Even so, the Punic fleet was able to capture sixty transports. Many earlier ancestors had al… Sources on Hannibal's statesmanship (nb NOT a set text) Themes for Debate. The momentous decision was made to recall Hannibal from Italy to lead the defence. However, Publius Cornelius Scipio had to stay in the northern Italy due to the rebel of Gauls. By then, the Roman and Latin cavalry had been defeated, and the Legions were surrounded. Hannibal marched through this natural trap, and made camp. His agnomen, Cunctator, usually translated as "the delayer", refers to the strategy that he employed against Hannibal's forces during the Second Punic War. Choose from 500 different sets of second punic war flashcards on Quizlet. The resulting battle of the Trebia saw Hannibal defeat a larger Roman force, probably of some 42,000 men. Its advantages were found in inexhaustibility of the reserves and in the army number. The Battle of Tarentum of 209 BC was a battle in the Second Punic War. 2. Hannibal crossed the Alps into Italy from Spain with 60,000 men and a few dozen war elephants (most of the elephants perished, but the survivors proved very effective, and terrifying, against the Roman forces). As it was, the Spanish and Celts held out until the Roman infantry had turned into more of an armed mob than an army, and when the Libyans attacked, they were unable to mount a serious defence. In early 215 an attempt was made by Hasdrubal to lead another army along the land route to Italy, but this was defeated at the battle of Ibera. Scipio could face him with just under 50,000 men, although only half of these were Roman or Italian, the rest being the same Celtiberians who had deserted the Roman cause in 211. Some historians of the Hannibalian war, when they wish. As a Consul Fabius won a triumph in 233 BCE for his successful wars against the Ligurians, a very fierce tribe in northern Italy. 214 BC – First Macedonian Warofficially starts 5. The invasion force set sail for Africa early in the spring on 204 BC. Activities inside of the country, as well as the war with the Gauls, did not give to the Romans the opportunity to provide serious resistance to Carthaginian power in Spain. The first encounters went Hannibal's way. At Carthage the 'peace party' came to the fore, and a delegation was sent to Scipio to negotiate an end to the war. The ground between the two armies was an apparently flat plain, with no risk of ambush, but Hannibal found a hidden gully, where towards the end of December 218 BC he placed a force of 2,000 men under his brother Mago. This move was strongly resisted by some in Rome, especially Fabius Maximus. They were also to pay an indemnity of 10,000 silver talents over a fifty year period, support Scipio's army until the peace was confirmed, and reduced their fleet to a mere ten ships. Finally, Hannibal was forced to launch an attack on a strong Gallic position in front of the line of march, after which he was able to capture the Allobrogian town. Livy, Polybius and Plutarch on Fabius Maximus. It is also unclear what happened in Rome. How amazing was Hannibal's crossing of the Alps? Despite the capture of New Carthage and the departure of Hasdrubal Barca, the balance in Spain still appears to have favoured the Carthaginians. For several days, Senate deliberated on the situation. Northern areas of the land were invaded by the Celts, which was partly mixed with the Iberians tribes. This success seriously weakened Fabius's prestige in Rome, and for a brief period his deputy Minucius was given shared command. Scipio was desperate not to see his victory usurped by a new commander and was determined to force an end to the war. Over the winter of 216-215 he captured Casilinum, making Capua less vulnerable to Roman assault, and in 212 he captured the city of Tarentum. After crossing the Ebro, he spent a month subduing the tribes between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, and left a force 11,000 strong to keep the area quiet. He also had to prepare his army for battle - the war in Sicily had not seen great set piece battles. Several hours of fighting saw 50,000 Roman soldiers killed, a bloodbath rarely equalled in a single days fighting, even on the western front. Romans stubbornly continued to struggle in Spain, considering it the main source of power, i.e. The Second Punic War was actually fought over these war reparations. Only one squad of 6,000 people took the hill, but they were surrounded. The capture of Syracuse did not give Roman uncontested control of Sicily. What is clear is that on Varro's day of command, the Romans decided to offer battle, and Hannibal accepted. Scipio chose to split his force. Certainly, when the chance came to make the break with Rome, Hannibal seized it. In 206 BC, Publius started to reign over the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Flaminius was killed at the beginning of the battle. The last real threat to Rome was over. It is certain that peace terms were offered, which included a Carthaginian withdrawal from Italy