to loop around the flank of the Romans. The result of these actions was a double envelopment of the Roman army. The trap was sprung.

Now, for the next 8-10 hours, the Carthaginian soldiers slaughtered the Romans from the outside in. Crowded and falling all over each other in the extreme heat of the day, the Romans were easy targets and were dispatched at a rate approaching 100 per minute in savage hand to hand combat. Ancient world historians Polybius and Livy differ somewhat in the numbers, but there can be no doubt that Cannae was a lopsided victory for the Carthaginians. Polybius estimated that the Romans lost over 75,000 infantrymen and over 6,000 cavalrymen, while Hannibal’s losses totaled only about 5,700 men! One modern historian of the battle notes that the average Roman at that time weighed about 130 lbs. Thus, there was more than 6 million pounds of human flesh rotting on the battlefield of Cannae when the fighting stopped. Polybius described the fighting as “barbaric.” It was. No other single battle in history has produced this much carnage.

The tactical genius of Hannibal as a field general at Cannae has reached mythical proportions over time. As recently as 1991, American General Norman Schwarzkopf, a student of the Battle of Cannae, said that he had “learned many things from the Battle of Cannae which I applied to Desert Storm.” Unless you study tactical strategy at a military academy or happen to take a course in ancient history, you may not have ever heard of Cannae; after all, if 40% of modern Americans cannot name even one of the countries we fought against in World War II, who has ever heard of Cannae? Yet, like so many other events that happened in the ancient world, we are still feeling their effects today.