battle of zama
The Battle of Zama, fought around October 19, 202 BC, marked the end of the Second Punic War. A Roman army led by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus defeated a Carthaginian force led by the commander Hannibal. Soon after this defeat on their home ground, the Carthaginian senate sued for peace, which was given to them by the Roman Republic on rather humiliating terms, ending the 17-year war.
Crossing the Alps, Hannibal reached the Italian peninsula in 218 BC and won several major victories against the
Roman armies. Having failed to defeat Hannibal or drive him from Italy, the Romans changed strategy and decided
to attack Carthage, forcing the Carthaginians to recall Hannibal. He was still in Italy, although confined to the south
of the peninsula, when Scipio landed in Africa in 203 BC.
Roman armies. Having failed to defeat Hannibal or drive him from Italy, the Romans changed strategy and decided
to attack Carthage, forcing the Carthaginians to recall Hannibal. He was still in Italy, although confined to the south
of the peninsula, when Scipio landed in Africa in 203 BC.
Following their decisive victory in Spain at the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC, Iberia was secured by the Romans. In 205 BC, Scipio returned to Rome, where he was elected consul with a unanimous vote. Scipio, now powerful enough, proposed to end the war by directly invading the Carthaginian home land.
The Senate initially opposed this ambitious design of Scipio, persuaded by Fabius Maximus that the enterprise was
far too hazardous. However, Scipio and his supporters eventually convinced the Senate to ratify the plan, and Scipio given the requisite authority to attempt the invasion. Initially he received no levy troops, and he sailed to Sicily with a group of 7,000 heterogeneous volunteers. Later, he obtained the authorization to employ also the
regulars stationed in Sicily, which consisted mainly of the remnants of the 5th and 6th Legion, exiled to the island as a punishment for the humiliation they suffered in the Battle of Cannae. Scipio kept on reinforcing his troops with local defectors.
He landed at Utica, and defeated the Carthaginian army at the Battle of the Great Plains in 203 BC. The panicked Carthaginians felt that they had no other alternative than to offer peace to Scipio, who, having the authority, granted it with modest terms. According to the terms of the treaty signed between Scipio and Carthage, Carthage could keep its African territory, but would lose its overseas empire, by that time a fait-accompli. Masinissa was to be allowed to expand Numidia into parts of Africa. Also, Carthage was to reduce its fleet and pay a war indemnity. The Roman senate ratified the agreement. The Carthaginian senate recalled Hannibal from Italy in 203 BC. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians breached the armistice agreement by capturing a stranded Roman fleet in the Gulf of Tunis and stripping it of supplies. The Carthaginians no longer believed a treaty advantageous, and rebuffed it under much Roman protest.
Troop Deployment
Hannibal led an army composed of mercenaries, local citizens and veterans and Numidian cavalry from his Italian campaigns, and Scipio led the already present Roman army (pre-marian quincunx), along with a body of Numidian cavalry.
The battle took place at Zama Regia, near Siliana 130 km south-west of the capital Tunis. Hannibal was first to march and reach the plains of Zama Regia, which were suitable for cavalry maneuvering. This also gave an upper edge in turn to Scipio who relied heavily on his Roman heavy cavalry and Numidian light cavalry. Hannibal deployed his troops facing northwest, while Scipio deployed his troops in front of the Carthaginian army facing southeast.
The Senate initially opposed this ambitious design of Scipio, persuaded by Fabius Maximus that the enterprise was
far too hazardous. However, Scipio and his supporters eventually convinced the Senate to ratify the plan, and Scipio given the requisite authority to attempt the invasion. Initially he received no levy troops, and he sailed to Sicily with a group of 7,000 heterogeneous volunteers. Later, he obtained the authorization to employ also the
regulars stationed in Sicily, which consisted mainly of the remnants of the 5th and 6th Legion, exiled to the island as a punishment for the humiliation they suffered in the Battle of Cannae. Scipio kept on reinforcing his troops with local defectors.