and Spain, the surrender of any claims to islands in the Mediterranean and a massive reduction in the size of their fleet as well as a fine of uncertain size. Marcellus, by now proconsul, decided to move to attack, and in the spring of 213 BC made an attempt to capture the city by storm, marking the start of the Siege of Syracuse, one of the great sieges of the ancient world. This plan came close to success, but at the key point in the battle, with the Roman lines in disarray and Hannibal about to put in his veterans, the Romans demonstrated the high level of training in their army. Tasked with defeating the Carthaginian general Hannibal in 217 BC, following crushing defeats at the Battles of Trebia and Lake Trasimene, Fabius' troops shadowed and harassed the Carthaginian army while avoiding a major confrontation. Despite this setback, 208 was to see another Punic expedition from Spain to Italy. After the war Rome had gained Spain, secured control over the Mediterranean islands, and seen her first direct involvement in Greece. The cavalry on the wings would hold Hannibal's superior horse for long enough for the infantry to do its job and destroy the Punic infantry, thus ending the threat from Hannibal. Despite this, there was one more major attack, launched at the rear of the column, after which the column was largely left in peace. However, in 207 his allies, the Achaean League, Philip's allies, won a great victory over the Spartans at Mantineia, and the Aetolian league made peace with Philip. In the centre were the 20,000 Celtic and 4,000 Spanish infantry. Even it had simply been pushed back too quickly, the Roman troops might have been able to turn and defeat the new threat. When Publius was killed by a javelin, the Roman situation became hopeless and the army was massacred. Hannibal’s plan was to unite with brother’s army, but his brother Hasdrubal Barca was defeated in 207 BC at the river Metaurus where he was killed. He gave Romans an excellent cavalry and Hannibal suffered his first and last defeat. Despite this uncertainty, we can be clear on the important events of the march. Hannibal hoped to provoke Fabius into an attack, but he was not to be shifted from his plan, and simply watched Hannibal ravage the area from the safety of the surrounding mountains. However, Flaminius actions were well known to Hannibal who had well-organized scouts. However, Hannibal soon after that destroy Marcus Minucius army, and only the help of Fabius Maximus saved him from a total collapse. Rome started with preparations for the annexation of weak states. The Allobroge tribe, which occupied the pass, did not respond to Hannibal's attempts at negotiation, and were clearly intending to raid his army as it passed along the narrow pass, vulnerable and strung out along a narrow path. This time the Roman response was much more effective. His task was made easier by the Carthaginian commander, who dismissed Muttines and replaced him with his own son. Admittedly, this army was now only 26,000 strong, 20,000 less than crossed the Rhone, but what was left was probably the elite of the Carthaginian army. After seventeen years, the war was over. In Campania, people of city Capua came on to Hannibal side while Cumae, Naples and Nola remained faithful to Rome. The new war plan was counted on the depletion of the opponent, because it predicted an inevitable defeat in a decisive battle. Gaius Flaminius defeat contributed to strengthening of the aristocratic party. Hannibal learnt of the Roman presence in time to make his escape upstream, and despite his best efforts Scipio only found Hannibal's camp three days after it had been abandoned. The Romans deployed 76,000 men on the battlefield. The main legacy of the war was a great bitterness in Rome toward Philip, who they saw as attacking them during at their lowest ebb, which quickly led to the Second Macedonian War. Three days after leaving Sicily, the army landed at Cap Farina, near the city of Utica. Many soldiers were lost, many of them fell of their horses, only one elephant stayed alive. As commander of the Roman army during the Second Punic War, he withstood Hannibal by his strategy of harassing the Carthaginians while avoiding a pitched battle In 218 BC, the Second Punic War began and Hannibal crossed the Alps into Italy. The next, gloomy morning, when the Roman army broke out, without expecting that anything will happen, the Roman army was attacked from all sides. The other consul, Quintus Fabius Maximus, assaulted the city of Manduria, in the Sallentine. A second response was to send the Punic fleet to attack the Roman fleet at Utica, but this attack was bungled. This impressed the Romans so much that against all customs Marcus was declared as second dictator. Across the end of May and June 217 BC, the two armies marched across Etruria, until Hannibal found an ideal location for an ambush at Lake Trasimene, where the road passed along a narrow stripe on land between the lake on one side and some hills on the other. Hannibal too was soon to return to Carthage. From that point, the position of Hannibal, who did not receive the necessary help from the Carthaginian oligarchy, became very difficult. Luckily, it turned out that the Gauls returned to their villages every night, and Hannibal was able to capture their strong positions overnight. The majority of rebel cities quickly returned to the Roman side, and the island remained safe for the rest of the war. Roman power in Spain collapsed. Now for the first time the two sides met. However, when Sagunto was occupied in 219 BC, the Romans sent a mission to Carthage with a demand to hand them over Hannibal. 