Battle of Cannae 216 BC
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 216 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Second Punic War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ancient Carthage, Ancient Rome, Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Gaius Terentius Varro, Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, Hannibal, Hasdrubal Barca, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, Maharbal, Marcus Minucius Rufus | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 41.3064, 16.1325 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Cannae (; Latin: [ˈkanːae̯]) was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies, led by Hannibal, surrounded and practically annihilated a larger Roman and Italian army under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. It is regarded as one of the greatest tactical feats in military history and one of the worst defeats in Roman history, and it cemented Hannibal's reputation as one of antiquity's greatest tacticians.
Having recovered from their losses at Trebia (218 BC) and Lake Trasimene (217 BC), the Romans decided to engage Hannibal at Cannae, with approximately 86,000 Roman and allied socii troops. They massed their heavy infantry in a deeper formation than usual, while Hannibal used the double envelopment tactic and surrounded his enemy, trapping the majority of the Roman army, who were then slaughtered. Later historians and military strategists have used Cannae as an exemplary battle of annihilation.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cannae (revision 1376557158), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Second Punic War
- Siege of Mutina (218 BC) 218 BC
- Battle of Ager Falernus 217 BC
- Battle of Ebro River 217 BC
- Battle of Geronium 217 BC
- Battle of Lake Trasimene 217 BC
- Battle of Nola (216 BC) 216 BC
- Battle of Silva Litana 216 BC
- Battle of Cumae (215 BC) 215 BC
- Battle of Decimomannu 215 BC
- Battle of Ibera 215 BC
All 50 battles of the Second Punic War →
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