In 218 BC, the famous Second Punic War broke out between Rome and Carthage. Judging from the previous battles, the Roman army was superior, and the Carthaginian army won less and lost more. This time, however, carthage had a talented military commander, Hannibal, who was only 29 years old.
Born into a military family, Hannibal has lived with his father in the barracks since childhood, experienced many battles, and continued to thrive. At the age of 26, he became the supreme commander of the Carthaginian army in Spain. For the decisive battle with Rome, Hannibal had long thought deeply. He believed that Carthage's overall strength was weaker than that of Rome, and it must not be passively beaten, but must rely on attack as a defense, relying on several decisive battles to crush the main army of Rome, so as to win the war in the shortest possible time.
As soon as the Second Punic War began, Hannibal, who had long been prepared, marched north, concentrated more than 60,000 infantry cavalry, and painstakingly crossed the dangerous Alps, suddenly appeared in the northern part of the Italian peninsula, and shocked the whole of Rome. Subsequently, the Roman senators sent Scipio (old), Flamini, Fabian and other famous commanders to meet the enemy, but none of them were Hannibal's opponents, or they were defeated or could only retreat to avoid the battle. In this way, the war lasted for more than 2 years, and Hannibal led his army across the Roman mainland, seriously destroying the foundation of Rome's national strength and posing a huge threat.
In the spring of 216 BC, Hannibal commanded an army to capture the famous city of Canni in the south of Rome, capturing a large amount of food and supplies. The new commander of the Roman army, Varro, could not bear it any longer, mobilized 86,000 infantry and cavalry, and slaughtered Pyncane in an attempt to fight a decisive battle with the Carthaginian army. Unexpectedly, this was in the heart of Hannibal, who was looking for a decisive battle with the main force of the Roman army, so as to give full play to his military genius and crush the Romans in one fell swoop.
On August 2, 216 BC, the two armies opened a battlefield on the plains outside Kanni. On one side were 54,000 Carthaginian infantry under hannibal command, and on the other was more than 80,000 Roman troops commanded by Varro. In terms of strength, the Roman army had the advantage in total numbers, but the Carthaginian army was stronger in cavalry. The Roman army had always been known for its heavy infantry, and it was very powerful when it launched an attack. Thus, Varro placed the main force of the Roman army in the center of the battlefield. Hannibal, on the other hand, was good at concentrating cavalry and suddenly attacking the enemy's weak points at the right time, thus crushing the enemy in one fell swoop. Hannibal, perceiving the deployment of the Roman army, did the opposite, placing the main cavalry and heavy infantry forces on both flanks, with only a small number of infantry deployed in the center. In addition, Hannibal also selected an elite cavalry and secretly went around the rear of the Roman army to ambush.
After the battle began, Rome's heavily armored infantry launched a fierce offensive from the center, and Hannibal commanded the central infantry of his army to shrink while fighting, luring the Roman army into its own position, and then driving the two wings of infantry to attack together, breaking the left and right flanks of the Roman army in one fell swoop. Under the onslaught of the Carthaginian cavalry, the Roman front army was defeated and fled backwards. At this time, Hannibal decisively fired a signal into the sky, and the Carthaginian cavalry, which was ambushed behind the enemy, rushed out and confronted the fleeing Romans. As a result, the Roman army was attacked on all sides, chaotic, and the cavalry was basically annihilated, and could only stubbornly resist with well-trained heavy infantry.
Due to the large number of Roman troops, the Carthaginian army could not quickly annihilate them, and the two sides engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. At noon, the battlefield suddenly blew strong winds, and for a time the sand flew away. The Roman army was in the downwind, blown by the wind so that everyone could not open their eyes, where there was still the mood to fight. Hannibal took the opportunity to order the army to intensify its attack, and slashed and slashed the enemy with its back to the wind and sand. Thus, with the help of this gale, the Carthaginian army completely crushed the Roman army and won a crucial victory.
At the Battle of Cannes, the Roman army suffered more than 70,000 casualties, many senior commanders were killed, and only Varro led more than 10,000 people to escape. Hannibal's army suffered only more than 6,000 casualties, achieving a brilliant record of winning more with less. After that, the Romans regarded Hannibal as the god of war, and for more than a decade no one dared to lead an army to fight him head-on. And Canni-style victory has also become synonymous with annihilation warfare in the Western context.