Zama : Last Battle of Hannibal

Battle of Zama (202 BC) was the last battle of Second Punic War. It was Carthaginian general Hannibal's last battle. It ended a magnificent and brilliant career of one of the greatest general in history. The battle was fought in Zama, North Africa. It ended Hannibal's legacy but made another person a legend. Publius Cornelius Scipio became famous as Scipio Africanus or Scipio the Great after that.

Battle of Zama

Prelude : After some major and humiliating defeats in battles against Hannibal, Romans started reorganize their army and fighting tactics. Scipio was one of the few who could escape from Battle of Canae in 216 BC. Canae was the turning point of his life. After Canae he got the command of Roman offense in Spain and successfully acquired many Carthaginian strongholds there. The tide of war started turning on roman side. After returning from Spain he was granted the governorship of Sicily. He wanted to invade North Africa to defeat Carthage in their soil. So, he started raising army and soon raised almost 7000 men. That got the attention of the senate who were not interested in that invasion idea earlier but after witnessing Scipio's effort granted him an army for that invasion. Scipio landed in North Africa with his legions and cavalry. Carthaginian did what they could. They called their best general Hannibal to defend their homeland. Hannibal came with his Gallic mercenaries and the Carthaginian army. These Carthaginian veterans were with Hannibal in his Italian Campaign and fighting with him for last 16 years. Carthage provided him new recruits and 80 war elephants for the showdown. Both army met near Zama.

Major Battles of Second Punic War

The Armies : Scipio had nearly 35000 men. Among them 29000 were infantry and 6100 cavalry (Roman and Numidian). Hannibal couldn't bring back all his cavalry with him because of emergency. Somehow he had near 4000 cavalry and 80 war elephants provided by Carthage. He had 36000 infantry. Among them nearly 12000 were newly recruited, nearly 10000 were Gallic mercenaries and rest were Hannibal's veteran and most experienced army of the war.

Troops formation of both sides

The Battle : Hannibal placed his troops in three lines with elephants in front. Gallic mercenaries were on first line. New recruits and inexperienced soldiers formed the second line and his veteran and most experienced troops formed the third line. He placed his cavalry on the flanks. Scipio placed his infantry in three lines also but he placed them with gaps between them and filled them with his skirmishers on first line. He also placed his roman cavalry on his left flank and allied numidian cavalry on right flank. Battle started with elephant charge from Carthaginian side but almost half of the elephants were newly trained and became panicked by javelin and arrows and turned on Hannibal's left flank. Numidian cavalry saw that opportunity and charged on left flank too. Soon Carthaginian cavalry of left flank routed and Numidians were in hot pursuit. The cavalry on the right flank was also charged by roman cavalry and routed too with Romans on their tail. The remaining elephants made it to the roman line but the light infantry retreated from the first line and created gaps which those elephants followed and were trapped and killed. Now Hannibal forwarded his first line of Gallic mercenaries against the roman first line. both sides fought violently but soon Romans started pushing them back. Now the Carthaginian second line killed the routing mercenaries and reinforced the first line. Roman first line soon reinforced by the second line also and the Carthaginians line started crumbling and men started routing. The Carthaginian third line didn't break a sweat in this entire battle while Romans were already fought and exhausted. Now Scipio reorganized his troops and formed one single line and both sides clashed with each other. The battle was in a stalemate position and when it was starting in favor of Carthage the roman cavalry returned and attacked Hannibal from behind. Soon, the Carthaginian army broke and first time in his entire career Hannibal was defeated.

Roman tactics against elephants

Aftermath : The Carthaginian power broke totally after Zama. The battle ended the war and Carthaginians accepted peace on Roman terms. The terms eliminated the chance of Carthage to become a military power in future. Scipio became a legend of the roman world. It ended the brilliant career of Hannibal, who undoubtedly one of the best general of human history.