Carthage under Hannibal defeats Rome in Tuscany 217 bc

Saturday, 21 June 2014

21 June, 217 B.C., the Carthaginians under the famous general Hannibal Barca defeated the Romans under Gaius Flaminius on the northern shore of Lake Trasimene in Tuscany.

The Battle of Lake Trasimene was one of the most brilliant victories in history, and set the stamp on Hannibal's genius.

Having crossed the Alps and entered the Apennine Peninsula, Hannibal had defeated the Romans on the River Trebbia in what is now Piedmont, before crossing the Cisa Pass over the Apennines to enter Tuscany.

The Romans had sent another army of about 50,000 under the Consul Gaius Flaminius to intercept and defeat the upstart Carthaginians, numbering about 30,000, in the sunshine of the hilly groves and vines that make Tuscany famous and popular as a tourist attraction.

Hannibal intended to draw Flaminius into battle by ravaging the surrounding countryside, but Flaminius did not budge from his fortified position in Arretium (Arezzo).

Hannibal then decided upon an audacious manoeuvre to cut off Flaminius's communications with Rome. This was perhaps the first time in warfare that a general had intentionally severed the line of communications of an army by turning its flank, in this case Flaminius's left.

Having moved southwest of Arretium, Hannibal placed himself between Flaminius and the city of Rome. This extremely effective manoeuvre forced the Roman general to come out and fight on ground of Hannibal's choosing in order to re-open his link with his base.

This movement was to be widely copied after Hannibal, such as by the Austrians under Leopold von Daun who employed the exact same tactic in 1757 against Frederick the Great, who was then besieging Prague. This forced Frederick to fight, and lose, at Kolin.

Returning to our subject, though, we find Flaminius marching out to meet Hannibal. Hannibal had skillfully passed east along the northern shore of Lake Trasimene, along a narrow defile separating the lake to the south from some wooded ridges to the north.

Flaminius followed in pursuit, entering the defile and marching towards Hannibal who had drawn up his infantry at the eastern end of the passage.

As the Roman rear-guard entered the narrow defile, the Carthaginians blasted their trumpets to signal their forces situated in the woods to pour down the ridge.

They had soon cut off the entrance, and were now falling upon the Romans from three directions to push them against the lake. It was an ambush.

Unable to escape, the Romans fought for over four hours as the Carthaginians separated their army into three parts and overwhelmed them one by one.

When it was all said and done, the entire Roman army lay dead on the placid shore of the lake, Flaminius's lifeless body among them.

Hannibal Barca had won again, using clever manoeuvre to force his enemy into an trap, where he was cut to pieces, despite being nearly twice as numerous.

Great was the fear and consternation in Rome when it was heard that Tuscany had been despoiled and their great army was no more. Hannibal continued south through Latium, receiving the defection of Capua in Campania, south of Rome, and then marched southeast into Apulia to strike the granaries and fields that fed the Roman capital.

Here, during the following summer, in 216 B.C., Hannibal would win his greatest victory and one of the most brilliant successes of all time; Cannae. But we'll save that story for another day.

Depicted is a map showing the battlefield. In red is the route of the Romans. The rising ground forming the forested ridges north of the lake is shown in yellow, where Hannibal's troops awaited the signal to descend upon the unsuspecting Romans and slaughter them from three sides.

- Kaiser