He landed at Utica, and defeated the Carthaginian army at the Battle of the Great Plains in 203 BC. The panicked Carthaginians felt that they had no other alternative than to offer peace to Scipio, who, having the authority, granted it with modest terms. According to the terms of the treaty signed between Scipio and Carthage, Carthage could keep its African territory, but would lose its overseas empire, by that time a fait-accompli. Masinissa was to be allowed to expand Numidia into parts of Africa. Also, Carthage was to reduce its fleet and pay a war indemnity. The Roman senate ratified the agreement. The Carthaginian senate recalled Hannibal from Italy in 203 BC. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians breached the armistice agreement by capturing a stranded Roman fleet in the Gulf of Tunis and stripping it of supplies. The Carthaginians no longer believed a treaty advantageous, and rebuffed it under much Roman protest.
Troop Deployment
Hannibal led an army composed of mercenaries, local citizens and veterans and Numidian cavalry from his Italian campaigns, and Scipio led the already present Roman army (pre-marian quincunx), along with a body of Numidian cavalry.
The battle took place at Zama Regia, near Siliana 130 km south-west of the capital Tunis. Hannibal was first to march and reach the plains of Zama Regia, which were suitable for cavalry maneuvering. This also gave an upper edge in turn to Scipio who relied heavily on his Roman heavy cavalry and Numidian light cavalry. Hannibal deployed his troops facing northwest, while Scipio deployed his troops in front of the Carthaginian army facing southeast.
Both armies numbered about 40,000 when they met on the field. In Italy, Hannibal had been forced to fight without elephants (most of whom had been lost in his crossing of the Alps) but now back in Africa he arranged his elephant corps at the front of his lines followed by a continuous line of mercenaries, then Libyan allies, and finally his Carthaginian veterans from the Italian campaigns. To his left and right he set his cavalry in the wings.
Scipio also arranged his lines but, instead of a continuous, unbroken line across the field, set the soldiers in columns. The gaps in these columns were masked by light infantry toward the front, making it appear as though Scipio had formed his men in the same way as Hannibal had his. To the Roman army’s left wing were the Italian cavalry, commanded by Gaius Laelius, and, to the right, the Numidian cavalry of Masinissa.
The Battle of Zama - Start of the Battle
Hannibal made the first move, sending his elephants charging toward Scipio’s forces. Scipio ordered his men to hold their positions and then, at a given signal, the light infantry masking the front line moved into the columns and, at the same time, Scipio ordered his trumpets to blow and drums beat. The elephants ran harmlessly through the alleys between the columns or, startled by the trumpet blasts and the loud shouts of the Romans, turned around to trample the Carthaginian forces. Hannibal’s elephant charge had failed.
The Battle of Zama - Elephant Charge
The Roman and Numidian cavalry then deployed and attacked the Carthaginian cavalry, driving them from the field. In doing so, the Roman cavalry swung to the left and right around the infantry forces on the field and the two cavalry forces fought behind the Carthaginian lines. Scipio’s infantry now advanced, mobilizing from the column formation to continuous lines, and pushed back the mercenary front lines of the Carthaginians.
The Battle of Zama - Scipio's Attack
The lines were so densely packed that the mercenaries fell back into the Libyan forces who could not give way because of the Carthaginians behind them. As the mercenaries were being crushed between the advancing Roman forces and the Libyans, they began to attack the Libyans to break through and escape. At this same time, the combined cavalry of Laelius and Masinissa returned to fall on the Carthaginian forces in the rear.
Hannibal’s forces were all but surrounded; 20,000 were killed and many more severely wounded. Hannibal himself escaped back to Carthage where he told the senate that he lost not only the battle, but the war, and suggested they sue for peace.
Scipio also arranged his lines but, instead of a continuous, unbroken line across the field, set the soldiers in columns. The gaps in these columns were masked by light infantry toward the front, making it appear as though Scipio had formed his men in the same way as Hannibal had his. To the Roman army’s left wing were the Italian cavalry, commanded by Gaius Laelius, and, to the right, the Numidian cavalry of Masinissa.
