The Battle of Zama (202 B.C.E.)

After Rome suffered yet another stunning defeat at the Battle of Cannae, people were in the mood for a radical change in direction. At the tender age of 19, Publius Cornelius Scipio was one of the six military tribunes attached to the Second Legion at Cannae. We don't have a reliable account of how he survived, but my best guess is that he was in one of the small groups that managed to push their way through the encircling Carthaginians and make a run for it. Scipio had an unusual post-Cannae career. He was awarded the command of an army in his 20s, despite the fact that he had been elected to none of the prerequisite offices. He then spent several years successfully campaigning against the Carthaginians in Spain. Very successfully, so much so that his army tried to hail him as a king. Scipio put a stop to it, but the Senate noticed. When Scipio returned to Rome, he was already the most popular living Roman. He was elected Consul in a landslide election, even though he was technically ineligible for the office for a couple of different reasons. But Rome had been traumatized by war, and seemed perfectly comfortable getting a little loosey-goosey with the law. Scipio used his connections in the Senate to get himself named as the Governor of Sicily after his term was up. He asked the Senate if, as Governor of Sicily, he would have the authority to launch an invasion of North Africa, and they were like, no. And then Scipio was like, you know, I might just do it anyway. And then they were like, maybe, only if you see a really good opportunity. But the Senate didn't actually want Scipio to invade, so they added, oh and by the way, we're signing you zero legions. But this didn't deter Scipio. He announced that he was accepting volunteers for a North African campaign, and thousands of veterans flooded to Sicily. Most of these men had served against Hannibal, and many of them had even served with Scipio at Cannae. In total, 7,000 men signed up, basically enough for one and a half legions. Not answerable to the Senate, but to Scipio personally. One and a half legions wasn't enough to invade North Africa, but it was enough to get the attention of the Senate. They pretended to be impressed by Scipio's initiative, but they were actually terrified. Scipio had already been offered the crown by his men, and now, with the snap of his fingers, he had shown that he was able to raise a small private army. They still thought it was a bad idea, but they let him have his way. Scipio would lead a full invasion of North Africa. This campaign was complicated, and it had lots of twists and turns, but it culminated with Hannibal being recalled to defend North Africa, and with the two armies meeting at Zama, a town 5 days march inland from the coast. The city of Carthage had managed to throw together thousands of raw recruits, and at least 80 war elephants, to help buttress Hannibal's forces. Now, this may surprise you, but there's no internationally recognized symbol for war elephants, so let's quickly make one. Let's take the cavalry, shift the line down like that, and then add a couple lines at the side, and perfect. When deploying for battle, Hannibal placed his elephants at the front, followed by a line of experienced Gauls and mercenaries from the Italian campaign. This was followed by a line of the new recruits from Carthage. The third line was made up of the core of Hannibal's army from the Italian campaign. I've seen this third line referred to as the most experienced army in human history. In their 16 years on the field, they had never experienced a significant defeat. Hannibal had been unable to bring the majority of his cavalry with him across the Mediterranean, but he had some left and he placed them on the wings. Scipio set up his army in an unusual way. He had his men form up in three lines like normal, but not in the classic checkerboard formation that the Romans like to use in this period. Instead, he shifted his middle line over and filled the gaps with some light skirmishers. The line may have appeared solid from Hannibal's point of view, but from the top down, we can see that he left big open columns between his maniples. He put his Roman cavalry on his left, and his mounted Numidian allies on his right. The Romans were significantly outnumbered, but with the help of the Numidians, they had an advantage when it came to cavalry. The battle opened with a huge elephant charge, which would have been terrifying. We don't know for sure, but this may have been an accidental elephant charge, which is somehow even more terrifying. There's some talk among historians that these elephants may have been newly captured and maybe only half trained, but nobody knows for sure. Anyway, the elephants on the left charged first, got a little confused, veered left and left and left, and went straight into the Carthaginian cavalry. The Numidians