8. According to Polybius the treaty was confirmed in Rome, while Livy claimed that the negotiations in Rome failed. In the Senate, a conservative group of Fabius Maximus Cunctator still played a major role. In the aftermath, Hasdrubal's Spanish allies began to desert him, and he was forced to retreat. But Hannibal did not attacked Rome. During the next 50 years Carthage had to pay a contribution of 10.000 talents, and it lost an entire navy (except 10 guard vessels). In the aftermath of the Roman victory, most communities north of the Ebro quickly defected to Rome. Early in the spring of 203 BC, Scipio launched simultaneous attacks on these camps and drove off both Punic armies, giving the Romans the freedom to act as they wished around Utica. Hannibal launched an attack on the Roman lines, timed to coincide with a similar attack from Capua, but the attacks were repulsed. What is certain is that the crossing was highly dangerous. On his arrival in Sicily, Scipio settled down to train his army. An Imperial power had been born. The gradual twist happened when the Romans conquered several cities that belonged to Carthaginians. After defeating two small Punic forces, Scipio settled down to besiege Utica. One answer was to form armies of Italian troops with Carthaginian commanders, but this armies were generally unsuccessful, leaving Hannibal's own army as the only one truly capable of defeating Roman troops. Hasdrubal Barca negotiated with his Celtiberian allies, who agreed to leave the battlefield. Hannibal now learnt of the presence of Publius Scipio in the area. However, in comparison the Roman losses were devastating. Romans sent there Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, and in 217 BC arrived in Spain, with reinforcements his brother Publius (Consul whom Hannibal broke in 218 BC). Consuls from 216 BC Lucius Aemilius Paullus (Fabius Maximus supporter) and Gaius Terentius Varro, a democrat and supporter of decisive action against Hannibal. Fabius who had been consul as well as dictator before, was a competent commander of the army. On the Roman right wing, Paullus commanded the Roman cavalry, 2,400 strong, guarding the River flank, while on the left, Varro commanded the 3,600 allied cavalry, up against the hill of Cannae. From the Pyrenees to the Rhone he was unopposed, but at the Rhone a sizeable Gallic army was waiting for him on the opposite bank of the river. 7. By passing through Umbria and Picenum he destroyed villages. Once the Romans were in place at the other end of the defile, Hannibal marched his troops back around the hills, where by daybreak they were in place on the reverse side of the hills, hidden to the Romans, who marched straight into the trap. The Roman army split into two, one third under Cnaeus, two thirds under Publius, and moved to face the three Punic armies. Every effort was made so that line of defence was prepared to defend Rome. Fabius worked very hard and had a very successful career prior to the Second Punic war and may have even fought as a junior officer in the first. One contingent was sent into Numidea to restore Masinissa to power while the rest under Scipio marched towards Carthage herself. Rome was remarkably generous to those cities that returned to Roman allegiance voluntarily, rather than after defeat, and once the tide started to turn against Hannibal, many communities took the chance to disentangle themselves from his cause. He was the son or grandson[lower-roman 1] of Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges, three times consul and princeps senatus, and grandson or great-grandson of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, a hero of the Samnite Wars, who like Verrucosus held five consulships, as well as the offices of dictator and censor. Help - F.A.Q. The other Consul for the year, Sempronius Longus, was ordered north from Sicily with his army, and managed the impressive feat of travelling most of the length of Italy with his army in forty days, apparently raising morale as he went. Two years later, in 209 BC Tarentum also fell to Rome. The citizens gave him the nick name Paedagogus (a … During march Hannibal himself lost an eye, but Hannibal with army managed to go around the fortified positions of the Romans. Neither consul had been killed, and their successors were appointed as normal. Hannibal was faster. He had learned from the defeats the Romans had suffered so far and made