The Battle of Zama - Start of the Battle
Hannibal made the first move, sending his elephants charging toward Scipio’s forces. Scipio ordered his men to hold their positions and then, at a given signal, the light infantry masking the front line moved into the columns and, at the same time, Scipio ordered his trumpets to blow and drums beat. The elephants ran harmlessly through the alleys between the columns or, startled by the trumpet blasts and the loud shouts of the Romans, turned around to trample the Carthaginian forces. Hannibal’s elephant charge had failed.
The Battle of Zama - Elephant Charge
The Roman and Numidian cavalry then deployed and attacked the Carthaginian cavalry, driving them from the field. In doing so, the Roman cavalry swung to the left and right around the infantry forces on the field and the two cavalry forces fought behind the Carthaginian lines. Scipio’s infantry now advanced, mobilizing from the column formation to continuous lines, and pushed back the mercenary front lines of the Carthaginians.
The Battle of Zama - Scipio's Attack
The lines were so densely packed that the mercenaries fell back into the Libyan forces who could not give way because of the Carthaginians behind them. As the mercenaries were being crushed between the advancing Roman forces and the Libyans, they began to attack the Libyans to break through and escape. At this same time, the combined cavalry of Laelius and Masinissa returned to fall on the Carthaginian forces in the rear.
Hannibal’s forces were all but surrounded; 20,000 were killed and many more severely wounded. Hannibal himself escaped back to Carthage where he told the senate that he lost not only the battle, but the war, and suggested they sue for peace.
Scipio's critics would argue that he did not so much outwit Hannibal, as merely copy his tactics in extending the line of battle and allow for his superior troops to do the damage.
However, Scipio was in the stronger position. His role was merely that of defending his advantage and letting his side's superiority do the work. The pressure was on Hannibal to produce some surprising tactic by which he could once again swing the odds in his favour.
But with a commander such as Scipio the Roman army was a yet fiercer foe than it had been at Cannae. And this time the odds were simply too great.
If there is an irony in Hannibal's defeat at Zama though, it is that he was vanquished by the very thing he had sought to provoke with his invasion of Italy. Had he sought to inspire the tribes of Italy to rise against Roman rule, he had failed. Yet it was exactly the addition of the rebel Masinissa's Numidian cavalry to Scipio's forces which effectively sealed Hannibal's defeat.
Aftermath
If to Carthage the Battle of Zama meant the end of their empire, then to Rome it was also a significant event. Not only had they vanquished a dangerous and able opponent and gained valuable territories, but their armies had now proven their superiority in battle against highly skilled and sophisticated foes.
Had Cannae exposed Roman tactics as primitive, then Scipio's reforms had turned his army into a fighting machine which could match even commanders as great as Hannibal.
The Roman army had mastered tactics and now could begin with its near unstoppable conquest of the civilized world.
However, Scipio was in the stronger position. His role was merely that of defending his advantage and letting his side's superiority do the work. The pressure was on Hannibal to produce some surprising tactic by which he could once again swing the odds in his favour.
But with a commander such as Scipio the Roman army was a yet fiercer foe than it had been at Cannae. And this time the odds were simply too great.
If there is an irony in Hannibal's defeat at Zama though, it is that he was vanquished by the very thing he had sought to provoke with his invasion of Italy. Had he sought to inspire the tribes of Italy to rise against Roman rule, he had failed. Yet it was exactly the addition of the rebel Masinissa's Numidian cavalry to Scipio's forces which effectively sealed Hannibal's defeat.
Aftermath
If to Carthage the Battle of Zama meant the end of their empire, then to Rome it was also a significant event. Not only had they vanquished a dangerous and able opponent and gained valuable territories, but their armies had now proven their superiority in battle against highly skilled and sophisticated foes.
Had Cannae exposed Roman tactics as primitive, then Scipio's reforms had turned his army into a fighting machine which could match even commanders as great as Hannibal.
The Roman army had mastered tactics and now could begin with its near unstoppable conquest of the civilized world.