Battle of Zama

From Open Encyclopedia

{{Infobox Military Conflict |conflict=Battle of Zama |partof=the Second Punic War |image=Image:Battles second punic war.png |caption= |date=October 19, 202 BC |place=Zama, near Carthage |casus= |territory= |result=Decisive Roman victory; end of Second Punic War |combatant1=Carthage |combatant2=Roman Republic Allies |commander1=Hannibal |commander2=Scipio Africanus Major Masinissa |strength1=almost 58,000 infantry
6,000 cavalry
80 war elephants |strength2=20,000 heavy infantry
14,000 light infantry
2,700 Roman cavalry
6,000 Numidian cavalry |casualties1=31,000 killed and wounded
15,000 captured |casualties2=1,500 killed
4,000 wounded }}

Second Punic War
Ticinus – Trebia – Lake Trasimene – Cannae – 1st Nola – 2nd Nola – 3rd Nola – 1st Capua – Silarus – 1st Herdonia – Upper Baetis – 2nd Capua – 2nd Herdonia – Numistro – Asculum – Baecula – Grumentum – Metaurus – Ilipa – Crotona – Bagbrades – Zama

The Battle of Zama, generally accepted to have been fought on or around October 19 of 202 BC, was the final and decisive battle of the Second Punic War. A Roman army led by Publius Cornelius Scipio defeated a Carthaginian force led by the great Hannibal Barca. Soon after this defeat on their home ground, the Carthaginian senate sued for peace, ending the 17-year war.

1 Prelude
2 Battle
3 Aftermath
4 References
5 External links

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Prelude

Despite nearly two decades of constant war, much of it on Italian soil, the Romans still sustained the presence of the Carthaginian commander Hannibal Barca on its soil, confined to the south of the peninsula. A decisive victory by Gaius Claudius Nero in the brief Metaurus campaign, which killed Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal Barca, had now permanently severed Hannibal from all hope of reinforcements. The result was that Hannibal was stranded, and forced to sustain a scorched earth policy throughout Southern Italy. Hannibal had entered Italy however a victorious conqueror. He humiliated the Romans at Ticinus, Trebia, Lake Trasimeno, and finally Cannae where the creme of the Roman army was slaughtered. Hannibal had anticipated using these victories in order to convince the Italian city-states to mutiny. Instead, the result he got was the growing resolve of the Italian states to rally to Roman leadership.

After destroying the Carthaginian presence in Spain, Scipio Africanus proposed ending the war by invading Carthage's home territories, an area now roughly comprising modern-day Tunisia. Despite the cautious Senate's opposition to this plan, the Roman people gave Scipio the requisite authority to attempt the invasion. At first Scipio operated cautiously, acting mostly to reinforce his army with local defectors. After Massinissa replaced the pro-Carthage Syphax as chieftain of the Numidians, Scipio felt able to risk a decisive battle and began menacing the city of Carthage itself. The Carthaginian senate recalled Hannibal from Italy and, leading a ragtag army composed of local citizens and veterans from his Italian campaigns, he met Scipio on the plains of Zama.

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Battle

Image:Zama.jpg Zama marked a reversal from typical battles of the Second Punic War in that the Romans were numerically deficient in infantry, while the Carthaginians — by the defection of the Numidians — were outnumbered 6,000 to 3,000 in cavalry. At the start of the battle the Roman cavalry swept their Carthaginian counterparts off the field, but instead of immediately turning around to help in the larger battle, continued their pursuit, in effect wiping out the advantage the Romans enjoyed in this arm. After an extended skirmish between Rome's light infantry and the mix of light infantry and war elephants deployed by Hannibal, the main formations of the two sides met. Hannibal had deployed his veterans in echelon formation behind his first line of infantry, with the intent of using them to envelop the Roman flanks. However, Scipio had done the same with his combined line of principes and triarii, and so was able to counter the Carthaginian flanking action. They also made loud noises, frightening the elephants and causing them to stampede past the battle. Still, the Romans struggled with the numerically superior Carthaginian infantry and were on the verge of defeat when their cavalry suddenly returned and attacked Hannibal's forces in the rear. This two pronged attack caused the Carthaginian formation to disintegrate.

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Aftermath

Soon after Scipio's victory at Zama, the war ended with the Carthaginian senate suing for peace. Unlike the treaty that ended the First Punic War, and which amounted merely to an extended armistice, the terms Carthage acceded to were so punishing that it was never able to challenge Rome for supremacy of the Mediterranean again. When Rome waged a third war on Carthage 50 years later, the Carthaginians, far from having the power to invade Italy, could only organize a defense of their home city, which after an extended siege was captured and utterly destroyed.

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References

Hans Delbrück; Warfare in Antiquity; 1920; ISBN 0-8032-9199-X
Robert F. Pennel; Ancient Rome from the earliest times down to 476 A.D; 1890
Theodore Ayrault Dodge; Hannibal: A History of the Art of War among the Carthaginians and Romans down to the Battle of Pydna, 168 B.C., with a Detailed Account of the Second Punic War; 1891; ISBN 0-306-81362-9

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