sure there would be no battle between Hannibal and the Romans as long as he was dictator. The Romans tried to defend themselves by forming a circle, but they could not resist Hannibal’s army, which broke their line of defence – general extermination. With this in mind, it is argued that a march on Rome could hardly have had a worse result. The rest of the battle was a massacre. Carthage responded by raising another two armies, a Numidian army under Syphax, and a Punic army led by Hasdrubal Gisgo. With Consular armies destroyed in two major battles, and Hannibal approaching Rome's gates, the Romans feared the imminent destruction of their city. The bulk of his cavalry, 6000 Gallic and Spanish cavalry, were on the left wing, facing the Roman cavalry. Food supplies were one of the most important Hannibal tasks. The remains of Roman troops were stopped and young military tribune Publius Cornelius Scipio Younger (son of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus) placed them in order. With Spain and Sicily both firmly in Roman hands, Carthage itself was now vulnerable, and in 203 BC, Hannibal, with at least some of his army, sailed back from southern Italy to Carthage for the final confrontation of the war. Scipio started the year with another victory, this time over the army of Hasdrubal Barca at the battle of Baecula. Publius was the first to be defeated. The Roman legions were a fearsome fighting machine, and the Spanish and Celtic troops came close to defeat. When the Consul Gaius Flaminius was killed during the disastrous Roman defeat at the Battle of Lake Trasimene in 217 BC, panic swept Rome. Hannibal just had to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps, which up until then no one has ever done against so many hostile armies. Their new commander, Marcus Valerius Laevinus, one of the consuls for the year, decided to launch an attack on Agrigentum. Hannibal's force was the larger, and his cavalry probably superior, and he came out victorious. He was already a mature military leader, brought up in hatred of Rome. The Celtic and Spanish infantry were position slightly ahead of the rest of the army. Gaius Flaminius Nepos then decided to follow Hannibal without waiting for more army. Hannibal and the Second Punic War Essay 1406 Words | 6 Pages. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus. The city defences were amongst the best then in existence, having been repeatedly improved, most recently with the aid of the mathematician Archimedes, who designed a range of successful siege engines. The war in Greece soon expanded into a continuation of the power struggles in Greece caused by the collapse of Macedonian power. We do not know which pass Hannibal used, and the climate has changed in the intervening centuries, making even the best argued route unreliable. As soon as he took command, he believed that the military was ready to fight with Rome, which also was prepared for war. Only a minor foothold remained to them north of the Ebro. The Senate decided on a last resort: two legions, which were formed of slaves. The massive Roman force outnumbered Hannibal by close to 30,000 men, and the battlefield would give no obvious advantage to Hannibal. Sagunto resisted over the course of eight months. The renewed war took a more ruthless turn. Massalian people,which were long time rivals of Carthaginians, also encouraged them to go in war. His force joined with that of the injured Scipio and the Romans once again prepared to attack. Hannibal's plan was successful. In the autumn of 211 BC Marcus managed to conquer Syracuse. The city was robbed, and enormous loot was taken out of the city. SH website uses cookies to improve user experience. He was a princeps of Senate and he was recognized as a saviour of homeland. When the Punic army arrived, the Romans found themselves in serious trouble. Marcus Claudius Marcellus was sent to Sicily and in 213 BC, he besieged Syracuse. Did Hannibal cause the Second Punic War? Despite pointedly rapid movement by Flaminius, Hannibal still managed to get over the passes unopposed, and once again take control of the situation, this time by marching straight past Flaminius, burning and pillaging as he went, and forcing the Romans to chase him. Hannibal's plan is much better known. By 220 the city of Saguntum, some way south of the Ebro, had allied with Rome. This was start of series of war conquests, which Romans led later. Carthage responded by raising yet another army, with many survivors of the debacle of the camps. Carthaginian senate asked Hannibal to return from Italy. Marcellus's assault on the city was a predictable failure, and he decided to split the Roman forces. The second Consul – Tiberius Sempronius Longus, was recalled from Sicily because Rome gave up on African expedition. The reaction in Carthage was panic. The garrison of Sicily was based on the two legions disgraced at Cannae, still exiled on the island until the end of the war. Their objections were quite valid - Hannibal was still active in Italy, with rumours of more reinforcements to join him, while the failed attempt to attack Carthage directly in 255 BC had prolonged the First Punic War by some ten years. 