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The Battle of Cannae
Cannae was a major battle in the Second Punic War between the Romans and the Carthaginians. It occurred in 216BC near the town of Cannae in southeast Italy. The Carthaginian army, led by Hannibal, decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman army using an innovative double envelopment manoeuvre. This entailed Hannibal utilizing his superior cavalry to overpower the Romans on each flank and then join together to encircle the entire Roman infantry and overrun them completely.
The battle is famous for Hannibal’s tactics and has been studied throughout time as the model of a complete and nearly perfect battlefield victory. Hannibal’s double envelopment is often viewed as one of the greatest battlefield manoeuvres in history and is cited as the first successful use of the pincer movement in the Western world.
.........Initial Roman attack ..........Destruction of Roman army
This pivotal battle showed how innovative thinking and courage can overcome a challenging situation to deliver an unexpectedly favourable outcome. The battle has been reconstructed in videos. Follow this link to view it:
A short video can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSnIXBERXNg
For the history buff, a longer more detailed video clip can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRW8Kd0Y3O8&feature=related