on the Roman right saw an opportunity, and charged without warning. The Carthaginians on this side were in total chaos, and fell into a rout almost immediately. Everyone else was like, oh I guess the battle has started? So Hannibal ordered the rest of his elephants to advance. The Carthaginian objective here was to use the elephants as, well, tanks basically, to disrupt the enemy lines and then have their superior infantry follow up and overwhelm the Romans. But it didn't work. As the elephants closed in, the skirmishers fell back, revealing gaps in the line. Elephants have minds of their own and can't really be trained to do something suicidal, like running into a wall of spears. So they ran into the gaps. This is the moment the Roman skirmishers were waiting for. They pelted the elephants with ranged weapons, killing many and driving the rest off. The elephant threat had now been neutralized, and they had done more damage to the Carthaginians than they had to the Romans. As the battle was heating up, the cavalry on the Roman left clashed with the Carthaginians opposite them. After the initial skirmish, the Carthaginian cavalry turned and fled, with the Romans in hot pursuit. The elephants had been eliminated, and now the cavalry was off the board. Now Hannibal's 36,000 infantry faced off against Scipio's 23,000. Fortune had favored Rome in the first few clashes, but now that only infantry remained, it was becoming clear that Hannibal had the bigger and better army. Maybe this was all going according to his plan. Maybe the Romans were walking into another trap. Hannibal ordered his first two lines forward, keeping his elite third line in reserve. As the two sides met, the fighting was immediately intense. The mercenaries and Gauls on the Carthaginian side had a personal enmity towards Rome, and fought like wild men. The Romans fought very conservatively at first, hiding behind their shields and just trying to survive the first wave of attacks. Then, after the enemy began to grow tired, the Romans slowly moved forward, slamming into the Carthaginians with their shields and forcing them to give ground. At this time, some of the mercenaries began to flee, and were cut down by their own men. Not great for morale. The Carthaginian second line charged forward, and stopped the Roman momentum. The fighting here dragged on for some time, with many losses on both sides. The Roman first line was tore to shreds, and it wasn't until the second line moved up and reinforced them that the stalemate was broken, and the Romans continued their advance. Eventually, the Carthaginian second line was routed. These were new recruits after all, they did pretty well to go toe to toe with the Romans for as long as they did. The Roman first line was in tatters. They had fought their way through two lines of infantry and had barely survived. All this time, the Carthaginian third line, the core of Hannibal's elite army, hadn't moved. Remember that Hannibal had started this battle with a significant numerical advantage, and had only used his weakest troops. The two armies were now roughly the same size, more or less. But the Romans had just basically fought an entire battle, while Hannibal's third line, the most experienced army in human history, had yet to even break a sweat. Scipio realized, maybe too late, that this was Hannibal's plan all along. He gave the signal and had his men fall back. The Carthaginians didn't move. The Romans took their time, caught their breath, and reformed their line. Instead of forming up in the normal three lines of attack, they repositioned themselves into one solid line, with the tattered first line in the middle, the bloodied second line next to them, and the fresh third line at the wings. Weak center, strong wings, just like Hannibal used to do. Neither side had enough men left for any tricks or complicated maneuvers. The Romans just advanced directly into the waiting Carthaginian line, and it was a straight up brawl. Neither side gave an inch of ground. It was looking like it was going to be a stalemate, until, oh my god, it's the cavalry. They had broken off their pursuit when they figured out that the Carthaginians were deliberately trying to lead them away from the battle. They rode to their rescue and crashed right into the back of Hannibal's third line. After 16 years, Rome had finally pulled off a Hannibal style maneuver, and that was pretty much it. The Carthaginians fought on bravely, but it was all over. Rome imposed strict peace terms on Carthage, and basically made them into a client state. There's a story, probably apocryphal, but whatever, that years later, when Hannibal was asked about his legacy, he would say that if not for the Battle of Zama, he would have been remembered as the greatest general of all time. It sounds like an empty boast, but then you go down the resume. Trebia. Trasimene. Cannae. It might be true.