212 saw Hannibal's fortunes start to change. Born at Rome circa 280 BC, Fabius was a descendant of the ancient patrician Fabia gens. At the end of 203 BC, the Punic position was grim. Carthage was forced to sue for peace, this time on harsher terms than in the previous year. Roman victory finally came in 210 BC. The Roman army around Syracuse was also reinforced, while the Carthaginian army soon headed away into the interior in an attempt to reduce the number of Roman allies. The Romans were trapped against the lake, unable to make any organised resistance. Moreover, Hannibal only had two options. Denied battle, Scipio returned to the coast, where he send his army on to Spain, while himself returning to Italy to face Hannibal. It was very hard for Marcus to conquer the city because all the supplies and raising the fortification around the city was participated by famous antique physicist and mathematician Archimedes. Soon after this, his period of power ended, and he returned to Rome to be acclaimed as the saviour of the city, while normal rule resumed. One of histories great military adventures had come to a tame end. Surrounded, Hannibal's army was destroyed. You need to understand that, for these leading political clans, the war was as much - if not more - about gaining political power at home than defeating the Carthaginians. The crossing of the Pyrenees was apparently trouble free, although Hannibal reached Gaul with only 60,000 men, suggesting that some 20,000 men had fallen by the wayside. Romans began to see them as their vassals, such measures found support of the municipal aristocracy. Despite this first setback, Roman morale remained good. Hasdrubal Barca, the overall Punic commander in Spain, led a small army in a quick raid against the Roman fleet, which caught out some Roman detachments, but was too small to remain safely north of the Ebro, and Hasdrubal retreated south, leaving Rome with a secure base in northern Spain. - Cookies. Hannibal responded by moving back west across the Apennines, and moving into the Ager Falernus, a fertile and prosperous area in Campania, where many Romans had vineyards. What little protest there was against this in the Senate of Carthage was overruled by Hannibal, who knew that the war was lost. The Romans besieged Capua. After a night march the Roman army met the Spanish and engaged in a badly organised battle. 217 BC – letter from Hannibal after Battle of Lake Trasimeneleading to war preparations 2. Hannibal's plan relied on his gaining support amongst the Gauls, and he could thus not back down from this first Roman threat, while Scipio acted as all Roman generals of the time did, secure in his belief that his troops were superior. His infantry was to attempt to smash through the Roman centre, with his veterans held in reserve for the final phase of the battle, when the Romans would have all of their infantry engaged. While his campaign in southern Italy continued with some success, elsewhere the war had turned decisively against Carthage. He still won some notable victories, destroying an army 16,000 strong in 212 BC, another 7,000 strong in 210 BC, and killing both of the Consuls for 208. According to this contract, the Carthaginians were pledged not to cross the Ebro river for military purposes (undoubtedly, this was more favorable to Carthage). Unlike most battles of the Second Punic War, the Romans had superiority in cavalry and the Carthaginians in infantry. As was expected of a member of a family of such standing, he followed the political cursus honorum and held several important positions, but his career was otherwise unremarkable. For some time, Hannibal stayed near the city and after that, he retreated to Campania and headed to the south. Anti-roman groups everywhere won. Hannibal kept the Romans in captivity and he released Roman allies to their homes. At night, he gathered together all the oxen captured by his army, tied burning torches to their horns, and drove them along a ridge near the pass. 216 BC – ambassadors to Hannibal after Battle of Cannae 4. The battle of Cannae (2 August 216 BC), was one of the worst defeats in Roman history. However, other than a skirmish between their scouts, there was no fighting. This was reflected in the Roman politics. Fabius now embarked on the strategy that he is most famous for. On the other hand, he counted that some Roman allies will fall off after their first success. Many Senators and military tribunes were left on the battlefield, including Lucius Aemilius Paullus. Coin (averse and reverse) with portait of Fabius Maximus. Despite a brief attempt to fight on, Rome and Macedonia made peace in 205 (Peace of Phoinike), on terms relatively advantageous to Macedonia. Scipio, now injured, retreated across the River Trebia and encamped, awaiting reinforcements. Publius failed to prevent Hasdrubals (brother of Hannibal) to make