Monday Morning General

The battle of Cannae part 1 / Elephants over the Alps


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Bjorn, Brendon and Sam discuss the strategic environment and road to war leading up to the Battle of Cannae in the Second Punic War. 

Hannibal who is on the short list of greatest generals grew up vying for revenge from Rome after the Carthagian loss in the First Punic War. Hannibal  raised a 90,000 man army and marched on Italy from Spain.

After crossing the Alps, Hannibal decisively defeated the Romans at Trebia and Lake Trasimene through clever ambushes. In response, Rome appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus as dictator to avoid direct confrontation with Hannibal. However, his cautious tactics became unpopular with the Romans.

After a string of embarrassments the Dictator Fabius would be called back to Rome and when elections resumed, Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus were chosen as consuls and directed to engage Hannibal with an unprecedented force of eight legions.

  • Hannibal defeated the Romans at Trebia and Lake Trasimene through strategic ambushes
  • Fabius implemented cautious tactics of avoiding direct combat as dictator
  • Romans grew impatient with Fabius' delays and chose aggressive consuls
  • Hannibal outmaneuvered Fabius on multiple occasions in the lead up to Cannae
...more
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Monday Morning GeneralBy Brendon Forrest and Bjorn Olson