Dusmanul la Poarta!-Partea-41!

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Victory

By 202 BC, Hannibal Barca had returned to Africa with some of his Celtiberian and Gallic mercenaries from his Italian campaign, plus his loyal Numidian cavalry. He marched 80 miles southwest of Tunis to the plains of Zama Regis, ideal for cavalry manoeuvring. This would give an unforeseen advantage to Scipio though, who now had the official support of the new Numidian King Masinissa, and thus much of the vaunted cavalry of his own to complement his heavy Roman horsemen. Hannibal deployed facing northwest, while Scipio faced him southeast. The Punic general deployed around 36,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 80 war elephants, while Scipio had around 29,000 legionaries and 6,100 cavalry. Hannibal’s Numidian cavalry went on his left flank with his inexperienced Punic horse on his right, with the bulk of his host in three lines behind the elephants – the first of mixed Gallic, Ligurian and Balearic soldiers, the second of Carthaginian and Libyan levies, the third the Gallic and Celtiberian veterans. This last line was deliberately held back to thwart Scipio’s tendency to pin the enemy centre. Scipio’s three lines were the typical maniple formation of hastati – principes – triarii, with Numidian cavalry on the right under Masinissa and Italian cavalry on the right under Laelius.

Scipio’s greatest concern was the elephants, but the scheming Scipio was planning on how to thwart them. He knew that elephants could charge forward but were unwieldy, and could not be further manoeuvred. He believed that if lines were opened in the troops, the elephants would pass betwixt them without harming his legionaries – any animal presented with the choice of running into an empty space or running into a spear-wielding mass of men will usually choose the former. Scipio created lanes betwixt his regiments across the depth of his line and hid these with his velite skirmishers, trusting that the elephants would go down these alleys when the gaps opened and could thus be dealt with by the rear of the army without breaking formation. The difficult faced by the formidable beasts was not necessarily the damage they caused directly, more that they disrupted the formation and allowed a follow-up charge from the enemy infantry to exploit those gaps.

Hannibal had relied on his cavalry superiority for his previous victories like Terbia and Cannae, but Scipio had duly noted this – hence his recruitment of an Italian cavalry corps in Sicily, and his efforts to assist Masinissa and thus ostensibly secure Numidian support and the assistance of their vaunted cavalry. Hannibal believed the combination of his elephants and depth of the first two lines would weaken and disorganise the legions’ advance, which would then enable him to use his third line of veterans to engulf and overwhelm Scipio’s force. In a unique historical moment, the two great generals met on the eve of the battle, something that rarely happens in history. Alexander never met Darius III, and Wellington never met Napoleon, despite the contests betwixt these titans. Hannibal offered a treaty to forfeit Punic overseas territory to ensure the sovereignty of Carthage, but Scipio refused. Carthage could either offer its unconditional surrender, or it could accept battle. Hannibal’s pride demanded he accept battle.

The Battle of Zama commenced with Hannibal unleashing his elephants and skirmishers against the legions, looking to break up their lines and pour into the gaps. Scipio had pre-empted the charge though, and by having his men create the aforementioned alleys and blow trumpets to frighten the elephants, they were completely nullified and charged into these spaces. Several elephants were so spooked by the noisy horns that they turned around and ploughed into the Punic left, throwing it into disarray. Masinissa seized the moment to charge the Punic left, where their fellow Numidians were unknowingly lured from the field. Having thwarted the elephant attack, Scipio’s legions returned to their usual formation. Laelius charged the Punic right, and Hannibal’s cavalry looked to lure them away so the rear of his infantry could not be charged.

The dust was thick in the air as the Roman trumpets blowed, and Scipio began the legionary advance to the Punic line, directly under the command of Hannibal. Hannibal moved his first two lines forward, keeping his veterans in reserve, and a bitter fight saw the hastati begin to push back the first Punic line. Their ranks were closed by the advancing second line who stemmed their retreat, and most managed to now reform on the flanks. The advance of Hannibal’s second line now pushed back the hastati, who had to retreat through the maniple formation and make way for the principes to advance.

The reinforcement of the principes finally broke the second Punic line. Now Hannibal’s veterans prevented them from merging with the reserve, again forcing them to the flanks. The Carthaginian cavalry had succeeded in diverting the Roman horse from the battlefield, and once sufficiently far they turned to engage them, but were routed by the superior numbers and experience. The Battle of Zama hung on a knife edge. There was a lull in the fighting and the exhausted troops from both sides used the opportunity to redeploy. Nobody can be sure exactly how ancient battles played out, given nobody has seen one, but it was often the case that there were regular ‘breaks’ in the fighting, almost by mutual consent. Battle was a physically gruelling encounter, and not one that could be sustained for long – hence breaks would occur as each side caught their breathe, had a drink, emptied their bladders, and often their stomachs. The Roman maniple system sought to minimise these breaks by rotating combatants, which Hannibal mirrored with his formation. The Roman Empire would perfect the art of regularly rotating legionaries to keep fresh fighters at the front, giving them a crucial edge over their tiring foes.

Scipio now formed up a single line, with his hastati in the centre, principes on the inner wings, and triarii flanking them. Hannibal waited for Scipio to attack, buying his own men crucial extra time to recuperate – if there could be any recuperation amidst the horror, the carnage and the chaos of battle. The resulting clash was brutal and bloody, with neither side giving ground. Hannibal was fighting to protect his home and avenge Carthage’s honour. Scipio was fighting to end a 17-year-long war that had consumed his youth and seen a generation of young Roman men left for carrion. The battle was a deadlock, with neither side giving an inch. Then came the thunder of hooves across the plain. Just as Hannibal had successfully recalled his cavalry at Cannae to attack the Roman rear, so Scipio now saw his own cavalry returning to the field in what must have felt like poetic justice. Now Hannibal’s force was surrounded and annihilated.

Several thousand of them, including Hannibal, managed to escape the slaughter, but Carthage was broken. Up to 20,000 of its sons lay dead on the plains of Zama, with the same number captured. As with most ancient battles, the fight itself was a bitter struggle with little given either way, and the slaughter happened after the army was broken. Despite the victory, over 2,500 Romans lay dead on the field too. For the first time in his life, Hannibal Barca was defeated. Scipio was triumphant. There could be no further resistance from Carthage. After 17 years of bitter war, Rome had its victory.