connection with Hannibal’s army. As the war in Italy shows, a commander who did not want to offer battle could not easily be forced to fight, but Hanno was defeated at the battle of Cissa (near modern Tarragona). The years immediately after the war saw Rome gain control over large areas of Greece and defeat the successors to Alexander the Great. This new army moved east along the south coast of Sicily, occupying Agrigentum. Gaius Flaminius defeat contributed to strengthening of the aristocratic party. In northern Italy, an uprising of the Celtic started after the last battle. The resulting battle of Zama (202 BC) saw Hannibal finally defeated in battle. For the next few years the two sides engaged in inconclusive manoeuvres. Hannibal set up a camp opposite them, and then send a detachment to secretly cross the river upstream. Punic survival was to rest on a battle between the two greatest commanders of the war. In the end, Hannibal was unable to attack the city of Rome. Then the consul armies joined together and attacked Hannibal in December 218 BC near Trebbia river, but they were defeated here as well. In Ariminum (todays Rimini) and Arettium (todays Arezzo) were concentrated Roman troops, whose task was to prevent Hannibal’s crossing over the Apennine Mountains, but Hannibal decided to cross through swampy lowlands of the river Arno. In 221 he was master of the horse for dictator Q. Fabius Maximus. One army, under the consul Salinator, was placed near Ariminum, while another under Varro was placed on the other side of the Apennines, blocking the two routes Hasdrubal could use to move south. The centre of their line contained 55,000 heavy infantry, along with 15,000 velites. This strategy derives its name from Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, the dictator of the Roman Republic given the task of defeating the great Carthaginian general Hannibal in southern Italy during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). 3. Prior to the war, Roman territory had been limited to Italy. Fabius also kept the allies so that they do not cross to the side of the Carthaginians. When the two armies scouts reported contact, both commanders went forward with larger scouting forces, in the case of Hannibal probably his 6,000 cavalry who outnumbered Scipio's forces. … From this period, it was enhanced the control of the Senate over the allies (especially in the military). What would have happened if Hannibal had arrived at Rome is impossible to tell. Ranging back to the Second Punic Wars, the Roman commander Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus instituted a policy of avoiding battle rather than be lured into a direct clash, Continue Reading. Hannibal was out numbered but he had a strong cavalry and he centralized command unlike the Romans who had two rival generals. This visible sign of Roman weakness encouraged many Gauls to join Hannibal, some deserting from Scipio's army, as would each of Hannibal's series of great victories. Therefore, in the spring of 217 BC, he left winter camp so that he continued an offensive against Italy. Hannibal marched through Hispania, crossed the Alps and invaded Italy spreading panic in towns and villages. General Fabius Maximus delayed Hannibal's advances in Italy by fighting small battles which eventually weakened Hannibal's army. This cross was total surprise for the Romans. Hannibal attempted to use 80 elephants to break into the Roman infantry formation, but the Romans countered them effectively and they routed back through the Carthaginian ranks. This was a unique strategy for a Roman general of this period, who were far more likely to attack at the first chance. 9. Rome faced one final threat in Italy. His troops were drastically reduced to 20.000 infantry and 6.000 equestrians. Soon after that, Capua capitulated and was brutally punished by Romans. The Roman constitution proved to be unsuitable for emergency wartime conditions. Scipio was able to add to this force 7,000 volunteers, eager to play a part in the invasion of Africa and attracted by his reputation. This was probably the only offensive option open to Carthage, but it was still a massive gamble. However, this plan had to be abandoned when Carthage responded to the opportunity presented by sending a army 28,000 strong to Sicily. The three Punic armies in Spain were for once fairly close together, and the Romans apparently felt strong enough to defeat them all. Naturally, Hannibal could not know this. Hannibal's plan was more complex. Quintus Fabius Maximus Who hold the nickname "Cunctator" or the delayer Who was elected dictator, removed, brought back, and removed again during the Second Punic War He managed to make a peace with some indigenous Celtic tribe, while with other tribe he had to fight war. Celtic people were not satisfied with Roman rule, and this help allowed Hannibal to rest his troops. However, there were moments when it might have failed. However there is some uncertainty about Hasdrubal's intentions here. Livy on the Battle of Cannae.